Like most people, you have that fervent desire for success in various aspects of life. Be it in a fulfilling career, a business pursuit or finding love and making it last, you would do your best to hold all these.

Many other people do, too. But you’re probably a few steps ahead because you know the value of setting goals and a course of action to reach something.

But even with set goals, some things still hold you back. It’s mostly forceful questions of your strength and will to sustain your action plan toward success.

Will it work? Will it be easy? Will the achievements come soon?

Well, it’s a matter sticking to your goals and keeping yourself inspired to work for its success.

People often have great dreams and even their crudest means to achieve something fantastic are inspiring to a certain point. They did set goals, but somehow they failed to follow through for various reasons. In the end, they sulked at the thought someone might flash the “L” for loser in the next corner.

Now definitely, you wouldn’t want that. You are determined, after all, to make the “L” sign be two fingers flashing a “V” for the victory you will have. Or it could be the V for “peace” that you find, knowing you did stick to your guns – or goals! – and the blissful contentment that comes with the success.

So how do you stick to your goals till you achieve your dreams? Here’s how:

1. Have a Clear-Cut, Specific and Realistic Goal

Be it in time element or the courses of action, your goals need to be very clear. This makes it so much easier to accomplish instead of just generally saying, “I will be rich!” Of course, anybody can dream to have all the bucks, luxurious wheels and homes and a flashy or comfortable lifestyle. But you MUST have the picture of what you want.

Having a specific desire or dream gives you a reality check. It’s easy to say, “Someday, I’ll be a famous rock star!” or that in ten years time you’ll dine with corporate giants. Say all your wild dreams, and then follow it with questions like, “Do I have the talent to be a rock star?” or “Do I need a degree in business or just climb the corporate ladder like mad without a background of the industry?”

The point is, you need to have a dream – BUT first make sure it’s something you can work on and have the potential to achieve. The secret to achieving something is to have measurable or quantifiable answers to the general questions. If you have a clear-cut goal, you have a picture of the outcomes as well as the necessary steps to achieve all of it.

Once you have the clarity of goals and valuation of yourself and your potentials, then you could make realistic goals that COULD be achieved. Clear goals mean clear course of action, working well with positive and negative pressures around you, and not being distracted from your focus.

2. Create Your Atmosphere of Success

Often, even the most determined people end up failing because they are overwhelmed by negative forces surrounding them. But you can stay glued to your goals when you are surrounded with people who inspire you, push you further and even make room for you to work harder. These people can be family and friends, or they can be workmates or peers who share the same mindset about achieving goals.

You can also stick to your goals if you fill the spaces you move in with reminders of your desire. Write motivational words on the fridge door, have similar inspiring lines on your coffee mug at work or a framed picture on your bedroom wall. These reminders will be your constant “silent” cheerleader as you pursue victory. You could even fill your iPod with songs that bring you back to the reasons why you’re working on the goals, and have one theme song as your phone’s ringtone!

Study other modes of how to make your goal a powerful magnet wherever you are, and do make yourself a forceful element moving towards it – all the time!

3. Act Now and Party Later

Many people lose sight of their well-set goals because they opt not to take action right away.  Unknowingly, their goals are slowly moving farther away as they put off until tomorrow the work they could do today!

Seize the day, make the wisest choice and act now. This is the right mindset of someone who wants their goals at hand. On the sad side, the people who wallow in dreams and don’t take immediate action wait for tomorrow. Once a door of opportunity opens, they scramble and act unknowingly, resulting in haphazard attainments, if at all. Now, you wouldn’t want to do that, right? You want consistent movement toward your goals, you desire smooth and educated actions and you definitely want to be prepared for whatever challenges come.

So instead of a laid-back approach to achieving success, map out the routines you will need to undertake. Have a well-scheduled action plan as this will help you determine what you will need for each step along the way. Consistently pursuing your goal will also push you to always be ready, and make each of your endeavors more meaningful. It gets you excited at the challenge of a new task as well as elevates your joys in each completed task of the road toward success.

With this, you need not leave your laid out actions and plans for tomorrow or get distracted by the trivialities that pull you away from your goals; instead, you do the tasks for today and congratulate yourself for the results, and have a quiet celebration that you’re a few steps closer to your dreams.

Ready to do all these? Here’s my “V” for you…it means I wish you peace with the certainty of a good road ahead; and it’s also for the victory you will get every day until that final moment when you reach your set goal!

Arina Nikitina is a blogger who shares practical goal setting, motivation, and productivity tips at http://www.arinanikitina.com

Photo by ivanlanin

I want to be victorious within my family.  I want to raise my two beautiful daughters to be confident, happy, productive women. 

I want to remain married ’til death do us part. 

I want to be victorious in my career and earn a good living for myself and my family. 

