steps to success · ‘the 7 steps to success’ deliberately address the biggest questions...

STEPS TOSUCCESS

Tried, Tested & Proven StrategiesFor Entrepreneurial Success

Success Implementation Guide

7 Steps To Success: Tried, Tested & Proven Strategies for Entrepreneurial SuccessCopyright: Christian Simpson & Christian Simpson Enterprises Ltd.2

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Dear Entrepreneur,

Firstly, congratulations on making one of the best investments you’ll ever make in you and your business.

This programme, and it’s resources, will not only make a significant impact on your personal and professional life today, it’ll continue to do so throughout your life, regardless of what level of success you’re experiencing.

In this document you’ll find the coaching questions, exercises and techniques to dramatically improve the quality of your thinking, raise your self-awareness, unlock your untapped potential, and propel you to a very different level of success.

I don’t make this kind of claim lightly.

‘The 7 Steps to Success’ deliberately address the biggest questions relating to extraordinary Entrepreneurial success – questions that the vast majority of business owners will never ask or be exposed to.

By the end of this process, if you apply yourself diligently and are willing to invest the time necessary, you’ll have a life-changing blueprint for outstanding entrepreneurial success and the means of getting it working in your business and personal life today.

But be warned: this Success Implementation Guide is the key to your success. Watching the videos and getting an intellectual understanding of the principles alone won’t bring change to your inner world – and it’s you inner world that needs to change if you’re to enjoy improved results in your outer world.

Your Success Implementation Guide is the missing link. It’s the essential tool that ensures these tried, tested and proven strategies get implemented successfully.

It’s thorough and extensive for a purpose – these are not issues to play with if you’re serious about achieving your entrepreneurial dreams, and given that you’ve come this far, you owe it to yourself to be the very best you’re capable of being.

Enjoy the process of discovery ahead.

Best wishes,

Christian Simpson

7 Steps To Success: Tried, Tested & Proven Strategies for Entrepreneurial SuccessCopyright: Christian Simpson & Christian Simpson Enterprises Ltd. 3

THE 7 STEPS TO SUCCESS

STEP 1: Know Where You Are

STEP 2: Know Who You Are

STEP 3: The Primary Cause of Results

STEP 4: Define and Live Your Purpose

STEP 5: Begin With The End In Mind

STEP 6: Stop Thinking In Reverse

STEP 7: Goals and The Law of Gender


STEP 1: KNOW WHERE YOU ARE

‘The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality’– Max DePree

Part 1: Life Diagnostics

For each area life detailed below, assess your current level of satisfaction with a mark out of 10, 0 being completely unsatisfied, 10 being fully satisfied. Do NOT overthink this activity - respond immediately from the heart.

For example, ask yourself: if 0 is completely unsatisfied and 10 completely satisfied, what’s the number that represents how I feel about my..?

Feel free to replace any area with something more relevant to you.

AREA OF LIFE LEVEL OF SATISFACTION (0 TO 10)Business

Money

Health/Fitness

Relationships –

Friends/Family

Relationships –

Significant Other/Romance

Personal Growth

Fun & Recreation

Physical Environment –

Home/Office



Part 2: Wheel of Life

Now transpose your findings onto the Wheel of Life diagram (Figure 1) on the next page. If you’ve replaced an area with something more relevant to you change it on the diagram also.

Regarding the centre of the wheel as 0 and the circumference as 10, rank your level of satisfaction with each life area by drawing a horizontal line between the segment lines to mark your assessment.

So for example, if my level of satisfaction were 5 on Career, I’d draw a horizontal line halfway between the centre of the wheel and the circumference. Then shade the segment in from the centre of the wheel to the line drawn (see figure 2).

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

BUSINESS

MONEY

PERSONAL GROWTH

FRIENDS & FAMILYSIGNIFICANT OTHER/ROMANCE

HEALTH & FITNESS

FUN & RECREATION

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

BUSINESS

MONEY

PERSONAL GROWTH

FRIENDS & FAMILYSIGNIFICANT OTHER/ROMANCE

HEALTH & FITNESS

FUN & RECREATION

FIGURE 1:

FIGURE 2:



Part 3: Questions

From the findings on Figure 2, if your wheel actually existed on a bicycle, what kind of ride would you experience?

How is this reflected in you current life experience?



What does the wheel reveal to you about your life?

