The secret to achieving more...

As I sit down on my reading desk, thinking about the outgoing year so far and ruminating over my mistakes, goals, as well as my accomplishments and looking forward and planning for the coming year, a thought just struck me.
Something I never realized about myself, something I had been looking out for outside of myself.

I had been thinking…”why do some people achieve a lot within a year and some achieve so little or nothing within the same period?” We all had the same 365 days in a year, the same 12 months, the same 52 weeks and the same 24 hours! So, how come some people become more successful and accomplish so much more than others within the very same space of time? These were questions and thoughts that swam through my mind as I was reminiscing over 2012.

It was as I was going over these thoughts in my mind that this thought struck me, this “secret” I discovered. The secret to achieving, to accomplishment, to success. It is found not in the volumes of books, or in celestial caves and spiritual catacombs, but in the simplicity of two letters. The letters “DO”.

I know that at the beginning of 2012 we all had our hopes and expectations high. We had these big hairy audacious goals which we romantically dreamed of achieving and some of us even did well to crystallize and convert them to goals. We all had several lofty ideas in our heads, which some of us penned down, stuck on our walls, mirrors and cupboards and attempted implementing some. But at some point during the year, we just lost steam. The ideas no longer seemed feasible and even became a very big burden to us. Some of us still found courage to execute a few of those plans, but many of us did nothing but wish, hope, pray and dream that somehow they will.

Personally, my rating of accomplished goals was not 100% or the ideal 1,000% as some folks (especially motivational speakers & certain preachers) would hype themselves to be. I did score a little below my personal average though I know I could have done much better. I write this article for those of us who have a lot of unwritten dreams/ideas and a million more written down goals and plans which we have done nothing about or have perhaps given up on.

As the New Year is approaching, it is a time for us to reflect on the things that worked for us in this year and those that didn’t; learn from our mistakes and then correct; step out of our comfort zones and dare; prepare, plan and then go out there and DO! A lot of times we spend more time talking about what we plan or hope to do than we spend actually working on getting our plans and dreams working. Enough of the talking! It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get your fingers dirty!

For me, I am grateful for the opportunities that came my way in this year, the ones I took advantage of and the ones I missed. I am also grateful for the mistakes that I made and the tough lessons they compelled me to learn in life and business. I appreciate the people that helped me along the way to DO, be and achieve the things I did. They made me realize the importance of people in life and business. As I review the outgoing year and prepare for the coming year, there is one thing I have committed myself to consistently doing. And that is to constantly challenge myself to DO more, be more, achieve more and realize more of my goals, dreams and aspirations. I am not afraid of taking risks, of making mistakes or failing. Now I am better equipped to analyze my choices, calculate my risks and then make a decision. I believe the coming year will be fraught with its challenges, but I also perceive that it would present equal and perhaps greater opportunities as well.