The Formula For Success: The repeatable process that successful people use to achieve the seemingly impossible
Formula for sucess
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In the pursuit of success, whether it's achieving personal goals, professional milestones, or even physical transformations like losing weight, there often seems to be a mysterious formula that propels certain individuals forward while others struggle to make progress.
This article will unlock this secret formula so you too can find success in your life whatever your goals may be.
As we reveal the parts of this formula it's crucial to recognize that success is not merely a stroke of good luck or special talent some have. It’s a structured approach that clearly defines the goals, steps needed to succeed, and the driving force to keep going when the going gets tough.
In this article we will use “losing weight” as a simple example to demonstrate how this framework works. While the example is simple this formula can be used on much more ambitious goals. Losing weight is something many people can relate to making it a good example for this article.
In my article The Rule Of 3 I address the importance of prioritizing your time to no more than 3 core goals that you want to make progress on, more than that you’ll spend more time juggling all the “To-Do’s” than you will on actually taking meaningful steps to make progress on your goals.
This is a classic mistake people make, they get shiny object syndrome and what to do EVERYTHING when in reality they likely only have the time to do a few things well.
So get clear on your REAL goals, keep it to 3 or less, be super specific with your goals using the S.M.A.R.T. Goals Structure to establish specific goals that are measurable, time specific, and with clear actionable steps
For out weight loss example we need to clarify a couple things
Is this a top 3 goal for us or just something that’d be “Nice to have”
How much weight do you want to lose? (Be specific) Lets say it’s 20lbs
Is this measurable? Record your starting weight, make sure you have a scale, set up a way to track this over time
How long do you want to take to lose this weight? Be realistic. Maybe it’s within the next 6 months
So we now have a clear goal that we’ve committed to making a top priority “Lose 20lbs within the next 6 months”
It’s easy to get excited about something then burn out - you need a strong why to propel you forward to success (Find something that is truly important to you)
A Forbes article states that successful people have a strong why or locus of control. This makes sense because by definition successful people are the ones that have found some reason to get off the couch and go do something hard.
Without a strong why we have no real reason to change or do something challenging.
Some examples of a “Why” for losing weight may be:
Be able to keep up with your kids
Be healthier so you can live longer
Look better / feel sexy to attract a person you’re interested in
Minimize your impact on the environment for future generations
By tying the goal to what’s truly important to you, you’ll find the strength to make hard changes and power thru those tough moments where the easy thing to do is just give up.
So dig deep find that inner voice that is demanding you do this. Write it down and put it somewhere you’ll see it every day.
How does your goal fulfil your why? It is imperative to link these 2 things together.
A scientific hypothesis typically takes the form of an “If - Then” Statement.
For Example:
If I lose 20lbs
Then I’m able to move pain free, and be able to keep up with my kids
If I lose 20lbs
Then I’m will live longer so I’m there for my partner as we get older
If I lose 20lbs
Then that person I like will be more attracted to me.
Write this “If-Then” statement down with your Why
So at this point we have
A clear goal – Lose 20lbs in 6 months
A strong Why
A clear thesis for how this goal supports the why in your life.
You see examples of this thinking in every successful person. Elon Musk for example has a goal to make humans an multi planetary species. Why? To ensure the survival of the human race.
His thesis is
If humans are multi planetary
Then we are more likely to survive in some capacity.
If you are being truly ambitious your goal may take 5-10 Years to reach. It’s imperative you break this plan down into intermediate yearly goals, and monthly milestones. These milestones will be used later to assess if you are staying on track or if adjustment are needed.
In our weight loss example our timeline is shorter so monthly milestones make more sense, and weekly check in’s to ensure you’re staying on track is appropriate.
Part of building this plan is identifying key areas that need to be addressed. If you’re not already where you want to be it likely means you need to do something different.
Something I like to do is work backwards from the goal on a timeline. You’ll often find that what you’re currently doing isn’t going to get you there, that’s OK. This is just telling you that this is an area you need to improve.
Establish measurable steps to make these needed changes a reality and add them to your milestone schedule.
For our weight loss goal to lose 20lbs in 6 months it might look like this
Month 1 Total wegith lost 4lbs
Month 2 Total weight lost 8lbs
Month 3 Total weight lost 12lbs
Month 4 Total weight lost 16lbs
Month 5 Total weight lost 20lbs
Month 6 Total weight lost 24lbs
This seems reasonable, this is a 1 lbs per week weight loss which is within the 1-2lbs per week most doctors say is reasonable. You even have an extra month incase you get off to a slow start.
Now we need to look at some clear steps to get to this goal. These are your actions. If in the past week you’ve lost 0lbs what needs to change to make this 1lbs/week goal a reality?
This is the key to your success! You have to identify what actionable change is required to hit these small incremental changes you want to see.
