Support for personal and business achievement
#ApplyIDEAL
The world's most natural process for our development and success.
We all have aspirations, but we don't all know how to achieve the success that we want. Learn how to #applyIDEAL to achieve what is important to you—in your personal life or for your business.
Improve, Achieve, or Become
what is Important to You
—in Your Life or for Your Business
You have an ambitious goal, but having a goal doesn’t mean you know how to succeed. Many goals encounter challenges on the course to success, so it’s worthwhile to take a moment to learn how to ensure the success of what matters to you, whether in your personal life or for your business.
This message draws inspiration from IDEAL, a five-step goal-planning process that distinguishes itself from generic, goal-defining approaches. It serves as a dynamic and interconnected framework that will effectively guide you toward achieving your ambitious goal. IDEAL builds on learning, making it more than a useful approach to success; it is also a means by which to reach your potential, in various aspects!
Finally, it’s important to understand that the effectiveness of IDEAL comes from its application as a process. So, apply IDEAL—all steps, in order—to create a plan for the success of whatever you want to improve, achieve, or become – in your life or for your business.
Get Ready
Before you set out to plan your success, complete these steps of preparation:
❶ Understand your starting point
Prior to planning, it’s important to know where you stand today. Consider what advantages and disadvantages can impact your efforts to reach your goal. This exercise will help you establish a realistic and useful perspective (apply ADAPT).
❷ Consider what you know
Reflect on your subject knowledge and identify your assumptions. Your knowledge about your aim may need an update or some depth. However you approach your goal, you’ll make decisions based on what you know. Broad and accurate knowledge will help you prepare appropriately for your goal.
Step 1 of 5
Intend
Get Clear About What You Will Achieve
Success doesn't occur accidentally; it results from deliberate effort—an intention aimed toward something specific. Your best effort to improve, achieve, or become what is important to you—in your personal life or for your business—requires you to plan your success. The basis of a useful plan involves having an actionable goal: clarity about what you intend to achieve and an idea about how success is possible.
❶ Identify what you want to achieve
Many goals fail for lack of clarity. Having a well-defined goal is essential for success
❷ Set a timeline
Establishing a timeline supports planning, sets expectations for progress, and helps sustain focus
❸ Recognize how your success is possible
What are your expectations; what makes your success possible? If you don’t know your course to success, then you have no course to follow.
❹ Note your motives (your Why)
Understanding your motivation to pursue a goal can serve as a driving force during challenges, especially when your goal requires you to make sacrifices.
❺ Recognize possible opposition to your success (your Why-not)
If you don’t know how you could fail to reach your goal, you cannot be fully prepared to succeed.
Step 2 of 5
Direct
Your Choice of a Course to Success
You've established an actionable goal. Your next step is to 'direct'—make decisions about everything that will support your progress and success.
At this stage, it's not just about outlining the main steps toward your goal; you also need to consider how you'll support those primary steps. For instance, if your goal is to boost sales, you'll require resources to find and connect with prospective clients. If health improvement is your aim, considerations should include grocery shopping for meal preps and scheduling a workout regimen.
❶ Know what your goal requires
Think broadly through the requirements for your success (RAS) – tools, training, resources, etc. Considering requirements helps ensure comprehensive preparation and knowing your process – the primary steps for your process
❷ Know the point
Understanding the main objective of each primary step promotes focus during activity. (If you meet each objective, success will be the necessary result of the goal).
❸ Complete your process
Recognize the activities that are supportive of and essential to the success of each primary step (your workflow).
❹ Work in timeframes
Schedule activities. Allocating time supports productivity, ensures consistency, and accounts for other important activities, such as preparation
Step 3 of 5
Engage
Preparation to be Productive
The Engage step centers around your ability to be productive, and productivity centers on the results required from your activities to effectively advance you toward your goal. If you are unable to achieve targeted objectives, it's essential to acknowledge that as a lack of productivity and address the issue. It's important to understand that productivity extends beyond the specific activities outlined in your plan; it encompasses everything directly and indirectly related to your ability to achieve the necessary results.
