Thought this was an interesting article to share...

Have you faced these situations in your life?

1) You attended training / education programs (seminars, workshops, boot-camps, tele-seminars, etc.) or you bought info-products - with the intention of implementing your "learnings" and so be able to grow and succeed

2) Or, you had great ideas or intentions which you were absolutely sure that IF they were implemented they would help your personal growth or your professional growth or your business growth

But for some reason or the other you have not been able to successfully implement these "learnings" or ideas. The result? You did not get high returns on all the dollars spent on learning. Also, opportunities to improve your success and personal growth or professional growth or business growth were LOST!

Given below are 5 steps to success - from intention to implementation - they will help you EXPLODE your success and growth:

1. Understand Why We Don't Implement Our Intentions

Why are we not able to put into action our intentions? Why do we so easily let our opportunities of growth pass us by?

One, we could really be very busy. Though we want to, we may not be able to succeed in finding the time to do what we wanted to do.

Two, procrastination. The feeling that we can do it later. The only problem is that the "later" somehow never seems to arrive.

Three, priority. We seem to be pressed with so many "urgent" things that clamor for our attention. And slowly, slowly, slowly (and sometimes may not be so very slowly) other urgent tasks push these intentions further and further into the background.

Four, fear, feeling of incapability, and, there could be so many other reasons

These ARE in fact real challenges we face. But remember, in spite of all these, we CAN succeed!!!

2. Understand the Foundation of Success

How can you get started on the path to turning intention to action? Think about this for a moment

In 1953, there was a study done of Yale graduates. A survey was carried out, and it was found that only 3% of those surveyed had clear written down goals for life. Twenty years later, the same people were surveyed. This study threw out an extremely important analysis. The study found that

Twenty years after the initial survey about goals, the 3% who had clear written down goals for life had greater assets than all the remaining 97% put together.

Wow!!!

That Yale study's result is mind blowing.

So, what is our take-away from this study?

It sometimes sounds too simple to be true. But the fact remains, that to succeed (the foundation of success), it is EXTREMELY important to WRITE DOWN your intentions and goals clearly.

3. Understand the Mechanics of a Simple Success Story

Why did the 3% succeed and not the 97%? They succeeded because they had something they could track against, could compare against, till the goals or intentions were completed successfully.

Stephen Covey gives the example of an aircraft in flight, in his bestselling book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People".

Let's say a flight is about to take off from JFK Airport, New York to O'Hare Airport, Chicago. Before it takes off, a flight plan is prepared for the flight. The flight plan specifies for every minute of the flight from take off to landing what the direction, speed and altitude (and other such parameters) of the plane would be. For example, one could know at the sixteenth minute of the flight, in what the direction the plane would be facing, at what speed it would be traveling and at what altitude it would be.

However, there is an extremely interesting fact we need to note. It was found that when actual measurements were done, for more than 90% of the time, a typical flight was actually NOT at the direction, speed or altitude it was supposed to be at. Due to unexpected factors such as wind speeds, air pockets, and so on, the plane was not where it actually should have been most of the time of the flight.

Surprised??? I was too. But in spite of this, although for most part of the flight it was "technically" not actually traveling as per the flight plan, the plane DOES land at the destination.

The result? SUCCESS in achieving the intention of reaching the target destination!

4. Understand Why This Success Happened

How did this success happen? This was because:

1) There was a flight plan (similar to the goals the 3% had written)

2) Based on the actual planned target destination, the plane made small corrections on a continuous basis, either through the plane's auto-pilot facility or through manual actions taken by the pilot.

So the plane was back on track, and ultimately reached its intended destination.

5. Continously Implement the Simple 2-Pronged Approach to Success

Having understood the first four steps listed above, now implement the two simple, but extremely powerful steps we saw above, and success will DEFINITELY be yours! Remember, to achieve lasting success, you need to repeatedly do these two simple, powerful steps on an ongoing basis in every area you want to achieve success. These two steps are:

First, WRITE DOWN your intentions.

Take some time to WRITE down what actions you want to take. Let me repeat this, because this is so simple, yet so very critical in achieving success. Please take a few minutes to write down the actions you want to take or the goals you want to achieve.

With written down goals, although you may go off track, you have something to track against, so that you can make sure that you reach your intended destination, your intended action. Without written down goals, achieving success has a much, much lower, and almost zero likelihood.

Second, TRACK your progress till completion.

After you have written down goals, you need to track to make sure that you implement your goals. Please note that there are two types of goals/actions that one normally has - one, a change of behavior. An example would be "not to react negatively when someone is negative with me", or two, a specific goal to be achieved by a particular target date. An example would be "send out a report in the next 3 weeks on how the team productivity can be improved". Tracking includes making corrections to your goals and planned actions as you go along so that you are able to handle problems (such as air pockets in the example of the flight) on the way.

In summary, to guarantee your success, you need to implement two simple but effective steps - of first writing down your intentions and planned actions, and then, second, till they are completed, of tracking them and making corrections as required.

Best Wishes to Succeed Even More,

Binod Maliel

Copyright © 2007 Binod Maliel.

Binod Maliel has been with Fortune 100 organizations for a majority of his nearly two decades experience, and has been holding senior management positions. He is now a consultant and coach to top organizations - specializing in training in leadership skills and project management skills. He also helps people EXPLODE their personal and professional/business growth by empowering them to actually IMPLEMENT their learnings and ideas.