How small choices can unlock great success

It’s the small daily actions, done consistently, that add up to a lifetime of success.

By Catherine Wijnberg

Let’s face it, success is a choice and the reality is that it’s much harder to be successful than it is to be average. Success takes effort and commitment. It often requires us to push through pain, frustration and challenges to get there, yet sometimes even when we think we are doing this, and without even knowing why, we get lost along the way.

So, to achieve success its worth examining the small (seemingly insignificant) daily choices that are either propelling us towards our goals, or holding us back.

By writing a list of the small daily choices we make (good or bad) we can gain valuable insight into where we might be going wrong, and find answers for what we can do differently this year. A template for this exercise has been provided in the link.

My list was really eye-opening and I’m sure that yours will be too! My list made me realise just how a small, seemingly insignificant daily decision can have a powerful hold over my success.

For example, you might decide to end the week (as I do), by setting aside an hour to focus on your vision, reflect on progress and select the three most important priorities in the week ahead. This choice means that you can sleep soundly on Sunday night and wake focused, fresh and ready for action on Monday. The compound effect of 52 focused Mondays is a focused year and actively contributes towards your success.

The choice NOT to spend that hour means that you wake on Monday morning feeling anxious and disorganised and stumble to your desk where lack of focus means that you easily gravitate to low value tasks. This energy of disarray pervades the people around you and the rest of the week is spent playing catch up. It’s easy to see how the compound effect of this poor choice can lead to a year of below par performance for yourself, and your team.

Another simple example might be the choice to respond to client emails within a day. The choice to do so builds trust, shows you care and ultimately leads to client relations and strong revenue growth. The choice not to respond promptly leads to clients feeling neglected and erodes trust which results in them looking elsewhere and your business declining.

So, the question is, what small daily choices do you make that drive the success or failure of that day, that week and ultimately your lifetime. Taking 30 minutes to complete this exercise of reflection (I have provided a template in the link) will help you find the most powerful small daily choices that can unlock your success.