The Process of Achieving Anything in Life is Quite Simple

The only question that remains: will you do this consistently for long enough?

So you want to achieve things you desire and eventually lead a happier life?

You read self-help and experiment in different dimensions of your life. You get your hands on the bestselling books, TedX, webinars, and they all tell you to do the same thing.

Aren’t you sick of learning the same thing again and again, only to fail at what you desire to achieve?

Like you, I, too, was reading, educating, and experimenting on my personal development journey. Then it all clicked to me. Damn! We have been hearing the same thing repeatedly but have failed to understand, let alone taking action.

The key is to have a process that allows you to pause, ponder and practice persistently. And it’s truly the foundation to achieve anything in life.

I credit James Clear for outlining this process concretely, but we were already aware of this. All I want now is to give you a clear picture of how I continue to achieve things I want in life using this process so that you can do the same.

Pause. Decide what you want to achieve.

Deciding what we want in life is the hardest task. Let’s be honest, don't we want to get our hands on too many things we get attracted to every now and then?

Sorry to break it to you, my friend; you can’t have them all; you need to choose and lock your mind on certain things that are truly important to you.

Sometimes we get carried away with stuff that sounds cool. The problem with this mindset is that, as time passes, things might not seem cool anymore, and you lose motivation to achieve them. Eventually, we lose trust in the process and achieve nothing at all.

Last year, I decided to pursue writing more seriously. Fast forward to now, here I am, putting my ass on the chair and writing away article after article with ease. I still have all the motivation in the world because the goal truly means something to me.

How to do this:

You can achieve anything, but not everything that crosses your mind. What’s it gonna be?

Pause and answer this question. List down a few things and order them based on priority. You have the answer at the top; ignore the rest for now.

Sometimes it’s hard to decide what you want instantly. It’s okay to continuously reassess and answer this question until you find something worthy for you.

Deciding what you want to achieve, and sticking to it in the long run, is the hardest. So if you’ve done that by now, pat yourselves in the back, and let’s move on to the next step!

Explore different ways of achieving it until you find one that works for you.

The fun begins when you start exploring different ways of achieving your dream. Keep an open mind; what works for others may or may not necessarily work for you.

When it comes to my writing, I took courses, analyzed top writers on the internet, tried various systems before settling on the strategy that works for me. I did the same for my data science journey. Both have only been flourishing.

You see, it’s the same idea for achieving goals in any dimension of your life. I gave only a few examples from my journey so far, but this applies to anything.

How to do this:

Take some time to think. Yes, nothing fancy, just think about your goal. In our era, we can google anything for free and explore.

Understand that there exist different paths to success, and the only way you’ll know your path is through exploring them yourself.

If you want to become healthy and fit, how would you explore? You can read and watch about different journeys people undertook. You can ask your friends who are already on a fitness journey. You can read about nutrition from books. There is plenty of information available for free online.

I’m only giving you examples, hoping you’ll use these for your own goal.

Exploring is the key until you find what works for you.

Start doing more of what works. Do less of what doesn’t.

When I started writing, every other writer advised me to publish daily. That’s how they grew an audience. That’s how you find your writing voice. So I tried to do the same for some time, and I started to dread the whole idea of writing. I hated it.

Then I tried to mind-map and outline articles before I sat down to write. I didn’t pressure myself on publishing daily but focused on writing daily, even if it’s for an hour or so. I found my rhythm, and that’s how I’m here.

There’s nothing with any of the writing advice above; both apparently work, but not for everyone. How do you know which one’s for you?

How to do this:

As you explore various strategies to achieve what you want in life, some work and some don’t. Instead of trying to make every popular method work, evaluate objectively what works for you.

Give it some time. If whatever path you follow doesn’t lead to the destination, then it’s not your path. Learn from the experiences and try another path. That’s the only way to find out what works for you.

When you find what works for you, keep doing more of it.

Don’t stop doing it until it stops working.

I go for a morning walk while listening to audiobooks every day. It sets the right mindset for the day and fuels my creativity for writing. There’s no need to break this practice unless I stop feeling great.

I also write 10 headline ideas every day. I learned this technique from Ayodeji Awosika, and somehow the ideas seem to keep coming. I won’t stop doing this unless I run out of ideas one day.

But hey, there’s no guarantee that just because a strategy worked in the past, it will continue to work.

We live in uncertain times. Maybe when the offices reopen, I’d rather listen to audiobooks on my commute, who knows. Maybe I’d take up a different niche to write about. My writing style needs to accommodate these changes too.

How to do this:

In this hyper-informative era, we are constantly bombarded with newer hacks but don’t deviate if something is already working for you. I mean, what’s the point? The grass might look greener on the other side, so what?

Yet, we all should accept that change is inevitable.

As our circumstances change, our strategies can stop working. This was expected all along. So there’s absolutely no need to panic. We need to go back to the exploring phase to come up with new strategies. And repeat the process. It’s that simple.

You’ve done it once; what’s stopping you from doing it again?

Be persistent like your pants are on fire.

We can get everything right and not get results (initially). But we want results now, like right now! We don’t have patience and give up.

To grow as a writer, I need to keep honing my craft and write consistently. And that’s all I’m up to.

Most achievements in our life take time and consistent action. Think about it, can we get fit in a week, earn thousands of dollars with our side-hustle or get out of debt in a month? Instead of being persistent, we give up lying to ourselves.

How to do this:

If and only we learn to be honest with ourselves, we can keep achieving anything in our lives.

It’s okay to expect great things to happen in your life, but give it reasonable time while you work towards it consistently.

That’s it. That’s the process.

I have used this simple framework for every recent goal in my life and will continue to do so. You can use this process in your life too. Here’s it again:

• Pause and decide what you want to achieve.
• Explore different ways of achieving it until you find one that works for you.
• Start doing more of what works. Do less of what doesn’t.
• Don’t stop doing it until it stops working.
• Be persistent like your pants are on fire.

I know this process works for all.

The only question I do not know the answer to is: will you do this consistently for long enough?

First, you’ll achieve something small. No big deal, but you’ll keep going. Then one day, before you realize you’d have achieved something big in life — one of those things you thought you never could. Ultimately, you’ll build the confidence you can achieve anything in life. Isn’t that what you want?

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right” — Henry Ford