The sad truth is that most people never attain the things that they wholeheartedly desire in life. Almost all of us start out with big dreams, only to let the busy cycle of everyday life cause us to settle for less. The small minority of people who actually go on to achieve big things do so because of a specific set of actions and behaviors that are conducive to uncommon success.
It is very easy to get caught in the habit of doing what everyone around you is doing. If you’ll notice, however, very few if any of the people around you are on the path to achieving anything remarkable. With that in mind, if you have big plans for your life, it is critical that you take a different approach.
20 Actions To Get What You Really Want
Although not an exhaustive list, these 20 actions will position you in a much more favorable place to rise above the monotony of the crowd and actually attain what you really want out of this life.
1| Solidify Your “Why”
For the most part, making your biggest aspirations become reality involves a great deal of hard work and sacrifice. The road to success is anything but easy street. In order to achieve something that other people will not, you must be willing to do things they refuse to do.
With that being said, it is important to always keep in mind your reasoning and conviction behind the process of achievement. Without a strong belief in your cause, you are far more likely to throw in the towel when things get difficult and the obstacles continue to loom ahead.
Even in the face of adversity, it is critical that you never lose sight of your passion for whatever it is you are pursuing.
2| Eliminate Unnecessary Distractions
In case you are unaware, life today is jam packed with a never-ending array of distractions. All throughout the day, we are bombarded with things that beg for our attention. Whether this be cell phone notifications, your neighbor playing music too loud, or committing to give your time to too many extracurricular activities, distractions are everywhere.
The issue with these things is that you are only allowed a limited amount of time each day to pursue what you desire the most. While most of these distractions don’t require a large amount of time, they can quickly pile up when left unchecked.
If you are serious about getting what you really want, it is important to make a genuine effort to eliminate the things in your life that are unimportant and/or do not bring you closer to your goals.
3| Learn To Expect Changes In Your Plans
Another certainty in your pursuit is that your original plan will almost certainly not remain intact throughout its entirety. Life has a way of throwing all kinds of kinks and unexpected changes to every plan we come up with. This is unavoidable and trying to work outside of these parameters is futile.
To mitigate this truth, it is important that you go into any process with the knowledge that changes will need to be made, probably on a regular occasion. If you fail to do so, you will likely become discouraged as you watch your perfectly organized plan of action fall to pieces early on in your journey. Having a plan is great, but remember to include change in the blueprint.
4| Rise Above Negative Feedback
For whatever reason, human nature usually does not allow us to root for someone else going after anything we feel is personally out of the question. Because of this tendency, you will encounter doubt and criticism from many people around you in your effort to attain something that is uncommon.
Even the strongest minds can become worn down and discouraged over time when everyone around them only provides discouraging feedback. It is wise to mentally prepare yourself as much as possible for the criticism that will surely come.
With that in mind, avoid letting the voices of others affect your own vision. This is even true when it comes to encouragement. If you are reliant on the praise and support of other people to keep you going, their ridicule will do just the opposite.
5| Learn To Work With Others
Although avoiding the reliance of extrinsic motivation is important, it is unwise to assume that you can achieve any high degree of success completely on your own. This is somewhat of an arrogant mindset that can quickly stifle your progress.
At some point along the way, it will be necessary to seek the advice of other people that are more knowledgeable about a particular subject than you are.
Furthermore, you may find yourself unable to complete a necessary step in your plan without assistance from others. This is why it is important that you are able to work with other people effectively.
6| Embrace Discomfort
One of the hardest things for a person to do is to know something uncomfortable lies ahead and push forward anyway. Human nature is highly inclined to seek out things that please us and provide satisfaction while avoiding those things that cause pain and hardship. For the most part, this is beneficial.
However, on your path to achieving what you desire the most, you will need to develop the ability to embrace discomfort. As we have already discussed, the process will be far from easy and things will go wrong from time to time.
7| See Beyond The Short Term
When you are consistently striving to achieve something uncommon and truly worthwhile, there will always be shortcuts and compromises trying to entice you at every turn.
Knowing the long and arduous road you have ahead of you, these temptations will seem like an easy way out. In truth, none of these opportunities are going to measure up to the original goal you had in mind.
