Without a predetermined path to follow, achieving your goals becomes a bit hit or miss. When you create a success blueprint from the start and plan out the precise direction you are going and how to get there though, things become much more organized and straightforward. I call this planning ‘The Magic W System’ and it’s a great way to set you on a direct path to what you want to achieve.

For this purpose of writing I am going to use the example of starting up a home based business but it can be applied to anything that has a set goal in mind.

What? At the very beginning you have to ask yourself what it is that you really want. You need to think out exactly what it is you are aiming to achieve. Don’t be vague here and just say ‘I want a new car’. You need to be clear on exactly what car you want. The colour, the make, model, engine size, the extras package it comes with, the type and size of the rims and tyres, the size of the sound system….everything! The more clearly you define your exact goal the easier it is to visualise having it and this is what you should be aiming for. By visualising achieving your goal with a picture clear image of it in your mind you create a sense of excitement and positivity inside you. The more you can imagine it, the better. So think of what you want as many things as it might be, and describe them exactly.

Why? Next, ask yourself why you want to achieve your goals. You have to make sure that your goals are YOUR GOALS and you know just why you are working towards them. Quitting smoking is a good example of this. You can get nagged by everyone to quit, and no doubt you’ve thought about it, but until it becomes YOUR goal want to quit you’ll find it hard to. So make sure your goals are clear to you. Understand why you want to hit them and what will happen when you do. You may say you want to own your own home and pay off the mortgage so you can put the kids through college in 5 years. Your goal is clear and gives you more incentive to achieve it.

Write! This is the powerful part. Write it all down. Write what you want and why you want it. When you can see this on paper it takes on an even stronger form. It becomes that little bit more real now as you see it looking back at you in fine detail, exactly what you are now working towards. You can also read this list of goals anytime when its written down and reaffirm to yourself just what it is that you are aiming towards whenever you need a bit of boost in your incentive. I always like to read my goals just before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning. It’s the constant affirmation to yourself of why you are working and what is at the end of it all that really makes you push yourself forward.

When? Now that you have a clear idea of what you want and why all written down in front of you the next step is to give all of this a time frame. When do you intend to have these goals done by. Think back to working for your boss again. If you were just given the work and he said to just give it back when it’s done, god knows when he’d get it. With no time frame to have things done by there is no urgency to complete them and without that you soon lose focus on getting things done.

So formulating a timeline for every goal is crucial. Look at what you want to achieve and split them up into immediate goals, short term and long term. What do you want to have done in a week, a month, a year or 5 years? Be realistic though. Don’t put unrealistic expectation on yourself that is simply impossible to achieve. This will just put an unnecessary strain on yourself and make you feel a failure when you can’t meet your own deadline. So think about things realistically and plan ahead.

What will you give? Ask yourself what you are willing to give to get what you want. Everyone knows you have to make sacrifice when you want something, be it free time, your favourite TV show, going out with your friends or whatever. Basically you are going to have to give up something you like and trade that time for your goal achievement. If you say you will give 2 hours extra a night and 4 at the weekends then make sure you stick to that! If you find yourself slacking off look back at your list of goals and time line to have them by and reaffirm this to yourself. You have to be hard on yourself so make sure you stick to what you agreed to with yourself!

Work..Make it happen! Now you have your plan of action in front of you, your success blueprint as I like to call it, make it work. Having all the best intention in the world is great, but without any work happening from you it’s never going to happen. Look at everything you want, the time frame to have it by and what you want to give to have it all, and write out a plan of how each one of these is going to be achieved and then make it work! Stick to your plan and keep your goals in mind and success is as good as guaranteed.

Whether or not you have a fear of failure would depend on the definition that you gave to the word “failure.” Or should I say, the definition that the people around you gave to the word and you accepted as being true. The unfortunate truth is that the fear of failure is responsible for more unrealized dreams and potential than any other factor in human existence. If this fear was somehow abolished from our psyches, just imagine what could be accomplished. What would you do if you new without a doubt that you could not fail and therefore had no fear? The answers are endless and the accomplishment would be astounding…unfathomable.

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
Winston Churchill

The problem lies in the fact that we have been so conditioned to see failure as the worst possible outcome, to see it as demoralizing, humiliating, and life altering that we would rather not attempt something if there is even a small probability of failure, even if the potential upside is huge. “What if I fail?” “What if I lose all my money?” “What if she/he says no?” “What if I end up looking foolish?” Once we put ourselves in this frame of mind not only are we all but eliminating our chance of taking action, we’re ensuring that if we do take action there is going to be a better than average chance that the action will not lead to the outcome that we are looking for. How much focus, drive, determination and enthusiasm are you going to be putting toward something that begins with the mindset of “what if I fail?” What frame of mind are you going to be in? What is your self talk going to be? What will your focus be on? Will it be on succeeding, or will it be on not failing? These are two very different focuses and bring two very different feelings with them. One brings a feeling of anticipation and exhilaration and the other brings a feeling of anxiety, insecurity and fear. Which feelings would you rather have when starting a new venture?