Therefore:
❶ Define productivity
Productivity is all about meeting the results required from activity. Know what progress is required—daily, weekly, or monthly—by your goal to maintain on-track progress
❷ Set performance standards
Establishing standards creates useful targets to gauge effectiveness, promote focus, and drive productivity
❸ Consider strategies
Strategies promote success of the steps required for your success. They can sustain motivation and protect you against pitfalls
Step 4 of 5
Assess
Know Where You Stand
Don't guess when you can know where you stand relative to your goal. The Assess step is about information—your ability to know what is and is not working in your efforts to be productive. Determine what information is essential to your assessments of productivity. Be able to confirm your progress and validate your choices for a direction, and the support of your success. You will need to:
❶ Identify essential information
Knowing what information is essential for measuring progress and gaining useful insight guides decision-making about improvement with your efforts.
❷ Manage information
Effective data management promotes useful assessments of your progress and productivity. Determine how you will attain and manage key data
❸ Record your experience
Keeping notes—about ideas, plan changes, observations, etc.—supports learning and continuous improvement.
Step 5 of 5
Learn
Discover and Improve: Ensure Success
Rarely is an initial plan perfect. Expect to make revisions somewhere in your plan, how it’s supported, or with it execution. As you review assessments, conduct research, and discover options for improvements. You will need to:
❶ Know what and when to change
Establish criteria by which to make changes to your plan and respond to results from any tests (of strategies, processes, etc.)
❷ Identify learning sources
Having useful sources for news, research, and advice can yield ideas for improvements in your IDEAL process. Being able to discover and adapt is a key to overcoming challenges and achieving success
❸ Prepare for change
Revisions are often needed with plans. Determine a process for applying changes to your plan and its execution
❹ Revise IDEAL
According to what you learn, update how you apply IDEAL to achieve your success. Adapting IDEAL based on lessons learned is a sure course for your potential
We all express the characteristics of IDEAL, the most natural process for reaching our potential. So, why do some people thrive and other struggle? The answer can be as simple as the difference between how we express IDEAL as a process. Learn how we can understand extraordinary success through the lens of IDEAL in Stories, a look at IDEAL in our lives.
Important Note
IDEAL represents the most natural process for success. We express each facet—Intend, Direct, Engage, Assess, and Learn—regularly, if not every day. Appropriately ordered, these components synergize and streamline the pursuit of ambitious goals, each reinforced by our inherent capacity to endeavor, reflect, plan, and adapt
Consider, firstly, the natural act of forming our intention, and defining what we aim to achieve. Secondly, we consistently direct our lives through our decisions, which create a course for our interests and efforts. Thirdly, we engage and express ourselves in our daily encounters and activities. Furthermore, assessments—of self, others, and situations—are instinctive practices that allow us to recognize our place in a pursuit and identify areas for improvement. Lastly, learning is a constant opportunity readily offered through our experiences.
While we instinctively embody these characteristics, the challenge arises when we fail to apply them as a process. Any disconnect or deficiency within the facets of IDEAL can potentially derail our efforts to achieve what matters, be it in our personal lives or businesses.
The effectiveness of IDEAL resides in its deliberate application as a process. By intentionally integrating the aspects of Intend, Direct, Engage, Assess, and Learn systematically, you have a powerful framework for development and success. Again, it's not just about possessing these characteristics; the point is that we must orchestrate them in a process for something that we intend – toward success. So, embrace the ongoing journey of self-improvement, achievement, and growth. With each iteration of IDEAL, you not only evolve and build on successes and learning but also chart a course towards the realization of your most ambitious aspirations and potential.
Build a business
How Can I Benefit By Applying IDEAL?
You already express the aspects of IDEAL, but not as a process. In order to benefit from this natural process for our development and success, learn how to apply IDEAL deliberately, as a process. Benefits include:
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Achieve goals
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Increase awareness
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Improve focus and mindfulness
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Lead a team or client to success
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Sustain engagement and motivation
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Live deliberately (not on autopilot!)
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Enjoy a more rewarding life/business
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Be productive: progress faster toward what's important to you.