We have all heard it said that nothing worth having comes easy and this is the truth. Settling for short-term success is one of the biggest pitfalls when it comes to getting what you really and truly desire. If you are going to make your dreams a reality, you must maintain a clear image of the big picture.
8| Avoid Instant Gratification
While similar the number 7, this action is different enough to warrant its own mention. On your journey to getting what you really want, you can believe that your drive and motivation are going to fluctuate here and there. Even the most determined individuals don’t wake up every morning with tunnel vision. That being said, on the days when you simply don’t feel like staying the course, giving in to useless things that don’t pertain to your goals is a real threat.
On those days when binge watching the latest Netflix release or going out with your friends is calling your name when you know deep down you need to dedicate this time to executing your plan, stay strong. Don’t be mistaken, enjoying yourself here and there is a must, but succumbing to instant gratification to often can be your downfall.
9| Celebrate Small Victories
One of the more common mistakes made when striving to attain a lofty and long-term goal is the failure to recognize small victories along the way. For any big plan, there are multiple accomplishments that you will achieve in order to reach the final destination.
If you keep your nose to the grindstone and do not allow yourself to feel some sense of satisfaction from time to time, you run the risk of burning out before you get to where you want to be. In order to maintain your sense of purpose and motivation during the process of large achievement, it is critical to allow yourself to celebrate little successes when they occur.
As we have discussed, there will be lots of times when you feel like you are falling short and your plan is doomed to fail. You can almost guarantee that you will experience the discouragement brought about by these moments. Therefore, allowing yourself you have intermittent periods of patting yourself on the back is a must in order to counteract the less than favorable times.
10| Don’t Rest On Your Laurels
On the contrary, it is equally important that you avoid letting small victories instill a sense of complacency. It can be difficult to shortly celebrate a successful point in your journey and then immediately get back to the grind.
Always keep in mind the overarching desire, even when you take the next small step towards the final goal. If you allow yourself to believe you have earned the right to relax and take it easy for too long, you are certainly going to fall behind. Be kind to yourself when you succeed, but don’t let temporary victory lull you into stopping short of what you truly want.
11| Be Better Than Good Enough
We are living in a society that is perfectly content with settling for good enough at the expense of great. For weak-minded individuals, it is incredibly easy to convince themselves that taking the quick and easy route to a less optimal destination is the smart move.
How many people do we see working at a job that they hate or living a life that doesn’t fuel their fire simply because, at one point in time, it was the easiest or safest option? Unfortunately, this happens more often than not.
Always remember that good is the perpetual enemy of great. If the journey to big success is a path through the desert, good is the mirage of a nearby oasis, tempting you to stop and rest awhile. If you want to get what your heart desires, be better than good enough.
12| Be Willing To Adapt
Adaptability is arguably the single most important ability in not only humans, but every living thing. Without the ability to change your plan or reaction to unforeseen circumstances, your ability to thrive goes out the window.
The tools and skills needed at the beginning of your journey are likely to change multiple times along the way. If you are going to keep progressing, you must be willing to constantly learn new things and understand what you need to do right now. If you can adapt to your circumstances, you place yourself in a far better position to avoid stagnation.
13| Don’t Burn Bridges On Your Way Up
The truth of the matter is that striving to achieve big goals is often a fierce competition between individuals. Your path to success is usually more of a race than a solo trek. Beating other people and getting ahead is going to be a necessity from time to time.
Even though you may be in competition with other people racing for the finish line, it is important to make as few enemies as possible during the race. As we have already discussed, you will need help from other people from time to time.
Being an ethical competitor is essential. The last thing you want is to win the race, only to turn and face the crowd of enemies you have accrued along the way.
14| Big Changes Start Within
Often times, the most important step to achieving what you want is a personal change rather than a tangible action. If your thought process, mental environment, and self-discipline is not in the right place, your journey is doomed from the word go.
Be honest with yourself, if there are some personal changes you need to make, make them at the beginning. Trying to manage the external struggle that is attaining big goals while simultaneously struggling with your own mind can be a nightmare. You would never run a marathon while you were overweight and extremely out of shape.