The fact of the matter is that nothing of great value was ever accomplished without multiple failures preceding it. Any successful person will tell you that if you want to succeed quicker, you must fail faster. Remember this; failing to hit a ball seven out of ten times will get you in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

What would the world look like if everyone gave in to their fear of failure or gave up after failing? Have you ever heard of a company called Traf-O-Data? My guess is that you haven’t. The objective of the business was to analyze automobile traffic flow. The reason you probably don’t know about this company is because it flopped, it was an utter failure. What would have happened if the founders of Traf-O-Data, humiliated and reeling from the failure of their business gave up and got themselves a secure nine to five job that brought them a steady paycheck with little risk of failure, and no risk of success? Well for one thing there would be no Microsoft. All our lives would be drastically different and Bill Gates and Paul Allen wouldn’t be among the wealthiest people in the world.

Walt Disney, founder of the Disney Empire, creator of Mickey Mouse and fellow animator Ub Iwerks opened an animation studio called Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists in 1920. That business went belly up within months. What if Disney decided to quit after that failed attempt? This would be a very different world without the company that Walt Disney created following his failure. I don’t know about you, but I don’t even want to think about a world without Mickey Mouse. This leads us to an interesting question, “is what we consider failure, actually failure?”

“To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”
Elbert Hubbard

There are some who would say that there is no such thing as failure…I’m one of them. That every experience we have has a purpose in our life, whether we define the experience as a failure or a success again, much like the other words and events in our life, is subjective and according to our own reality or world view. Was the demise of Traf-O-Data a failure or was it the best thing that could have happened for Bill Gates and Paul Allen? Imagine if the business had been a success. What are the possible scenarios that could have arisen? Would they have gone on to create Microsoft, or would they have been content to live a successful life as traffic flow analyzers. They probably would have been millionaires if the business had succeeded, but would they have been billionaires? We’ll never know. The only thing we know for sure is that the lessons they learned while developing the code on Traf-O-Data was instrumental in their next startup…a little company by the name of Microsoft. Hurray for that failure. Would anyone define Bill Gates and Paul Allen as failures? No one I know.

When we think about leadership-especially in regard to building and growing a successful small business-it’s easy to envision the traditional top-down leadership that so often goes along with the term. We often think about leadership along the lines of being a major political leader or being the chief executive of a major Wall Street company. And while this certainly is a respectable vision of leadership, when it comes to small business, we’ve got to see beyond this traditional view.

Following are the top 5 principles of successful leadership that I’ve found make THE difference in whether your business flies or flops:

Principle #1:  Leadership Means Having People Skills.

Let’s face the facts-most small businesses don’t have scores of employees to lead. Instead,  leadership revolves around building successful business relationships with clients and friends of the business. Whether it’s negotiating the next big deal or selling the product or service represented by your business, your suppliers, customers, and all parties in between are who the small business owner must strive to lead.

Principle #2:  Leaders Must Be Adept At Solving Problems.

Being a natural leader makes it that much easier for a small business owner to be able to reach outside the box and come up with creative solutions to the problems and dilemmas faced by any business. It should come as no surprise that the list of qualities found in leaders corresponds very closely with the list of qualities found in problem solvers.

Principle #3: Leadership Requires Building Confidence.

Inspiring confidence in others when it comes to the capabilities of your small business is something that’s essential to success. Without this leadership trait, it would be quite difficult to handle the necessary business operations like securing financing and developing a strong sales plan. Remember, healthy confidence begins first with the leader, only radiating outward from there.

Principle #4:  Leaders Depend On Big Picture Vision.

Because the small business entrepreneur must successfully manage so many different facets of a business when leading it from inception through the growth stage, having “20/20″ big picture vision is an essential leadership quality. Without this keen sense of vision to serve as a guiding light through the ups and downs-and ultimately to success-a business will gradually lose its course and drift off path.

Principle #5: Leading A Small Business Demands Boundless Energy.

It’s not always easy to keep plugging along no matter how overwhelmed you might be, but maintaining a constantly enthusiastic aura of energy is key to developing a business from the ground up. Most proven leaders will tell you that they only found major success after hitting rock bottom first. Boundless energy makes bouncing back from inevitable lows possible.

In small business, effective leadership goes well beyond the scope of leading employees alone-in reality, reaching goals means leading every single aspect of a business to success.