In our previous article, we talked about persistence being the most important trait of successful entrepreneurs.

However while persistence is vital, it alone is not enough - you need a methodology for business and personal success, and in summary here it is:

• Decide
• Do
• Measure

Rinse and repeat.

This is a simple and reliable methodology, however, it takes resolve and persistence to follow through consistently. Let's briefly discuss each of these aspects.

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The Cost Of Indecision

People often fail to count the cost of decisions they make, however even more common and costly are the decisions that are not made. A common misconception is that by putting off a decision, no price has to be paid.

The thinking is that as long a decision has not been made - a mistake can't be made either. The truth, however, is that every single decision or indecision has a price.

In the case of indecision, you still pay the price later, but with interest on top and without any of the benefit along the way.

Decisions give you clarity. Clarity gives you focus. Focus gives you results. Make the decisions in every major area of your life; health decisions, financial decisions, spiritual decisions, relationship decisions, and so on. Settle these critical issues early and manage them daily. Count the cost of your decisions and then get busy paying the price. Putting it off only makes it far more costly in the long run.

Why Easy (But Important) Things Don't Get Done

Once a decision has been made we need to walk the walk and get things done, however, it's rarely that simple.

A man suffers from obesity, diabetes, and eventually dies from a heart attack. Doctors say he could have prevented this by walking around the block for twenty minutes a day. Why didn’t he do it? Sounds easy right? Twenty minutes a day to save ill health and a heart attack?

It turns out that the things that are easy to do are also easy not to do. Neglecting easy (but important) tasks can be absolutely disastrous and tragic. It’s easy to be faked out because, for most of these, the timeframe between cause and effect is long, so there is no perceived urgency.

Take a long view of the important things and don't let yourself be faked out just because of the temporal difference between cause and effect.

Take Massive Action

Lack of information is not our problem - we have masses of good, up-to-the-minute information. In fact, we have such an avalanche that there is a term for it – information overload. If information was the only key to success, then librarians would be the most successful people in the world.

Information needs to be transformed into education. However, we also know that education is not the end of the process. Action is the active ingredient in the success formula. It needs to be preceded with information and education but without massive action, all the information and education in the world is moot.

Resolve to take some action on every single one of your goals daily, even if you think it's small or insignificant. It's the development of this long-term habit that is significant, rather than the actual action you take.

Numbers Tell Us The Whole Story

Want to improve your results? Simple. Just improve your numbers. Income, weight, sales conversion rate, number of books read in your field – all of these have numbers associated with them. Put a post-it note on your fridge with whatever numbers are most important to you. Then measure and work on these daily.

We don’t need a big long complex story when measuring results. Just give us your numbers, because numbers tell us the whole story. Start to improve your numbers in one area and you will notice something unexpected; your numbers in other unrelated areas will start to improve. How did that happen? Success breeds success. Measure regularly and work on your numbers daily.

Having A Healthy View Of The Past

The way we deal with past experiences is absolutely crucial to our future success. This is especially so with past negative experiences. The past, if you let it, can beat you up, put fear into you and prevent you from reaching your true potential.

Missed opportunities, incorrect execution, false assumptions, and disappointment are some of the issues from the past we need to deal with – but how? Ignore them? Just think positive? We know that doesn’t really work as it remains there lurking in the subconscious, still affecting today’s actions and tomorrow’s success.

The healthiest way to view past negative experiences is as a teacher. Education always comes at a price so don’t fail to let life teach you. If you fail to learn the lesson, it will just come back again and again and the price will continue to increase. Don’t pay twice or more for the same lesson. If your mistake cost you money or a failed business or a health issue – learn the lesson but do not let it beat you up. View the past as a teacher.

This three-step methodology for business and personal success is reliable and time-tested, yet most of the time people never even get past the very first step.

The exciting thing is that once you’ve made your critical decisions, the other steps flow naturally. Following this process will give your life purpose and a feeling of control over your destiny.