Emerson said ‘energy flows where you attention goes’: where has your main focus been and how has it served you?



What areas of your life have suffered as a consequence of your focus?

How important are those areas to you, and why?



What have you discovered from this exercise?

What will change as a consequence?



What’s the most important change you’d like to make from the findings?

What stopped you making these changes before?



In the areas you’d like to improve in, make a list of 5 or more thing that need to be done to achieve the improvements you desire.

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

Prioritise the actions: what will you do in the next week to move toward the improvements you aspire to?



What will you do in the next month?

Who needs to be involved or to support you in this process?



What will change as a consequence of Step 1?


STEP 2: KNOW WHO YOU ARE

‘He who knows the universe and does not know himself knows nothing’ – Jean De La Fontaine.

Name the most important result you want to change in your life (refer back to findings from Step 1)

When your first get an idea to change the result and/or how you might achieve it, what self-talk do you experience that seeks to sabotage the intention?

For example:

‘ I don’t have the money to do that/ I just don’t have the time/there’s no way you can do that in this economy etc. etc.

Write out precisely, or as near to as possible, what the voice inside your mind says.



Give the belief system that is sabotaging your success a name – for example ‘Mr X’ or ‘Success Saboteur’. What ideas about you, your potential, your business, and other people is this belief generating?

About You

About your potential

About Your Business



About Other People

Name the result you intend to create

If you modified the (named) belief you identified in part 3, what would be different about it?



What self-talk would be generated by the modified belief? (i.e. what would the you who accomplished the result you intend to create think like?)*

*Important Note: a limiting belief cannot remain unchanged having been through this process – because you are no longer unconscious to it. Continually return to this process to become consciously aware of your thoughts and from what they are originating. The primary thought for growth and fuller expansion that is compelling you to create change is your potential seeking expression. The secondary thought that gives you every reason not to move forward is your existing belief system seeking to maintain the status quo. It was purposefully designed to do that to keep you safe, it simply lacks situational intelligence to apply itself subjectively. That comes from improved conscious awareness – the process by which you interrupt an automatic (or habitual) behaviour being generated (unconscious living).


STEP 3: THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF RESULTS

‘Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate’ – Carl Jung.

Name the most important result you want to change in your life (refer back to findings from Step 1)

When your first get an idea to change the result and/or how you might achieve it, what self-talk do you experience that seeks to sabotage the intention?

For example:

‘ I don’t have the money to do that/ I just don’t have the time/there’s no way you can do that in this economy etc. etc.

Write out precisely, or as near to as possible, what the voice inside your mind says.



The third step is not an opportunity to start beating-yourself-up. This is a time for ruthless honesty in the pursuit of significant self-improvement and personal success.

This exercise is designed to raise your self-awareness so you become highly conscious of the impact you’re having on the key relationships in life that determine your success.

Remember, you cannot manage and improve upon something you’re not aware of.

Part 1:

In the allotted spaced below, write down on the names of 5 people you have interacted with in the past week or two (at the most) – ideally a mix customers, staff, suppliers, colleagues, fellow business owners, friends and family.

Part 2:

Think back into your most recent interaction with the named person, but do so from their perspective of YOU. If I were to sit down with them today and ask them what they though of you from that interaction – what would they tell me?

Write down your findings under ‘perspective’.

1: Name:

Perspective:



2: Name:

Perspective:

3: Name

Perspective:

4: Name

Perspective



5: Name

Perspective:

Part 3:

What does this exercise reveal to you about you?



Reflect on each interaction and the perspective held by the person concerned.

In terms of how you showed up, what are you most proud of?

If you could turn back time, what would you change about how you showed up in those interactions?



Think of a person you genuinely feel delighted at seeing: what does he or she express that makes them so compelling to you?

Now think of a person who you’re not so fond of seeing: what is it about that person that distances you?

What could you be blind to in yourself that is being revealed to you in this situation?



What are your existing results revealing to you about you? What is it about your attitude that is making its mark on the areas you’re seeking to improve in?

Where is the performance of your business suffering?

What is it about your attitude that is creating that outcome?



Part 4:

Be willing to psychologically evaluate yourself with courage to identify how you are currently thinking, feeling and acting into your results.

Get a note pad and arrange either face-to-face or phone time to talk to staff, friends, family and your best customers who are around you frequently and ask them for feedback:

• What do they love or admire most about you? • In what ways could you improve in their eyes? • Where do you frequently let yourself down? • What examples do they have to share? • Ask them to write down their perspective of your shortcomings.

