“Progress happens too slowly to notice; setbacks happen too fast to ignore,” Morgan Housel once said. One of the most challenging aspects of goal setting is wanting success to happen quickly or instantly. Most people set a goal and develop a timeline, and if they don’t reach their goal by a specific date, then they consider it a failure. The most successful people, however, focus more on consistently compounding small wins to reach success. Here are five characteristics of long-term success:
- Set Realistic Goals: The first characteristic of reaching long-term success is to create realistic goals for the future. While being visionary in our work and life is important, it’s always critical to find smaller, short-term success during that journey. Focus on setting small, realistic goals that will help reach a larger vision. How consistently do you set small, realistic goals?
- Avoid Strict Timelines: The second characteristic of long-term success is avoiding strict timelines. Goal setting theories suggest making goals timely, and while it’s important to have a general timeline, they can also create stress. Reaching our goals is not always about achieving it at a specific time. Sometimes our process encounters a roadblock, and we need to adjust. The most successful people can navigate those challenges. How effectively do you create adjustable timelines for your goals?
- Take Small Actions: The third characteristic of long-term success is consistently taking small actions. For example, if a person wants to develop a website or a blog, then they can lay out small actions over the course of 2-3 months that will help them develop their website. Once the writer creates the website, then it’s time to start posting once per month, and it can slowly develop into more. Taking small actions allows us to develop routines and find small wins. How effectively do you take small actions each day?
- Develop Routines: The fourth characteristic of long-term success is to develop routines. After creating the goal and developing small actions, focus on creating simple routines that align with those actions. For example, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings you go for a two mile walk to get exercise. On Saturday morning, you write for 30 minutes and develop a short post for your website. Creating routines helps move the larger vision forward and makes it part of your daily life. How effectively do you develop routines?
- Celebrate Wins: The fifth aspect of long-term success is to celebrate small achievements along the way. Sometimes we get so focused on the larger end goal that we forget to celebrate some of the small wins along the way. Find ways to celebrate the actions and routines you’ve developed while working toward your vision. How consistently do you celebrate small wins?
Continuous improvement means combining both visionary goals and small, short-term success. The process toward reaching significant goals includes compounding small actions and routines. People who set goals often fall into the mistake of setting them too big, expecting too much action, and wanting a fast process to success. It’s critical to be patient with the process, but create urgency around the smaller actions.
What characteristics lead to long-term success?