Society would like for us to believe that achieving greatness, becoming a master, a rock star, or a multi-millionaire can happen overnight… with little effort. But that’s just not true.
It rarely happens fast and a plan isn’t winning the lottery. Looking deeper at those who’ve achieved great levels of success, you will find they’ve made sacrifices. Reaching your primary goals may require you to put some areas of life on hold.
Successful people who do great things spend painstaking hours honing their craft while everyone else sleeps. They probably missed all the fun parties, worked weekends or continued to dig in on subjects no one else found cool. But their choices and focus on the small things are what ultimately lead to long-term success.
They didn’t just get lucky. They didn’t become a rock star overnight though media would have you believe the opposite.
For every cover story about this or that billionaire, there is a less glamorous backstory of pains and pitfalls that aren’t quite as glamorous. Planned success doesn’t happen overnight. The public often overlooks the small things, focuses only on the great thing, and desires to skip all the steps in the middle. Success doesn’t work that way.
Look around. Where are you and what are the small steps that lead you there? If you’re already successful, then more of the same can lead toward great things. If you desire more, then start a plan. First, start with the end goal. What is it? What does it look like? What needs to be done? Then work backward and plan for all the small steps that lead up to that final great thing you desire. The media will come calling once you reach greatness, but usually not before!
If your financial life isn’t where you want it to be, then there’s a fix. But you must commit to the small things first.
Log in to your bank account and export your transaction history. Each line item is a small thing that has lead to where you are. If you like where you are make sure your plan calls for more of the same, or set new targets to shoot for. If you don’t like where you are, then reconfigure those small steps, the line items, so that as you go forward they lead to where you want to go.
Ready to see how you stack up? Get started today, by better understanding your risk tolerance level and how that fits with the investments you currently hold.