In my last post, I shared a discussion from a webinar I attended, hosted by Lynn Terry.  Lynn is the author of SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com, an excellent resource for anyone interested in making money through an online business.

In the webinar, Lynn talked about the fact that some people, when they’re not successful in achieving change in their life (like starting an online or offline business, for example), give up and say that they just can’t do it because they don’t have “it”.

To them, “it” is some kind of secret ingredient that others have (those who have successfully made the change), but they must not have (because they haven’t made the change yet, after “x” months or years of effort).

Yesterday, I wrote that I don’t think there is one singular “it,” or one secret ingredient, that everyone needs in order to be successful in starting a business or in achieving any desired change in life.

But I do believe there are several “its” or ingredients that must be present in order for us to achieve the success we hope to achieve. Miss any one of them, and our efforts at life change could, and probably will, end in frustration and failure:

1. Belief in yourself.
   
2. Alignment with core personal values.
3. Vision of clearly defined goals.
4. Planning with the end in mind.
5. Focus on the dream.
6. Perseverance.
7. Honesty with yourself.
   

(If you missed yesterday’s post, click here to read the descriptions for each of the ingredients mentioned above.)

Today, I promised I’d share my ideas on how we can successfully achieve the life change we want by keeping these ingredients, or success factors, more present in our lives.  Here goes…

I believe we must have…

1. Ownership – Whatever our desired life change is, we’ve got to own the decision to make the change, and own the process that will bring about the change.  This means we accept full responsibility for our actions…or our inaction.
2. Self-Awareness – We need to understand our personality, our gifts, how we work, what motivates us, what are the best times of day to focus on projects, how we overcome obstacles, etc.
3. Accountability – We need someone to hold us accountable for the change we want to cultivate in our lives – someone to cheer us on and check our results.  Accountability can take the form of a one-on-one relationship, like with your spouse, a friend, an accountability partner, or a coach.  Or you might find accountability in a group, like a mastermind group.

Have I missed anything?  If so, please share your thoughts in the comments section.

I’ll be writing more on these topics in the future.  So if you have any questions about them, please contact me and let me know:  rich{at}lifecompassblog.com

Yesterday I participated in a webinar hosted by Lynn Terry.  Lynn is the author of SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com, an excellent resource for anyone interested in making money through an online business.  She cuts through the hype (and believe me – there’s a LOT of hype out there about making money online) and offers practical “how-to” advice based on her 13 years of experience with online marketing.

In the webinar, Lynn shared her observation that some people think there must be a “secret ingredient” to building a successful online business, or any business, for that matter.  And if they’re not achieving the results they had hoped to see after “x” number of months of effort, they get discouraged and feel doomed to failure, because they don’t have this secret ingredient.  In their mind, some people must have “it,” whatever it is, and some, like them,  don’t.

I don’t think there is one singular “it,” or one secret ingredient, that everyone needs in order to be successful in starting a business or in achieving any desired change in life.

But I do believe there are several “its” or ingredients that must be present in order for us to achieve the success we hope to achieve. Miss any one of them, and our efforts at life change could, and probably will, end in frustration and failure.

For some, their secret ingredient is belief – belief in themselves, that they can actually live on purpose and create the life of their dreams.  I think belief is the starting point of any effort to change our lives. If we can’t believe that things can be different, we can’t receive or achieve the desired change.

Alignment is a big factor that many miss.  They don’t consider how or whether their desired goal aligns or fits with their personal values.  Believe me, I speak from experience when I say that there’s nothing worse than pursuing something that you decide, later on, wasn’t worth pursuing because it didn’t really align with your personal values and big-picture goals for your life.

Others lack vision – they haven’t clearly envisioned and defined the goals or objectives they want to achieve.  The problem with this, as Lewis Carroll said in Alice in Wonderland, is “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”  We must have a clear and well-defined picture of our goals, otherwise, how will we know we’re on the right track and that we’re making progress toward achieving them?

For some, it is planning – they failed to make a plan, starting with the end result in mind, for the goals they want to accomplish. From my own experience, I can say it is true that if we fail to plan, we are definitely planning to fail.

For others, they lack focus – focusing on their dream and making it a reality.  They easily get distracted by “bright shiny objects” that vie for their attention and pull them off into other directions.

Perseverance is missing for some – they never learned how to stick with something until they complete it or achieve it.  As I’ve reflected on situations in my own life and the lives of others, I’ve found that people sometimes give up right before the breakthrough would have come…if only they had stayed the course a little longer.

Last, but not least, there’s honesty – being honest with yourself and those you’re asking to help you.  Anyone can ask for, and receive, guidance and advice.  But the responsibility is on the person doing the asking.  You’ve got to take action and do the work.  If you’re not finding success, don’t blame those who gave you advice if you haven’t taken your best steps forward and done all that you know, deep down, that you need to do.

Looking back on my own life, I can say that every single one of these ingredients has been missing at one time or another, as I’ve attempted to make change or achieve success in certain areas of my life.  As a result, I didn’t achieve the success I had hoped for, or it was seriously delayed.

So how can we make sure we have all these ingredients, these success factors, in our lives all the time?  I’ll share my ideas in my next post.

Yesterday, I shared some ideas on “How to Become an Expert on Any Topic,” including:

1. Read one book on the topic each month.
2. Study the topic for half an hour a day.
3. Listen to podcasts on the topic each week.
4. Get hands-on training by volunteering.

Today I want to share a quick tip (literally) I recently discovered on how to speed up your life change process by speeding up your audio learning.

Many iPods and MP3 players allow you to speed-up the playback of the song or podcast you’re listening to.  My iPhone 3GS lets me to listen at twice the normal speed.  It also allows me to listen at half the speed.

Over the last two months, I’ve listened to several podcasts on double-speed.  So far, I think it has worked well.  While the voices do sound a little weird at first, I’ve gotten used to it, and am really enjoying the speedier way to learn.  I feel like I’m learning more information in half the time, and am still able to retain what I’ve heard.

Of course, as I’ve said before on this site, successful life change doesn’t happen just by gaining the right information.  We must take action by applying what we’ve learned.

Give this quick tip a try and let me know how it goes for you.