How to Succeed in 2018: Build a Success Scaffolding

Happy new year!

Like most people, you’ve probably made some resolutions. I’ve joined a gym and I plan to have rock hard abs by mid January. By March, I hope I’ll have lost enough belly fat so my wife can see them. That’s something I hope for every year. Like most people, I usually forget the resolution before the end of January. Harsh reality.

There must be a way to make our resolutions stick.

The solution may lie in this podcast episode: ” To Succeed at Anything. Do This. ” It’s from Good Life Project by Jonathan Fields (the first podcast iTunes recommended for me in 2018).

Fields has some background as a personal fitness trainer, so many of his examples are drawn from that experience. Fortunately, they can be applied to any area of life. And when I look back on some of my own areas of success, particularly in the past year, these principals certainly ring true for me. I think they can also be applied to improving your small business marketing efforts.

According to Fields, the way to making your resolutions stick is to build a success scaffolding. I’ve never literally built a scaffolding. I have taken one down; It’s actually one of a few near-death experiences I’ve had. But that’s another story.

Fortunately, Fields’ scaffolding is figurative. It’s based on 7 Ps :

• Pledge. Commit to an outcome and a course of action that will get you there. Then share your pledge with someone else, and you’ll multiply it’s effectiveness. Now start to take consistent action over time.
• People. Surround yourself with the kind of people who can give you the support you need. Fields puts them in these groups: co-strivers, champions, mentors, accountability partners and community. Fields says, “Nobody succeeds alone. It just doesn’t happen.”
• Possibility. You need to believe that you can achieve what you want to achieve. Even a 1% belief in the possibility is a start that you can build on. According to Fields, “Possibility is the gateway to action. If you do not act, everything fails.”
• Proof. Find people who have done what you want to do. Listen to their testimonials. Breathe in their inspiration.
• Picture. Paint a mental picture of where you want to be. Better yet, draw an actual picture and hang it where you can see it.
• Practical Process (“practical” is a bonus P). A process is critical. If it’s not practical, it’s never going to take root.
• Practice. Make these principles a part of who you are. It’s not just about habit and routine, although those are important. But, as Fields says, “we build these things into a practice — a regular part not just of what we do, but of who we are.” They need to become part of our DNA.

What resolutions have you made this year? Why not try this strategy to help make it happen? Do you need to improve your small business marketing practices? I’d love to help you build your success scaffolding in 2018.