In most situations, in life and business, it boils down to belief and action.
But there’s more to it.
Summing it up in five steps.
1. Ask if It Matters to You?
How do you find the right answer to this question? Ask if it is something that will excite you to get up in the morning every day. It is important because you’ll find it tough to be at something for a long time if it does not excite you.
2. Research How Others Have Done It and Write a Plan of How You Will Do It
You can’t have a perfect plan in the beginning. So note the broad contours of your action, who you’ll need, how you’ll do it, how long will it take.
3. Establish Metrics to Measure Progress
What will you measure success by? A great way to pick a relevant metric is to set a singular goal for the year and pick a single metric that you think will get you closer to that goal. This approach allows you to get rid of what is unnecessary.
I love how my friend Noah Kagan does it. Here is what his singular had been over the years for his startup Sumo.com
4. Take Action
Your metrics should guide you. Be consistent. If you picked something as per #1 above, then consistent action won’t be a problem because you’ll have internal motivation.
5. Note What Is Working and What Is Not and Tweak Your Execution Accordingly
As you execute you’ll see what is helping you achieve success, and then you can double down on those actions.
From what I have seen most of us don’t think enough about #1, and choose whatever looks shiny. Same for #2, we don’t spend enough time, thinking through and learning from how others have done it.
And, then for each subsequent point (#3, #4, #5), there are drop-offs i.e. we do it but either we go after multiple goals at one go, or we are not consistent in our action, or we don’t get rid of what is not working for us.
Hope you try this approach from #1 through #5 and see success in whatever you are after. Use it first for a small undertaking and then see how well it works for you. If it does, then you can leverage it for bigger pursuits.