15| Take Manageable Steps
The overall process involved when it comes to achieving something worthwhile can be quite intimidating. From the bottom of the mountain looking up, the thought of the entire ascent can sometimes be enough to persuade many individuals to not even begin.
While it is true that your path to getting what you really want is going to be challenging, creating a plan with smaller steps is a great way to make the process seem much more feasible.
As we previously discussed, small victories along the way are very important. Instead of imaging your process as a continuous straight line, mapping out regular intervals is a better option. By doing so, you can maintain a feeling of progress and have a better feel for where you are in relation to the overall goal.
16| Stay Organized At All Times
Staying organized is a habit that makes every process much more streamlined. This practice is all the more important when it comes to larger, long-term goals. Without order and structure, trying to execute a time-consuming plan without getting lost or forgetting important tasks is very difficult. This pertains to every aspect of your pursuit
Even if you feel like you have a clear mental picture of the entire process, writing things down on paper or electronically can provide a much better visual aid.
One way to structure this idea is by laying out your plan in the form of a checklist, not entirely different from your common grocery list. We’ve all heard the saying, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any path will take you there.”
17| Avoid Losing Yourself In The Pursuit
There are some things that you must inevitably sacrifice in order to achieve big things. Among these include sleep, free time and hobbies. While completely ignoring these parts of your life is a bad idea, they will most likely take a backseat to your process.
Some things, however, must absolutely not be sacrificed for the sake of achievement. Setting aside your morals, values and overall sense of self is an incredibly detrimental compromise when to comes to the pursuit of more. No matter how grand or important your goal is, nothing is worse losing who you are in the process. Not only is this harmful to every other facet of your life, it will also take away the feeling of fulfillment when you get what you want.
Having a strong conviction of the things you will and will not sacrifice on your journey is critical. Valuing yourself and the things you stand for must remain more important than anything you hope to attain.
18| Do Things The Right Way Instead Of The Fast Way
Two things that very rarely coexist on the path to success are doing things the right way and doing things the quickest way. Not only is the quick way going to yield less favorable results, it often involves shady and unethical decisions.
We are all familiar with stories of individuals who have risen to great heights only to have all of their achievements become overshadowed by scandal and controversy. What a shame to have your success rendered unimportant by the regrettable things you did to get there.
If you use shady tactics on your way to success, no achievement will ever be big enough to make people forget these practices. Even if it takes you considerably more time and effort, make sure to always choose the right way to do things rather than the quick way. By doing so, your achievements will receive their rightful congratulations at the journey’s end.
19| Remain Steadfast In The Face Of Failure
It is clear by this point on this list that you are going to become very acquainted with failure if you truly want to achieve big things in this life. This is why remarkable things are only reserved for the strong-minded individuals. Having the ability to march on when everything in you and around you is telling you to turn around and quit is a very rare asset.
This is a point that cannot be emphasized enough. Your perception of failure must be completely different than the common conception adopted by those around you. Instead of a stop sign or an immovable obstacle, your failures have to serve as lessons, allowing you to not only overcome them, but actually come out stronger and more equipped more success on the other side.
If you want to get the things you truly want, failure must not carry the weight that it does for most people. Keep going when you make a mistake, you will be glad you did.
20| Remain Humble In Victory
One of the easiest ways to mitigate the joy and fulfillment that comes from accomplishing something great is by taking on a sense of arrogance and superiority. Remember that being happy for someone else’s success is hard enough anyway and is basically impossible when the other person is a sore winner.
While you might think this is an obvious statement and one that is easy to adhere to, this is not the case. When you reach your goal, you become acutely aware of everything that you have been through to get there. The sacrifices, sweat and hard times you have overcome to reach the finish line can easily give you a sense of superiority over those around you.
Furthermore, you are unlikely to forget the people that counted you out and criticized you throughout the entire process. Given that these individuals are usually the first ones to congratulate you when you actually succeed, it can be very hard to accept their praise without rubbing your achievements in their faces.
Even though it can be hard, it is very important that you maintain a sense of humility when you accomplish things that your peers cannot and will not. As we previously discussed, the last thing you want to do is cast a shadow over your achievements by saying and doing things that cause others to resent you.
Rather than feeling high and mighty, use your platform and experiences to serve as a guide to others. Help the next one in line.
