“Change takes time. It takes time for the seeds to begin growing within, time to understand and process, time for the growth to mature, and time for the old self to die and fall away.” – Bryant McGill
Is it possible to achieve success in 24 weeks?
It depends. Some goals are so formidable that they can take a year or even several years to achieve. However, in this article, we are not talking about achieving goals in 24 weeks.
We are talking about success… and that is quite a different thing. If you can achieve success with the small things, you will have the skills and mindset to achieve success with the big things. The plan below will give you a solid foundation to follow.
If you have not reached your goals, you will just repeat the 24-week plan for as many times as required to achieve your goals. It is not the duration to achieve the goal, but your compliance with the plan which ultimately matters.
Let us begin…
- Week 1-4
In weeks 1 to 4, you will define your goals. What do you truly want in life? Write down your goals and make them big! Do not limit yourself.
You will then break down your goals into smaller milestones and give each milestone a deadline. Then it is a matter of figuring out what you need to do daily to achieve your milestone targets.
The first 4 weeks are for you to create a routine that suits you. Initially, it will be a matter of trial and error until you find your feet. Then once you get into the flow of things, following the routine will be straightforward.
- Week 5-8
In weeks 5-8, you will be following the routine and aiming to comply with the daily tasks as much as possible. You will want to eliminate distractions from your routine and increase your focus.
Now is also the time for you to self-reflect and ask yourself which habits are holding you back from success. Be aware of your negative habits and take steps to eliminate them gradually.
- Week 9-12
Weeks 9-12 will see you eliminating the negative habits while slowly introducing positive habits to accelerate your progress. Instilling good habits take time. So, approach it gradually and be consistent.
During this time you will still be maintaining your daily routine. You should be seeing some positive results by now. Your business might be a bit more established.
You should be procrastinating less because the routine has become a habit. Next up, you will want to gradually challenge yourself. Try to do more work in the time that you have. Increase your productivity by working harder or finding ways to improve your workflow.
- Week 13-16
By now you will be making steady improvements and you need to keep going. You would have eliminated several negative habits or been close to that. Be more proactive when it comes to building good habits.
Now would be a good time to also look at your health and see if you can get more exercise and clean up your diet. While you are working on your business, it is easy to neglect your health, but you would be doing so at your own peril.
So, find a slot in your day for you to exercise daily, and slowly change your diet so that you are eating more healthy food.
- Week 17-20
Well done if you have made it this far. In these 4 weeks, you will maintain whatever you were doing before, but now you will also look at your finances and get them in order. Furthermore, you will want to ask yourself if there are any skills you need to master to improve your business.
If there are, you will need to plan out what you wish to learn and go about setting some time aside each day to learn. Take things slow and steady in the beginning and ramp up your efforts once you get better.
- Week 21-24
By week 21, you should be very familiar with your routine. You need to keep finding ways to increase your productivity and make improvements. Most of your bad habits would be a thing of the past.
You would also have many good habits as a part of your daily life. If you have cleaned up your diet and engaged in daily exercise, you will be feeling better.
At this stage, you will look for ways to automate parts of your business. You may also wish to delegate tasks to others so you can free up time to do more important work.
You will be thinking of scaling up or getting more done. You would have hit a few milestones and had a few wins under your belt. Now is the time to look at your goals again and see how much more you can do to accelerate your progress.
Then it is a matter of execution. From here on, it is just a matter of rinsing and repeating.
Iterating the process, eliminating distractions, honing your skills, increasing your output, and taking on bigger challenges will be next on your list. By the time you reach week 24, you will be a totally different person than when you first started.
You will be aware of where you spend your time and energy. You will have a mindset that is geared toward winning. There will be increased confidence and you will respect yourself much more. From here on, winning will be a game to you and you will succeed as long as you stay the course.