The questions below are simple and self-explanatory. However, that doesn’t mean that when asked and answered, they cannot outline authentic detail about where you are headed and why.

Use these questions to help shape your vision, action, and discipline; they won’t drive it, as that part is up to you.

Instead, they will give you clarity as to where you are headed, how you will get there, and why you are doing what you are.

Enjoy!

1.  Why will you be at peace with your decisions?
Regardless of what you do, why or how you do it, there will always be those against what you do.

A lot of the time, this is more about them than about you and what you are doing. However, regardless of the motive, they will, for any number of reasons, still take time to question your motives, point out the flaws in your thinking, and challenge the rationale behind your decisions.

The simple way to deal with this is to ensure you are at peace with your decisions and why you made them. These decisions might not be for everyone, but as long as you:

a. Understand them;
b. Have a strong and relevant rationale as to why you are making them;
c. Understand the consequences of these decisions;

You should be good to go.

2. What are you trying to accomplish? Why?
You need to be able to answer these questions at any given moment in time. In fact, I encourage you to go one step further and make sure you ask and answer those two questions of yourself every single day.

By being able to answer the questions of ‘what’ and ‘why’, you give yourself purpose and reason for being. It will allow you to make the connection between intent and action, between reason and result. It will help build the fuel needed to attain the result. The fuel being discipline, motivation, commitment and purpose.

3. What is standing in your way?
In pursuing any form of success, there will be both challenges and surprises. You can spend all the time in the world trying to develop a strategy for when surprises come, and you probably should.

However, in real terms, you will never be able to identify every obstacle that will appear out of nowhere, so don’t spend too much time trying to guess what they might be. Simply understand the fact that at any given moment in time, an obstacle or roadblock might appear, so just be ready to deal with them when they do.

There will be the obstacles you already know about, the challenges that sit in front of you right now. Once again, deal with them, don’t ignore them, as they won’t go away by themselves. Know that whatever you leave to chance will come back and bite you, and usually at the time when you can least afford the distraction and slowing of your momentum.

4. What comes next?
If there were one thing and one thing only, I would say that you need to know, and that is ‘what comes next’. Not what has to happen in a day, a week, or next month. Too many people lose their way because they look too far in advance. The further they look, the more nervous they get, the more worried they get, the more they question their ability to get the job done; and hence their confidence drops as well as their momentum.

Once again, simply focus on what you are doing now. As you do this, you understand how this leads to what comes next.

5. How will you celebrate?
Sometimes it is a long time between drinks; therefore, celebrating the small wins is a distinct necessity. Keep the celebration in context with the size of the success, but make sure you recognise and reward when and where you are succeeding.

However, in saying that, don’t ever mistake ‘activity for achievement’ and start recognising every little step along the way. Be understanding and honest with your perspective of what should be celebrated during the process and how that fits in with how you will celebrate the overall achievement you are pursuing.

All Done?

Now its time to follow through and make sure:

The Journey Continues!