Do You Recognize the Key to Success?

Surfing around the Internet you’ll find numerous articles offering the key to success. Most conclude focus is paramount. Note that focus assumes you have a clear goal. So the first indispensable requirement for succeeding is specificity.

I’m convinced that until you clearly identify what you want you will never succeed. Suppose you desire financial security and you put all of your focus on attaining this objective. How do you know when you’ve achieved it? Is financial security having sufficient money to meet your monthly needs? If so, how much is that? Does having a job that pays this amount of money constitute success for this goal? What if you lose that job? Does meeting your goal for a limited period of time still mean you’ve accomplished it? Or must financial security be essentially assured for the long-term to satisfy your goal?

These are just some of the questions to consider for this one goal. If you leave them unanswered your focus is wasted since you will not know when you have accomplished it.

Benefits of Specificity

Specificity helps you in at least three ways:

I’ve written about SMART goals before. The concept of specificity, the “S” in SMART, is crucial. By getting down to the nitty-gritty of what you want, you confront the true depth of your desire and whether you’re prepared to make the sacrifices required to achieve it.

Specificity has another huge benefit. By determining your goals in detail, you create the stimulus for visualizing yourself as if you’ve already achieved them. Firing up your imagination, viewing your life as if your goals are met, is a crucial daily exercise for developing the focus you’ll need to attain them.

Finally, by understanding your goal in all its particulars, you will more clearly see the path you need to take to reach it. Big goals generally require achieving several smaller ones along the way. Without the understanding that comes from specificity, you will not be able to determine those interim steps.

Demystifying Success Can Be Scary

Describing your goals in depth may trigger fear. When you're specific you have to deeply commit to achieving them. And you raise the stakes that your life will not conform to your vision. But if you truly want success, to accomplish your heart’s desires, specificity is supreme.

Start today with the goal you think is easiest to reach. Write down every question you can think of about the goal. Enlist the help of your spouse or close friend who supports your aspirations. Have the person ask you empowering questions that require you to gain absolute clarity about the goal. Then, start and end every day by reviewing your objective. Visualize how your life looks with your ambition met. Are you crystal clear? Great! You’re on the way to attaining your dream!

How do you determine what you really want?
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