Put Success in Your Way

If you’re here because you read Success Frames, thank-you. I hope you enjoyed it.

The principle of Put Success in Your Way, is based on three components. 

First, it acknowledges that there are limits to our ability to draw upon our willpower continually. On any given day, it is a limited resource. 

It also recognizes that forces are working against us. For example, having too many decisions can distract us and depletes our ability to make subsequent decisions. 

Lastly, it encourages us to leverage our biological predisposition to develop habits supporting our efforts. 

But it’s not enough to understand or accept the components of Put Success in Your Way. It’s about applying this principle in action. 

Put Success in Your Way is the process of identifying and placing the most important elements to complete a task directly in your path, including removing any obstacles or distractions beforehand. 

Your Way

These are my favorite two words in the phrase, Put Success in Your Way. 

They are at the core of what makes everything work for me. The idea that I get to choose. More importantly, you get to choose

You get to choose your version of success. You get to choose what you put in your way (or what you remove). You get to choose your way. 

And there are a few questions that can help guide the process. 

What does that look like?

In keeping with the “your way” theme, I might add something to that question. Specifically, what does that look like for YOU? 

If your goal is to live a more healthy lifestyle, that question helps to add some clarity and definition around the results you are after. But let’s also use it to drill down into some specific activities that will get you there. 

So, what does it look like for you to live a more healthy lifestyle weekly or daily? 

You might say that you want to stop drinking alcohol or soda. You might say that you want to exercise 5 x a week. You might say that you want to eliminate sweets and red meat from your diet. Let’s choose one of those and dig a little deeper. 

What does exercising look like on an (almost) daily basis? 

Maybe you want to walk for 25 minutes a day. You may want to practice Yoga or go to the gym and lift weights. As I said, YOU get to choose. 

What does going to the gym look like? 

You can see that at each point, we find clarity, and the plan begins to form. And then we Put Success in Your Way. 

What do you need to make this work for YOU? 

Personally, the most challenging part of achieving success in most of my efforts is getting started. If I can get out the door, I will get to the gym. And once I am at the gym, I need a plan. So those are the two areas where I need to Put Success in My Way to ensure I stick to my goals. 

Here are some examples of what I would need: 

Schedule the appropriate amount of time. – The gym is 10 minutes from my house, plus getting inside and settled. I may want to work out for an hour, plus time to get home, shower, and get back to my day. That’s roughly 90 minutes. 

Pack everything I need beforehand. – I need to be able to grab my bag and head out the door. If I have to spend an ounce of energy looking around for my gear, I will get frustrated with myself and derail my effort. 

Write out my workout plan. – When I get to the gym, I need to know what I am working on that day. If I have to decide which exercises I should do at any given moment, I am generally doomed. 

At its most basic, that is what it would look like to “Put Success in My Way” to exercise 5x per week and begin to live a healthier lifestyle. 

In the end, what makes this approach work is how much of it is self-determined. You and I have different versions of success and different needs for support to achieve it. 

What are you hoping to accomplish?

What does it look like to Put Success in YOUR Way?

You can learn more about how to Put Success in Your Way in my book, “Attention! The power of simple decisions in a distracted world.”