Here is the ActionCOACH formula for life success:

Dreams X Goals X Learning X Planning X Action = Success

Before we get into each element and how it influences your bottom line, there’s one thing you should know … to reach success, you need to work backwards.

Start with your definition of success. What does it mean to you to be successful? For some people, success means driving a £100k car or having a multi-million-pound business.

Here at ActionCOACH, we define success as the progressive realisation of a worthwhile goal. You’re a successful person when you’re doing the things you want to do and are the person you want to be. When you know what success looks like for you, you’re ready to start working on the elements that will bring you the extraordinary life you want.

Put Your Dreams Together

Before you can start building your successful life, you need to know what you’re working for. Start with a dream.

How can you build dreams? Brad Sugars, Chairman and Founder of ActionCOACH advises people to keep a dream journal – it’s here where you write all about the places you want to travel to the people you want to meet, the family holidays you wish to organise. Your dreams chart is the beginning of your journey.

Pick up a magazine, cut out pictures of the places you want to go on holiday, and stick them on your dream chart. You will get that visual representation of your dream and that will help motivate you as you build the other elements required to achieve success.

What matters is that on that board you illustrate your dreams, not what you think other people expect you to achieve. If you’re struggling with identifying your goals, sometimes it’s easier to work out what you don’t want and work from there.

You really don’t need to define your dreams in one day. Carry your dream journal with you and give yourself time to acknowledge your objectives and the things you want to have. Let yourself go, write down the things you’d like to do when you see them. And most importantly, dream big.

Only Dreams with A Timeframe Become Goals

Any dream that you can achieve in five years or less can become a goal if it is SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, and has a Time frame.

The secret is not to stop at financial goals – simply because life isn’t all about business and making money. Every area of your life needs a goal, and so if you have an aim in your relationships, health, or family, you live a fulfilling life.

Learn to Turn Dreams into Reality

Another advantage of setting a SMART goal, is that they tell you what you need to learn to turn your dream into a reality. Let’s say you want to turn your hobby into a source of income; you’ll have to read books and magazines, listen to podcasts or maybe get a coach to find your way into the business (I can help with that!).

The bigger your goal, the more learning is required to achieve it. Learning improves your performance level. You can’t do more than what you know. If you don’t learn anything new, you’ll do things as you’ve always done. When you rely on your existing knowledge, you will only attain your current results – nothing will change until you learn new approaches.

Every goal in your life requires learning, whether you want to make £1million or have a better relationship with your family. Either way, you need to read books about it, reach out for help, take notes, and then, importantly, follow the best practices you’ve learnt.

Build a Plan

When you learn new things, you can then build a plan. Knowledge provides ideas about how you can make your dreams come true, and so, the more you know, the easier it becomes to see the steps necessary to reach your goal. At first glance, the idea of planning may feel unappealing. Most people struggle with making plans unless they’re preparing for something they love doing.

As a business owner, you need to nurture your planning skills so that you learn to plan not just the things you like doing but also the things you have to do to reach your goals. Build daily plans. Every evening commit to taking the time to write down what you need to do the following day.

If you want your dreams to come true, don’t start a day or a project without a goal and a plan.

Act on The Plan

Success comes when you start work and follow your to-do list. The formula for life success works when you act and implement everything you’ve learned so far.

Read your goals every day to remember why you’re doing the hard work. It helps you stay motivated and maintains positive thinking when things get hard; your attitude will impact your results.

What’s Next?

Start building your dreams. Sit down and have a think about what you want to achieve. Bring your partner in and learn about their dreams too.

Don’t limit yourself at this point; you can have as many dreams as you want. What matters is that you start the process as soon as possible.

Here’s a short exercise you can do right away.

Write down two or three things you can do to get better at identifying your dreams, building goals, and planning. Then work on these skills to make it happen.

If you would like to find out more, sign up for a free coaching session where I can tell you more about the formula for life success, or join my private Facebook Group, The Business Garden, where you see the formula in action.