How to Make Progress in Your Life
Here are our top tips to help you make progress in your life:
- Specialise
- Eliminate non-essentials
- Set specific goals.
- Never guess.
- Never give-in. Soldier-on.
1. Specialise
The economic world is based upon two key ideas;
- the "division of labour"
- "specialisation".
In order to be successful, you need to be better than the others around you.
And in order to do that, you must specialise.
Don't be a jack of all trades, instead, be a master of one.
Specialise at being the best at what you do.
2. Eliminate the non-essentials.
In order to specialise, you must eliminate everything that does not relate to your specialism.
You have a limited amount of time, but you face an unlimited demand.
You need to be NOT distracted by the countless things that do not relate to your purpose.
Throw out everything that does not contribute to your progress, in other words, "Skip the trash"
3. Set specific goals.
Massive progress is built from achieving subset goals.
The winner wins only after years of achieving smaller, subset goals.
- The athlete sets goals to lift a certain weights in a certain time.
- The salesperson sets goals to make a certain number of prospecting calls today.
- The business owner sets goals to create a certain amount of profit each month.
You need to develop a similar goal focused mentality.
Your goals should be specific, numerical, well defined and time bound.
4. Never guess.
If you want to make more progress, then base your actions upon a logical evaluation of all the available evidence.
You should never act on whim, guess or transient emotion.
Never trust to luck. Instead, find the facts.
5. Never give-in. Soldier-on.
You can never know all the facts, and so things will often go wrong.
It is during these trying times, that many people give-in.
Never give in.
No matter what the circumstances, keep going.
Successful people are those who have overcome the greatest number of setbacks and disappointments.
Those who surrender too soon are forever doomed to failure; because goals of high value are difficult to achieve and are therefore, reserved only for those who soldier on.
specific goal
In personal development, a specific goal is an objective written in clear words that leaves no room for doubt. It tells exactly what you will do, gives a number or other measure, sets a due date, and fits your main purpose. If any one of these parts is missing, the goal stops being specific.
CG4D Definition
Context: Personal development
Genus: Objective
- Stated in plain, unambiguous language
- Includes a measurable figure or result
- Has a fixed completion date
- Aligns with the person’s main purpose or focus
Article Summary
Progress is simple yet hard: master one skill, cut the noise, write clear goals, trust facts not luck and keep moving when life pushes back; follow these five acts each day and you will make progress in life that grows into lasting success.