Can you believe it is the start of another year?

As we get older the years seem to pass more quickly so it becomes even more important that we make the most of the time presented to us. That means no more New Year’s Resolutions. They are a complete waste of time. Most people don’t even expect to keep them, so why would you make them?

Let’s take our success up another level by focussing on the five core elements we need to experience outrageous success.

Creation

The first element is to spend some time creating the ideas you want to implement for 2015. Be careful! It is very easy to make this a fantasy list. Only include what you REALLY want to achieve. If you have no passion or drive for an idea it will slip by the way side and get pushed out of your mind by someone else’s priorities that seem more urgent.

Some of you won’t need this step. You are already crystal clear what your focus is for the year. You know what you want to achieve and you are already headed in that direction. Fantastic! The reality is, that if you don’t write it down it is more likely to slip down your list of priorities. Make sure you spend the time to list your target achievements for the year.

If you are not sure where to start, pick a theme or focus for the year. Too often we are distracted by the minutia of our multiple goals. Have a single word or single statement theme for a year will keep you on track for what really counts.

Inspiration

The second element is all about getting excited. Surround yourself with ideas, images, people, and resources that get you excited about what you want to achieve.

You also need to protect yourself from negativity. You don’t need others stealing your dreams and inspiration. People who say, “what do you want to do that for?”, “that’s stupid” or “what a waste of time” will not help you achieve what you are after. Family and close friends are particularly good at doing this. They do it under the guise of “protecting you” but sometimes you don’t want the protection.

Inspiration is not something you have once and then it’s done. You need to set yourself up for success by having an “Inspiration System”. That is some process or system that continues to deliver inspiration.

Here are some ideas that have worked for others:

• Watching TED videos
• Reading inspirational books
• Regular inspirational newsletters
• Vision boards
• Mastermind groups
• Inspirational music
• Powerful quotes

Different things work for different people. Find out what works for you and put it into place

Motivation

People confuse motivation and inspiration.

Quite simply, Inspiration is external. It comes from hearing other peoples experience, creating a goal to achieve, having a coach or some other external factor as described above.

Motivation is internal. It comes from you. No one else can give you motivation only inspiration.

This is why an inspiration system is so important. Motivation is like trying so save water in a leaky tank. You use water every day and also some naturally leaks away. If you are not continually topping it up you find yourself without any at all.

Legendary speaker Zig Ziglar famously said that “Motivation is like personal hygiene – you need to attend to it every day.”

Some days you may only be able to rustle up enough motivation to get out of bed and other days you are an achieving dynamo. What you need to be able to do is to establish a system or process to ensure that you are getting regular bursts of inspiration to address your own levels of motivation.

Activation

Now it is time to make things happen.

Too often people talk a lot about what they want to achieve or tell you what they are going to do. It is important to remember that “Action is the magic word not Words are the magic action.”

All the inspiration and motivation in the world will do you no good if you do not take action. So break your Focus, Goals and Objectives down into tasks and give them a priority. Now apply that motivation and take action.

If you need to, set yourself up for success by having an “Accountability buddy”. This is someone who you make commitments of action to and then regularly check back with to track progress. This can be a paid coach, your mastermind group or someone on your team. Knowing you are accountable to an external person seems to add an increased importance to the task than if it is only in your own head.

Be wary in the activation phase.

Our “Urgency addiction” makes it very easy to become very busy on tasks that don’t move us closer to our goals for the year. It is worth taking a strategic view point on a regular basis to ensure that you are working on what counts and not just busy work or getting sidetracked on items that are important for others but not for yourself.

The focus must always be on the Activation element as this is where results are generated. The previous elements purely support this element. This is part of being Outcome focussed. Your focus has to be on achieving the ideas and objectives your came up with in your Creation phase.

Success will come if you do whatever it takes to sustain the Activation.

Celebration

If you make celebrating success a habit, success will become a habit.

Once you have achieved your goal or objective, it is imperative that you celebrate accordingly. The degree of celebration needs to match the importance of the objective. Some of your celebration will cost money and others wont.

Add to your inspiration and motivation by deciding at the very beginning what your celebration will be for each of your achievements. Don’t wait for only the significant achievements either. Sometimes the smaller more repetitive elements also need to be celebrated.

How does 2015 look for you?

The first thing you need to do is throw away those new year’s resolutions and free yourself up to have some really success.

If you employ these five elements with discipline and get ongoing support, you can’t help but have a successful 2015.

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