2. Direction is another crucial key to success in life and leadership. Even with strong motivation, without a clear path or destination, you may find yourself aimlessly driven. They are inspired and driven; they just don’t know where they are driving to? Along with motivation, you must have a clear direction and destination. 7 years ago, I met Rick Scadden. He was recently released from prison and was determined to change his life for the better. He was on fire for God, and with his past life of crime, drugs, and illegal activity behind him, he was clearly motivated and knew why he was doing what he was doing. However, it was not until we sat down for a coffee in 2014, that we discovered he has never been introduced to any kind of visioning exercise. We sat for an hour and walked through the steps of creating a vision statement for his life. Coming out of that, he had a clear direction of where his life would be in 2017…and guess what? In 2017, we looked back to that vision statement, and everything he visioned came to life.
3. Action is the final key to success in life and leadership. Many people with grand dreams and solid motivation fall short because they lack the follow-through to turn their vision into reality. They are extremely motivated and fueled with purpose, and possess a strong vision. What they lack is a degree of taking action, and staying committed to those actions, to accomplish their vision. Arriving to your destination does not just happen. You have to work for it. Typically, there are a particular set of action steps, habits and events that must happen to accomplish your goal. Take Rick for example. He knew he wanted to become a part-time pastor by 2017, and a full-time pastor by 2020. He took the actions necessary of plugging into his church, studying for seminary, and working countless hours to show his church he was dedicated to this goal.

Achieving success in life and leadership requires the consistent application of these three keys to success in life and leadership. Without action, motivation and direction will only leave you inspired but stagnant.

Direction and action with no motivation may accomplish many big goals, but it will leave you unfulfilled as you lack a deep sense of purpose and why. Action with no motivation and direction can burn you out quickly and leave you feeling deeply unfulfilled.

I hope this reflection on the keys to success in life and leadership inspires you to evaluate your own levels of motivation, direction, and action in both your business and personal life.

For more free tools on how to grow your business and advance your leadership, click here.