What are Success Strategies?
Success strategies are plans that guide your personal growth in achieving what you want. They are designed to achieve what you’re aiming for, are hoping to change in your everyday life, or what you hope to accomplish in the future.
Self-assessment is critical when choosing the strategies that will be most effective. Remember, you’re the author of your own story and can choose at any moment to flip the page, end the chapter, or even start the next book in your series!
So how do you go about getting started? You might start by listing one to three items you want to change in your life. In other words, picture a vision for your future, and try to describe it.
If you don’t have an immediate answer, that’s fine. This is now your starting point. Perhaps to get inspired, you can read some famous quotes on success to get those brain juices flowing!
The Definition of Success
So, what exactly is the definition of success? What does it mean to succeed? Simply desiring to be successful is not enough. It’s not what you want, necessarily, but what concrete steps you take in order to get where you’re going.
Strategies are hard to make unless you know what the word means to you. You need to know what you’re aiming for! You need to be crystal clear about what you want from your life, and you need to focus to get started.
Now think about what you need to do in the next ten years, five years, two years, one year, six months, today, and right now to achieve that successful life.
Academic success strategies at school
Public and private schools do a service for their students by teaching them simple lessons they can retain and replicate later in life. They may seem pointless to the students at the time, but the learning process offers value that can pay dividends later on.
Punctuality is important
For example, being punctual in school is preparing you to join others and show up in your everyday life, whether in a personal or professional context. When you arrive on time, you show respect for everyone else in the group. You might not have known it while you were in school, but your future job will expect this of you.
What if you end up working for yourself? You’ll also need to commit to your work week in your own way - after all, no one will be looking over your shoulder, giving you a performance review or expecting you to punch in. Whether or not punctuality looks like a regular 9-to-5 or something all your own, creating a successful future depends on an internal motivation.
Little steps lead to great progress
School is where a person learns the value of deadlines and putting in work to achieve a larger goal. Getting behind on your course work in school can lead to a certain level of procrastination that ends up popping up over and over.
Lessons in life tend to build on each other over time. For example, you must learn the alphabet before you can make sense of words before you could ever be expected to read and understand sentences. Submitting assignments that build on each other allows us to learn complex concepts and apply big ideas to our lives.
Meeting work-in-progress deadlines requires us to plan ahead regarding how we are going to meet some final goal. In these cases, it doesn’t matter what the topic or task is, it’s the exercise of completing it and following your teacher or supervisor’s direction that matters most.
Additional ways of achieving academic success
Take handwritten notes for a stronger memory
There are so many options for taking notes today that handwriting has nearly become a lost art. While you can take notes by recording a lecture, transcribing voice-to-text or relying on someone else’s slides as notes, these shortcuts are cutting you short!
Proper note-taking, whether writing notes by hand or on your laptop, helps your brain process the information and you learn more than if you type notes on your laptop.
Ripple effect of waking up earlier
A well-rounded strategy for a more productive life may include waking up earlier. It can be one of the best services you can do for yourself. Many people feel that this is the quickest way to find more productive time to add to your day.
Waking up earlier to prepare your body and mind has a ripple effect on the rest of your day. For example, doing a 45 minute early morning yoga class can fuel energy and positive mental health benefits that last much longer than the session.
Stretch it out
You don’t have to do yoga to succeed, but even stretching or taking in a short 10-20 minute walk or jog can make a difference to your energy, attitude, and attention span.
Stretching also gets your appetite started in the best way possible, and with the added energy, you’ll be more likely to actually eat a healthier breakfast. With added nutrition comes both mental and physical health benefits, including supporting brain, heart, and gut health. You know what they say: healthy body, healthy mind!
Prioritizing a healthy sleep schedule
Just because you’re waking up earlier doesn’t mean you need to skimp on your sleep health and wellness. Your sleep health sets the tone for the rest of your life.
What’s more, important and complex brain processes that are basically like your brain digesting information occur as you sleep. Quality academic prowess requires quality sleep.
- Reminder: Set a consistent bedtime reminder on your smartphone (make it the same each day, even on weekends)
- Remove screens: When it tells you to get ready for bed, put the screens away
- Routine: Connect with a bedtime routine that includes brushing your teeth, washing your face, and changing clothes to prepare your body and mind for sleep
Finding the right success strategy for your situation
To focus on what you want, it can come down to asking yourself a few important questions:
- What will you look back on one day and say, “I should have done that.”
- What do you keep telling people you are going to do?
- If anything was possible, what would you do next?
- What’s stopping you from achieving your goals?
- Are you ready to work hard and stay focused?
- Who can help support you?
Many of these prompts are based on the SMART goals method.
Example situations
Saving money
Saving money isn’t something that happens overnight. Strategies to achieve your money-saving goals can include:
- Making small but frequent deposits over a long amount of time so you barely notice the difference. If you can set up automatic withdrawal and deposit after each payday, that is ideal.
- Remembering no amount is too small because of compound interest. Every dollar counts when it comes to compounding, meaning the more money you deposit, the more profit you make.
- Keeping this money somewhere that will continue to make money. Spend the time to talk to a financial advisor who’s really just a teacher who teaches about making money.
Improving communication with your spouse
If you’re constantly fighting or arguing or just disagreeing with your spouse or live-in partner, you may have heard you need to work on your communication skills. The best strategy for success utilizes the mentality that you will get better with practice. Better communication is achieved through practice, and practice may not be perfect but it will lead to perfection.
- Practice taking a full breath before answering a question.
- Practice listening without thinking about your response or rebuttal.
- Practice speaking with a clear message which includes more “I” statements and feeling words.
- Think about any support you want before asking for help. Provide examples.
Getting a dream job
To find a better job, you must be willing to stay focused and do the hard work! Here are the best strategies for success in getting your dream job:
Start small and stay focused
Most achievements will not occur overnight. Think back to those strategies you learned in school. Little lessons and tasks can lead to big accomplishments! For example, if you want to do a job that requires physical activity, don’t wait until you apply for the job, hoping you’ll increase your fitness levels after. Be ready for what life brings. If you want to be a writer one day, start a blog, start writing for local outlets, start following your favorite writers, reading more books, etc. Every situation will have ways for you to prepare.
General ways to prepare for that dream job:
- Keep your resume updated
- Rewrite a new cover letter for each position
- Practice the skills of the job
- Know how to dress the part or look the part of someone who already works there
- Know who works at the company
- Understand why this job is your dream and what’s at stake if you cannot get it or keep it
- Adopt the schedule of the dream job
- Talk to people in that industry
- Network on social media with people in the industry and recruiters
- Take free or low-cost courses to enhance your competitive advantage
- Practice patience for when the job comes (you may need to hold out)
- Keep a job or use savings to fund your time before dream job opens up
- Use discipline because motivation fades
- Communicate your goals to friends and family
Final thoughts
Success is defined by what you want out of life. Someone else’s goals do not need to be your goals. Whatever you want and whatever looks like success to you, go for it with everything you’ve got.
