3 Steps To Achieving High Payoff Success

© 2008 Linda Feinholz

Have you ever wondered how ‘those people’ achieve their success? Sure, they look focused, but what are they really doing that’s so different from how you’re spending your time?

In my 20’s I assumed ‘they’ - those highly successful folks, must be driven by ambition, fueled by a background of scarcity and worry, OR by family cash. I built those illusions by watching the ultra wealthy and the barely making, both of whom I spent time with.

It was only in my adult working years, dealing with thousands of people from all walks of life, in hundreds of different organizations and professions, that I was able to discern the truth behind the illusions.

From my point of view, an insider’s view from my consulting and coaching experience, the clients who reach the highest levels of success practice several things that specifically create a clear path and momentum to their goals.

Remember, what you focus on expands. So when we speak of creating success, take a look at what highly successful people place their attention on. You’ll find the mystery is stripped away.

So, what is it that those people are doing to support and spur their success? Generally, it stems from the following behaviors:

Behavior #1 – Get Clear On What Success Looks Like

Success can look very different for each person. Successful people define success for themselves. Not for their friends, clients, teachers, family but for themselves. For some, the definition is financial – the amount of money in the bank, or in investments. And so on.

One business owner I worked with realized he had already put away all the money he would need for all his kid’s college educations, and for his retirement with his wife. He wanted to continue working and building his company. And he decided the goal was 5% annual growth so that he could have a balanced life with time with his family, rather than ‘working like a maniac.’ His choice, no one else’s. His vision, no one else’s.

Behavior #2 - Focus on High Payoff Activities

I recently attended an interview of an astoundingly successful entrepreneur. In three year’s she’s built a 7-figure business in an industry that most people would wink and do at and disregard. She’s followed her vision, has now created a multiple-business company, and is expanding every branch of her business in a very measured (and extremely rapid) manner.

One of the keys she uses is laser like focus on what she commits to and what she does not. We’ve all been to conferences and seminars and taken pages full of ‘good ideas’ to go home with. She has turned that on it’s head. She ONLY writes down ideas that she knows for certain she’ll implement within 72 hours. Everything else she listens to and appreciates, and lets it go.

Behavior #3 – Create Measures So You Know If You’re On Track

The metrics you use in your business can be identical or radically different from those used by anyone else in your line of work. Sure, there are ‘industry standards’ you easily could use as some of what you measure – other people did the heavy lifting to identify valuable targets. Even better – choose metrics that are tied to your goals so that you and everyone else can participate in achieving them.

Many people I know are selecting ‘balanced’ lives rather than ones that have them overworking most of the year and collapsing into vacations to recover. One of the measures they’re now using is ‘days of free time’ per month – cell phones turned off, out of the office, paying attention to the other parts of their lives. They are even calculating the ROI (return on investment) of that down time in the increase in focus and productivity while ‘at work.’

And even more importantly, they are translating their personal behavior of measuring down time to their teams, encouraging others to set the same standards and design their lives to have the same balance. That’s a metric that translates into behavior for an entire team.

If you watch your favorite example of success, you’re likely going to find that they, too are setting crystal clear goals, using laser like focus on what’s important right now, and measuring what matters to keep themselves and their teams on track.

Successful people are using these practices day in and day out. They’ve honed them until this is their automatic way of engaging with life, and the great results they get reinforce using these techniques.

That’s a high payoff model to mirror.

August 9, 2008 | Filed Under Productivity Tools 

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