Some examples’ may be
Eat a 2,000 calorie diet
Workout 4 days a week
Walk 10,000 steps per day
Eat only whole foods
Only drink fluids that are calorie free
Make sure these actionable steps are clear, specific, and trackable.
Going back to our Rule Of 3 Make time for those 3 things that are important to you.
Don’t get shiny object syndrome. Don’t let other peoples priorities creep in, your time is your most valuable asset, protect it!
Put those gym workouts on your schedule, meal prep so you have healthy options for lunch. By being clear on what your goals are you are better able to say no to the things that don’t support your progress.
Coworkers want to go out for lunch? “No thanks I brought my lunch”
Boss wants you to work late? “Sorry boss I have an appointment with a personal trainer at the gym”
Friends want to hit the bar? “Sorry guys I’m not drinking my calories right now”
This will take some practice. We naturally want to please others. The reason we haven’t lost this 20lbs yet is we have not yet been engaging in behaviors that someone who as already lost 20lbs. We need to make these changes so we can become that future person.
Don’t beat yourself up if you make a few mistakes here and there, change is hard. But track your progress and make the changes needed keep progressing forward. If you fall behind the schedule your mile stone plan has outlined you know you need to step up your game! If you are doing well toward your goal you know you are on track!
Surrounding yourself with quality people who have been where you want to be, or are serous about getting to where you want to be
This might be a mentor who’s done the things you aspire to do, or a peer in your life you respect that has the same goal as you.
For our weight loss goal this could be a personal trainer who coaches you thru the nutrition and workouts you should be doing. Or it might be a workout buddy who consistently shows up and makes going to the gym more enjoyable.
If you’re around people who belittle your goals or consistently encourage you to partake in activities not consistent with your goals you may need to cut them out of your free time. A coworker who consistently wants to go to the bar after work and doesn’t care about losing weight isn’t going to be a very good person to spend time with if you want to lose weight.
Now that we have the framework of success outlined we need to actually put the work in. Schedule the activities into your life, build systems to make the needed behavior changes automatic. Follow up on those weekly and monthly check ins identified on your mile stone plan (Step 4)
Build your process, failure is not an option what is it going to take to make this happen? Build your systems around that.
Systems might be as simple and preplanning meals so you don’t have to decide every day what to eat to ensure you maintain your target calories. Or hiring a trainer and putting it on your schedule so it’s automatic.
Whatever you need to do to be consistent DO IT!! Failure is not an option, this is a top priority to you. Take the steps needed to turn this goal into a reality.
The definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Check into your milestone goals (Step 4), are you sticking to the schedule? If not, why not? We will all encounter roadblocks, we may not know what the next step is until we get there.
You’re going to learn thru this process and find out things you didn’t know about. You need to adapt and incorporate these lessons to get to the next level in your plan.
It’s very similar to driving a boat, you need to pick a point on the shore, which represents your goal, and as the currents push you side to side you will need to adjust course to stay on track.
If as your going thru the process you find the path doesn’t unfold the way you expected. That’s OK, that’s very normal! The reason successful people are successful is they’ve taken the time to learn things that aren’t obvious when someone begins something challenging.
For our weight loss example if we get to week 3 but haven’t lost any weight we know we need to so something different. Are we eating too many snacks? Did we miss a few workouts? Getting midnight cravings? Identify what’s not working in your plan and make changes to address them.
You could argue that you started when you set your goals, but it’s easy to get stuck halfway thru this process, you tell yourself things such as
I’ll start when I know everything
I’ll start once I’m in better shape
I’ll start when I have more time
The simple fact is that the reason you are following this process is because you haven’t successfully completed this version of success yet.
You DON’T know everything
You Aren’t in better shape
You are busy just like every successful person I’ve ever met.
Learning the skills you need and building the mental and physical strength you need to be successful is something you do thru the whole process. It’s not something you will ever have before you start. Its something you develop thru the journey.
Too many people get stuck on when to start
“I’ll run a marathon when I’m a better runner”
“I’ll go lift when I’m a better lifter”
“I’ll lose weight when I’m less stressed”
Not knowing what you are doing or being “ready” is part of the process, you’ll figure it out as you put the effort in and show up every day improving a little bit every day.
“Never fail due to a lack of effort because effort requires no skill.” -Financial Samurai
When you give up everything is wasted. Even if progress is slower than you’d like keep pushing. Even if it’s just to not give up progress for the week it’s still a win.
Someone who loses 10lbs then gives up only to regain it will have to loose that 10lbs TWICE to get to their goal of losting a total of 20lbs!! Don’t be this person, when you make progress never give it back.
Even someone who only walks can finish a marathon if they don’t give up. Proof that doing the average things consistently will give you above average results!
What are your goals and what are the next steps you need to take to be successful? Comment below.