Success Takes Consistent Action
(Reminders of Success 3)
April 13th, 2012 by Kevin Ngo
If you want to get from point A to point B, something needs to move. With all of the formulas, methods, ideas, and strategies of success that you can pick up, none of it will change your life until you put what you learn into action. Action is the key to success, at least partially.
The fact is that anyone can take action. How many people do you know can get themselves to the gym in the month of January? Seeing that so many people set losing weight as a new year’s resolution, you probably know at least several. However, it’s not taking action once in a while or whenever you feel like it that will change your life, it’s taking action consistently, day in, day out, whether you feel like it or not.
If you break it down, most goals are easy to achieve. You just have to perform certain tasks long enough to achieve your desired outcome. The challenge for most people however, is in being consistent. Challenges, obstacles, setbacks, these things cause most people to feel discouraged and as a result, they stop taking action because in their minds, they don’t see the point. They lose their motivation.
If you want to increase your ability to take consistent action, here’s the key: Make your actions a habit. The more you consistently perform a task, the easier it will become. The challenge though is that in the beginning, it will all be about your level of motivation and will power.
You need to do what it takes to keep taking action. This is critical because if you stop, it will be very easy to just quit on your goal for the time being all together and wait for the “perfect time” to start over again. If you continue taking action even when it’s hard, even when the results don’t seem to justify continuing the effort, eventually, you’ll hit a point where the struggle will start to ease, a point where motivation and will power is no longer needed.
When you reach this point, you’ll see how some people can make being successful look so darn easy. You’ll also understand why consistency is so important. Will it be easy to reach the point of habitual action? It depends on your goals but in general, it’s going to feel like an uphill battle at first but once you reach that breaking point, it’ll be just a matter of time before you reach your goal.
Trigger Technique
One technique I found to be useful is to attach the action to something you already do everyday in order to form a sequence of actions. By attaching the actions that you want to form into a habit to an existing habit, when the existing habit is triggered, a process will be activated, eventually leading you to perform the action that you want to make into a habit.
For example, let’s say you want to do some sort of workout each day. Since you shower everyday, you can make it a habit to do a quick workout every time before you shower. If you go onto Facebook every day and your goal is to study more, get in the habit of studying right after you finish using Facebook. If you watch TV every day and your goal is to read more, immediately read after you’re done watching your show. If you drink coffee every morning and your goal is to practice a new language, get in the routine of practicing while you’re drinking your coffee.
Experiment with putting the new action before of after the existing habit to see what works best for you.
Put this into action:
1. Write down the daily actions that you need to take in order to reach your goals and commit to taking those actions no matter what for at least a month.
2. Find something you do on a daily basis to attach your actions to.
Note: It’s going to be easy at first since your motivation will likely be high. After the first week, it may start to get tougher. Once you reach day 30, it’s possible that your actions haven’t become a habit yet. If this is the case, keep going until it does. If you’re taking action towards your goals on a daily basis, it will eventually become habitual or at least easier.
Until next time…
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
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I'm totally happy seeing this site. It seems to me topics in it something I needed more than everything in my life because I'm a university student and I alweys try to be the first one in my class, but unfortunately I failed many times. The begining of each semester I feel well motivated to be first one and at the middle I feel less motivated than before, and finally I feel regret that I did'nt do the exact ways to success my target. Let me ask you. What do you think of my problem? Thxs.
I've gone through the same thing as you back in my school days. Let me ask you, why do you want to be first in your class? To get a good paying job? To get praise? What is the main reason? Is it for you or your parents? I believe that a lot of staying focused on a long term goal comes down to how strong your reasons are for wanting to accomplish whatever you're trying to accomplish. If the desire is weak, it's easy to feel discouraged or get off track. So revisit your reasons for wanting to achieve this goal in the first place. If that doesn't work, either come up with better reasons or choose a different goal.
Kevin,
Trust me for the past 5 years i'm searching about my want in life. I've still not got the answer. But the desire to find the answer has been intensified more. It's 9.10p.m, i'm still looking for answers in the internet. After reading the article about desire on ur blog, i clearly understood that my desires are not strong. I need to find out that one desire which is going to drive me… Right from my 9th grade,i have the habit of reading motivational and spiritual books.. I see to that everyday i read “self help” books. Does this have any connection with my desire? would you be able to help me to find out my desire by asking more questions? thanks…
It sounds like you're looking for your passion or purpose. If you haven't yet, read my post on finding your purpose. I ask several questions to help you find your purpose. I hope it will help you.
Your Life Purpose
Great site to help anxious people. Keep it going and thank you for this site
Hello Kevin,
Reading through, very impactive words there, thank you for that…i strongly believe on the power of the mind to achieve whatever one what to achieve because when the mind is focused it will get to its destination and achieve the desired result and aim but i have a problem i find it difficult to focus my mind each time i tried to i get headache….what do you think can be wrong?
Hi Josephine,
Keeping your focus can be as simple as asking yourself throughout the day whether what you’re doing at the moment is taking you closer to or away from your goals. Just focusing by itself is pointless though, you need to also take action.
As for getting a headache, I’m not sure. You may want to talk to your doctor.
Hello Kevin,
I just started reading your post and I must say, I will start focusing on the “Finding Your Purpose” post. I need to be more motivating in my goals and stop procrastinating when I start doing something. Thank you for the wonderful post.
You’re welcome, Nadege. When you find a purpose that you have a strong enough desire for, the motivation part gets a lot easier.