When I started playing golf I could drive the ball off the tee no more than 150 meters, if I attempted to drive the ball further I couldn’t do it. Yet through weight lifting, steadfast training and golf coaching I developed the necessary muscles and coordination skills to drive the ball 250 meters. The only way I could develop a successful golfing mindset was by being motivated to focus on the gradual building of my core muscle strength, lifting lighter weights first and gradually increasing the intensity, hence steadily developing my confidence so that I was able to compete and win at my golf club.The very same notion applies to succeeding in business; you can’t expect to attain sudden success before focusing your mindset on the right motivations by gradually building your muscles of success with confidence and intensity. Tackling your little challenges and overcoming them first will give you the vigour to take on bigger challenges, leading you to ultimately arrive to your desired success destination. Once your muscles of success are formed you may then fashion a clear and concise picture of your success goals and apply your implicit beliefs to achieving them.

Therefore, ask yourself; how strong are your muscles of success? Do you focus on training and developing them every day and at all times; are you motivated to take on the daily tasks and obstacles that you encounter, and do you feel that you have developed the mindset to becoming stronger and more prone to success progressively?

My PT at our local gym, Matt Nicholls is one of the most successful trainers I’ve ever worked with. Not only is he successful in his own right, he is also able to direct his own success formula to help his clients to reach their maximum fitness potential. He does this progressively and meticulously by calibrating his clients exercise drills utilising gradual weight lifting and muscle stretching by applying performance resistance training. His technique is unique in the sense that he understands his client’s abilities and limitations and works to accommodate them. The most important aspect of Matt’s training is his ability to communicate to his clients the feeling of muscle movements that lead to optimum performance; he says “I convey to my clients what it feels like when the muscles move and the right sequence for these moves to obtain optimum muscle strength”. Matt did not just read a book about personal training or attend a PT seminar; he started very young and underwent intensive strength, performance and conditioning coaching for years until he perfected his skills and became successful.

This is exactly how I coach my business clients. I am able to convey the feeling of being successful and how it feels to lead multimillion dollar businesses, because I was there several times!

Time and again, it’s proven that it’s not enough just building your muscles of success, you have to ingrain the feeling of success into your psyche so that you can have sustainable and scalable success.

Have you ever experienced the feeling of success? Have you had that euphoric feeling of butterflies in your stomach when you had pursued something meaningful to you and achieved it?

We are talking here about your implicit beliefs in succeeding not your explicit ones. In other words the mental association you have towards feeling successful and your burning desire to succeed, not your aspirations and intentions for success.

For example; it doesn’t matter how much you care about the value of exercise; unless you have implicit belief that exercise improves your brain function and muscle strength and is essential to being healthy, otherwise you will not be heading to the gym soon. Indeed, you can guess that people who care about their wellness and aspire for a healthy lifestyle are ardent gym goers.

My professional instinct tells me that when my clients say they do care about something such as the vast majority of business owners caring about their leadership performance, a measure of their implicit beliefs gives me a better idea about how likely they are to succeed. To assist them in realising true success I make them aware of their inner dialogue turning it into a positive chatter and having them recall the feeling and experience of intense emotions associated with triumphant situations. I’ve found that my clients’ implicit belief in the importance of building their muscles of success predicted their ultimate success in business and life.

I typically give my clients the following daily actions for success:

1. Start your day with a pre-work exercise or a meditation session

It’s essential that you go for a run or hit the gym before you start you work day. Exercise and meditation help you clear your mind and psyches you up for the day ahead equipping you with the necessary sustenance to meet your business challenges.

2. Have a healthy meal for breakfast

You can’t perform at optimum level if your body is running on empty. To be productive and to make smart decisions you must fuel your body properly in particular your first meal of the day.

3. Respond to urgent emails and clear the clutter in your Inbox

Start your office day with a clean slate, answer your urgent queries and archive all attachments and messages in the relevant folders. Avoid letting your emails pile up. Just the sight of these numerous messages will give you a heavy heart!

4. Set your agenda and major goals for the day

After organising your inbox set clear goals for the day ahead taking in consideration productivity and creativity measures. In other words, ensure that you don’t spend all your day in productivity mode, allow specific time slots for creative and strategic thinking, alone and with your team.

5. Determine your daily priority list

Once your goals for the day are set, sort them out by level of priority and importance. And above all, avoid meetings with time wasting morons.

Developing your muscles of success is pivotal to being a great business leader and innovator while understanding the role that true success feelings play in your decision-making processes and in harnessing and strengthening your muscles of success is equally important. Therefore, to keep level perspective of your personal and business life, focus on devising a positive mental attitude compass that could unleash your creative inspirations which will point you towards building eternal muscles of success.