Achieving Anything Is a Four-Step Formula

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I am asked this question on a daily basis. It never ceases to amaze people when I tell them my age after introducing myself and letting them know what I've accomplished in my young life.
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What! You're how old?

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I am asked this question on a daily basis. It never ceases to amaze people when I tell them my age after introducing myself and letting them know what I've accomplished in my young life.

Like most adolescents, I balance my time between schoolwork and extracurricular activities, but that's probably the most I have in common with my peers. I am far from the average 14-year-old. My conversations don't involve discussing the latest trends, and instead of spending my spare time hanging with friends or playing sports: I'm on the hunt looking for great investment deals.

I'm an investor and the world of finance excites me. I know it's weird for a teen to love boring business, but I must confess that my idea of the perfect Friday night is sitting at my desk, reading annual reports and financial summaries of different companies.

Over the past six years, I've launched a number of different ventures and served clients from three continents -- Europe, North America and even Asia. I've published two personal growth books during the past eight months, and my investment portfolio currently includes a food manufacturing company and even two commercial banks. I have been blessed to have a lot of success in business.

How do you do it?

That's another question I'm often asked, and I must admit at first I had a hard time answering this question. I knew that I had to be doing something right, but I didn't know what exactly. It bothered me, to be honest, because I wanted to know what separates those who achieve greatness and those who aren't able to reach their highest potential.

For months I studied the lives of successful people, and I've came to a conclusion that all people who work at their highest potential follow a formula, whether it's been followed consciously or unconsciously. I happened to be executing it unconsciously.

All successful people clearly define what they want to achieve from life. A successful person is someone who has achieved a goal. Many people want to be successful, but very few have goals. Zig Ziglar is absolutely right when he said, "If you aim at nothing, you will hit every time." How could one achieve a goal without having any?

Those who achieve don't just have goals, they have BIG goals. Having goals is just one part of the equation. To be successful you need to have big goals. The reason for this is that for some reason people fall short on goals. It just happens. Setting really large goals won't eliminate falling short, but at least you'll fall a little higher, a little closer to the top.

Developing a framework based on your goal helps you reach it. Having a framework will help you make better choices since, instead of making decisions based on your ever-changing emotions, you will make decisions based on principles that are aligned with your goals.

Finally, all successful people are committed to achieving their success. I'm focused because I've defined what I want in life and what I want my legacy to be. I know what I want and I've made it clear to myself that, no matter what, I'm going to achieve my goals, or at least fail trying as hard as I can. I believe that the reason so many people get distracted is because they haven't asked themselves what it is they want to achieve from life. When that question is answered, and answered truthfully, becoming focused becomes natural.

There is no doubt that achieving success is challenging, but setting larger goals, defining a framework that will guide you to the goals, making decisions based on those principles instead of your emotions and becoming committed will definitely make it easier. It sure helped me.

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