Please note: the most important thing of all is to remember not react to the messages you hear. It’s tough to hear things about ourselves we don’t want to hear, and yet those are the real nuggets, the aspects of our attitude that are outside of our awareness and undermining our success. There is no greater gift from a person than genuine, authentic feedback to help the other person improve – remember that as you make these requests.

• What will change as a consequence of Step 3?


STEP 4: DEFINE AND LIVE YOUR PURPOSE

‘The purpose of life is a life on purpose’ – Robert Byrne

What would you choose to do if you had all of your financial commitments were taken care of?

What are you passionate about to the degree you’d do it for free if you had the time?



Where does your passion and talents meet?

What does that tell you?

What brought you to do what you do today?



Where do you find meaning and heart in your work?

What does this reveal to you?

What’s the hunger you’re here to feed in the world?



If you could write the eulogy you’d like said about you, what would it say?

What do you want to be known for?

What have these lines of enquiry revealed to you?



Part 2:

Identify the names of 3 people you can trust to give you high quality, honest feedback.

Explain you’re doing a personal growth exercise on discovering/establishing your life purpose – and that you’re not fishing for compliments, you need them to be ruthlessly honest on their experience of you.

Ask the following questions of them:

• In your opinion, what do I do when I’m at my best?• What would you consider to be my most natural gift?• What do I do with ease so well that you admire me most for?• What do I speak most passionately and most often about?

When you’ve completed this exercise, write down the salient points of what you discovered below/overleaf – and then move onto the final questions.



How does what you’ve heard from your trusted sources correlate with what you’ve discovered in Part 1?

What needs to change as a consequence of Step 4?


STEP 5: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

‘Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.’ - Tony Gsieg

Your vision emerges from you. As with purpose in Step 4, it’ll take time and effort to establish your vision as a powerful, compelling picture in your mind.

The process below is proven in powerfully doing this. I can assure you, follow to the letter and you will be in a very empowered place of clarity and direction on the other side of it.

Important: you’ll be handwriting your vision. Writing by hand engages the nervous system in a way that tapping on a keyboard can’t, and is therefore far more effective in stimulating the part of your personality (your subconscious mind) that is responsible for bringing the vision into reality.

Part 1:

Schedule time into your calendar - initially 60 to 90 minutes, where you will be alone, undisturbed and without distraction.

Part 2:

With a pen/pencil and writing pad, begin to describe, in the present tense as if you’ve living it today, what your life will look like when you’re a highly successful entrepreneur.

Your vision must be described in the present tense. Begin the entire process and as many sentences as possible with the words ‘I am’

Warning! If you experience thoughts telling you this process is ridiculous and you’ve got better things to do – recognise those thoughts as the voice of the belief system you named in Step 2 that is the creator of your existing reality and invested in maintaining it.

Write freely and profusely. Don’t worry about grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, no one’s going to read this aside from you.

Your vision includes all aspects of your life – both business and personal, with you in it experiencing it. Describe it in all its glory.If you find it difficult to write more than a few lines in the first instance, don’t be discouraged – it’s a common experience, just get out what you can for now.

Once you’ve completed and/or exhausted the initial writing process – spend a few hours away from it.


STEP 5: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Part 3:

Return to the process a few hours later or no more than the day after the Part 2.

Do not refer to your previous writings, and do not start off where you left off – start afresh writing on a blank sheet of paper.

Part 4:

Is to repeat Part 1 and 3 continuously for a minimum of 2 weeks. Remember every time you write your vision you begin afresh without reference to the previous reiteration.

Each time your vision will become clearer and you’ll find more and more detail will flow from you.

Part 5:

When you have a big, bright, clear and compelling picture of what success looks like for you – you are ready for the final stage.

Have a copy of your vision by your bed and read it every night before going to sleep.

Record your vision, in your own voice, to an MP3 and listen to it frequently, ideally daily.

Create pocket sized ‘goal cards’ - just a piece of ordinary card – and write a few lines about your vision on it and place it on your desk, on your dashboard and places in your home. This will prompt you to consciously recall the vision and impress that image onto you’re the part of your personality that’s responsible for creating it.