The list of victories in life that I desire could go on.  I’m sure we all want certain victories, but how do we attain these prizes?  I want to do what I can to give myself the best chance possible of winning where it is important.  Where should I concentrate my effort?

The critical element to achieving great victory in life

The key to achieving great victories is leadership.  Without leadership there is no common direction.  Individuals, families, teams and organizations that lack leadership wander aimlessly.  They have no common purpose to achieve.  They are only guided by their personal agendas, wants and pleasures.

The only way to realize a great victory is for everyone to work together to accomplish the individual goals necessary to win the victory.  This means that one or more people have to lead the way.  They have to rally the troops toward the cause.

Four steps to lead others to great victory in life

Are you leading the people in your life toward a great victory?  You cannot expect them to get there without leadership.  Here is what you need to do:

1.  Picture yourself as a leader

First, you must assume the leadership role.  You must take it upon yourself to lay out the direction you think you need to go to achieve victory.  Leaders do not need a formal position or specific authority.  They just need to see the gap between where things are today and where they need to be.  Once you see yourself as a leader, then you can start working toward victory!

2.  Create an audacious vision

Envision for yourself what winning will look like.  You have to begin with the end in mind!  You need a compelling vision in order to motivate your “team” to join you in achieving the victory.  Work out a very detailed and complete vision of exactly what you want the future to look like.  Don’t think small!  Your vision should be exciting and challenging.  Daydream to your heart’s content!

3.  Set high goals and expectations

Break your vision down into individual goals.  These are the steps it will take to achieve your vision.  This is where you begin to convert your dreams into a plan.  A part of setting goals involves creating expectations.  Let your “team” know that you expect a lot from them.  People will live up to what you expect.  They want to please you.  If you set the bar too low, then that’s all you’ll get.

4.  Praise your team for success

Be liberal with your praise as your “team” starts to make progress toward your vision.  Encourage them.  Pat them on the back.  Reward them for a job well done.  People like to be recognized for their accomplishments.  Also, people tend to repeat the behaviors for which the are praised.  This will build momentum!

Lead your team to great victory in life!

Great victory is possible if you stand up and lead the way.  Your family, employer, church and community need you to lead them to victory.  They want to be a part of something worthwhile.  Don’t let them down!

I’m certainly not going to leave my future to chance.  I’m going to do my best to lead the way.

What are you going to do to win a great victory in life?

Photo by cmaccubbin

It is important that we take the time to celebrate even our small victories.

By marking these successes, we make them stick out in our minds.  It forces us to acknowledge our progress and increases the likelihood we’ll repeat the positive behavior in the future.

So, go ahead and treat yourself for all your victories, even the small ones!

Suggested ways to celebrate small victories

Did you have a good day at work today?  Did you finish a noteworthy project or deliver a good presentation?  Did you close a sale?

For my stay-at-home moms, did you survive another day with a toddler?  Did the kids get to and from school on time?  Did you finish a household chore?

Whatever your goals, be sure to recognize your victories.  Here are some ideas for ways to celebrate:

1.  Buy yourself a banana split from your favorite ice cream store.

2.  Give yourself permission to take a day off and relax.

3.  Get a latte at Starbucks.  Mocha is my choice!

4.  Take an hour and listen to some of your favorite music.

5.  Go to lunch with your best friend.

6.  Buy yourself a new shirt.

7.  Throw an impromptu dinner party.

8.  Perform a random act of kindness.

9.  Grill yourself a steak out on the barbeque.

10.  Go for a walk in the woods.

11.  Bake a pan of brownies and share them with friends.

12.  Go on a date to that new restaurant you’ve been wanting to try.

13.  Have a tall frozen margarita.

14.  Eat a chocolate bar, preferably with almonds.

15.  Call your parents and brag a little.

16.  Race a go-kart for the thrill of it.

17.  Spend a couple of hours alone in a beautiful place.

18.  Meet someone new at a social gathering.

19.  Take a weekend road trip.

20.  Drink a large cherry limeade.

21.  Get yourself an iPod.

22.  Take a long nap.

23.  Go see an inspiring movie.

24.  Share a bottle of champagne with your spouse.

25.  Give everyone in your family a big hug and kiss!

Small victories are worth celebrating too!

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list of ways to celebrate, but it should give you plenty of ideas for how to treat yourself.  Making your victories special will make them memorable so, go ahead and pat yourself on the back once in awhile.  You deserve it!

Photo by -Dario-

1.  Extraordinary things CAN happen.

Winners stick their necks out and try things because they believe it is possible to win and win big.  It takes some real guts to audition for American Idol.  You could be made a fool of on national television.  Admit it.  The only reason that anyone watches the beginning auditions of Idol is to see Simon crush a few people.  If you want to win big in life, you have to believe that winning big is possible.  David Cook is a believer!

2.  Winning takes stamina.

Winning anything meaningful in life usually takes time and is a result of a lot of hard work.  We often don’t hear about all the effort that went into winning, but when you examine the stories of winners, you often find they disciplined themselves, tried for years, and finally got the big pay off.  American Idol seems like a long, grueling contest.  I imagine that part of what determines the winner is their stamina.  A couple of weeks ago, I thought David Cook was waning, but he held in there to the end and gave great performances when it counted.  We have to do the same to win.

3.  Creativity is a key advantage.

I think that one of the things that set David Cook apart from David Archuleta and the other contestants was his creativity.  He wasn’t afraid to mix things up a bit.  He always seemed to put his own unique twist on everything he did.  This helped him to set himself apart.  Winners are trailblazers.  They use creativity and innovation to take what is common and make it new again.  Very few big ideas are solely original.  You just have to do things a little better than the competition to be a winner.  Simple enough, right?

4.  Winning often comes when least expected.

As I understand it, David Cook went to the audition in support of his brother.  Producers had to coax him into auditioning.  Can you imagine?  Think of all the bounty that Cook will receive from being the American Idol and he didn’t even go expecting to audition!  Winners, when asked, often say that they were just in the right place at the right time.  Of course, when the time arises you have to be able to perform, but you never know when your big break might occur.  We should always be on the lookout for your next great opportunity.

5.  Winning is SWEET!

Did you see David Cook’s emotional response last night?  He was overwhelmed with it all as he should have been.  Several of the American Idol winners have really hit it big.  Idols like Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and Ruben Studdard have gone on to have successful careers.  They have earned a lot of money and enjoyed fantastic lifestyles.  When we apply ourselves and become a winner, then we get to reap the rewards for a job well done!

Winning isn’t everything, but it’s better than losing!

This morning David Cook is basking in his victory.  He has a lot to look forward to as this year’s American Idol.  He believed, persevered, and used his creativity to win even when he didn’t expect it.  These lessons can serve us well in our endeavors.  It just goes to show that following your heart, taking some risks, and never quitting can make you a winner!

Photo by meagan383

First grade awards assembly is a great example.

I will be attending my daughter’s first grade awards assembly a little later this morning.  This is what got me started thinking about celebrations.  It is so cool that the school takes time out to recognize the kids for their accomplishments over the year.  I’m sure there will be several little awards that seem almost trivial, but I don’t think they are really.  They encourage the children and help them build a sense of pride in their effort.  It helps the kids to stop and think about how far they’ve came and what they’ve learned.  If we were taught to do this as kids, then why does it seem that we have forgotten about it as adults?

Ideas of small things to celebrate in our lives.

We need to remember to celebrate more often.  We need to do what the kids are doing and take time to recognize our own accomplishments.  Not just the big ones, but all the small victories in our lives as well.  Here are some things to stimulate ideas for celebrating:

1.  Celebrate that it is Friday.

I remember when I was a teenager and Friday arrived.  There was a sense of excitement in the air all day long.  When school was out on Friday afternoon in the Spring, I remember leaving the campus with the windows rolled down and the car stereo cranked up a little louder than normal.  I celebrated the sense of freedom and adventure that the upcoming weekend promised.  I felt joy for all that I had achieved throughout the week.  We can do the same now.  Start today!  You don’t have to do something big, but do something to celebrate what you did this week and to start the weekend with an adventurous attitude.

2.  Celebrate the completion of a goal or project.

What have you accomplished lately that you missed celebrating?  Go back and reward yourself in some small way.  Buy yourself a small gift.  Go out to dinner with your family or friends in recognition of your accomplishment.  We recently paid off our last debt except for our mortgage.  My wife and I took a debt-free vacation to Puerto Vallarta to celebrate.  We even paid cash!  Of course, you don’t have to go on a vacation.  You can just buy yourself your favorite treat.  Anything that marks the event in your mind and helps you to enjoy it.  The whole purpose of setting goals and achieving things in life is to be happy.  Why miss an opportunity?

3.  Celebrate a windfall.

Many people have started receiving their Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate checks so why not celebrate this windfall a little?  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not advocating blowing the whole thing, I think you should use your rebate wisely, but taking $50 to buy your family dinner at a restaurant is fun and won’t hurt anything.  We can become so focused on getting on to the next thing, that we forget to celebrate when an unexpected good thing happens to us.

Celebrating the small things adds joy to our lives.

I hope these ideas have stimulated your thinking about what you can celebrate in your life.  My list here is by no means exhaustive.  However, it should help you to get started thinking in the right direction.  Become more mindful of the good things in your life.  The more you appreciate them, the more joy they will bring to you.  A part of living the good life is stopping long enough to relish in the moment!  Wahoo!  It is Friday!

What do you have to celebrate?  Leave a comment below and share it with us all.

Photos by -Dario- and pasotraspaso