STEP 6: STOP THINKING IN REVERSE

‘The process of learning anew is more the process of unlearning that which is not true’ - Paul V. Johnson

To react is an automatic behaviour generated by your subconscious mind to save you the ‘trouble’ of having to consciously think into your situation. A re-action is a replicated action that is being regurgitated as if appropriate for the circumstances you are facing at the time. It’s highly unlikely that the behaviour is the most effective – therefore, the trick to greater success is to respond.

A response is an action that is preceded by thought – that is, it’s a conscious activity (giving choice in behaviour).

Reflect back on the past week or two – with the benefit of hindsight, in which situations did you react rather than respond?


STEP 6: STOP THINKING IN REVERSE

What would you choose to do differently in that situation today?

What would prompt you in future to respond rather than react?

Aside from the 7 Steps to Success experience, in the past month, what have you done differently (i.e. it’s not business as usual and outside of your ‘comfort zone’)?


STEP 7: GOALS AND THE LAW OF GENDER

‘What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.’ - Henry David Thoreau

What specifically do you intend to achieve in your business/personal life in the next 12 months? Articulate it clearly below.



List what needs to happen between now and your goal’s fruition. List the activities, support and resources required. When you think you’ve finished – ask yourself ‘what else do I need to ensure my success?’



When you’ve completed that process – timeline everything on your list between now and the achievement. Break it down initially into quarters - what has to happen in Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.

Q1

Q2



Q3

Q4



Now, focusing exclusively on Q1, break the activities down into a timeline of months.

Month 1

Month 2



Month 3

Next, review all activities in Month 1 of Q1 and prioritise those activities into weeks.

Week 1



Week 2

Week 3



Week 4

What are the potential threats/challenges to your success? List them below:



What can you do to mitigate these potential issues today?

What support do you need and where can you find it?


FINAL ASSESSMENT

What’s changed for you as a consequence of this entire process?


CONGRATULATIONS

If you’ve engaged this process fully, you now have a roadmap of success that very few entrepreneurs achieve (and consequently never experience).

Don’t underestimate your achievement, because it’s significant. As I’ve already stated, these are the big questions of Entrepreneurial success.

You’re no longer the person you were when you started this process. It’s impossible to be any other way because by answering these questions and participating in these exercises, you’ve become more.

You’ve raised your awareness.

In Step 1 you established the reality of your life – where your focus and energy is being consumed and where you were being negligent to areas of your life that are important to you.

In Step 2 you dug deep to examine your limiting beliefs – the ideas that you did not originate that are constraining your ability to express your potential.

In Step 3 you evaluated the primary cause of your results - how you show up to the world – specifically in the primary relationships that are key to your success

In Step 4 you faced what is the biggest question of all – defining and living into your purpose. Only a tiny percentage of entrepreneurs discover and live their purpose. You can make all the money in the world, but if it’s achieved outside of purpose, success has passed you by. Not so you.

Step 5 was vision – your purpose illuminated in a clear and compelling picture of success in your mind’s eye. Where there is no vision – the entrepreneur perishes.

Step 6 raised awareness on thinking in reverse - evaluating just how much you’re playing safe in a comfort zone, and whether you’re reacting or responding into life.

And finally Step 7 distilled it all down to the practicality and immediacy of your short and medium terms goals, with the awareness of a principle of life that states that everything has an incubation period…and living into your purpose, vision and goals is no different.

That awareness alone evokes a persistence that’s the backbone of entrepreneurial success.

So is the job now done?

Of course not.


CONGRATULATIONS

It never will be if you’re a conscious entrepreneur. You’re a constant work in progress.

And that’s what’s most exciting of all.

Now it’s about implementation.

In completing your first pass of this guided process, you’ve demonstrated that you’re willing to do what few entrepreneurs are willing to do, so that you can accomplish what few accomplish.

Your return on investment is not just the clarity, insight and direction you’ve already benefited from because of how you’ve applied yourself to the process, but the ideas and solutions that are still to be revealed to you for following this line of enquiry.

This is only the beginning. I deliberately created this programme to continually serve you as your business grows and your personal life reflects the success you’re achieving.

Return to these exercises again and again, because you never graduate from growth.

I’m delighted to be given the opportunity of helping you achieve greater success in your personal and professional life, and I hope we’ll continue to collaborate within a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship.

To your success,

Christian Simpson.

steps to success · ‘the 7 steps to success’ deliberately address the biggest questions...

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