The Value of Creating a Path to Success Checklist

When you are on the journey  to success in whatever your goal is, keeping your emotions in check is vital if you want to make it. State control, emotion control, you've probably already heard this a thousand times from other leaders in this space. If there is one thing I have learned thus far it is that you can make this journey as dramatic or enjoyable as you want. Luckily for you, there are millions of people who have already been down the road you are looking to travel down. Study them, take notes, and observe what worked and didn't work. When you have that done start to build out a checklist with all the good and bad things you should expect along the way. Here is an example: 

1) Get idea for business 
2) Thoughts of hope and excitement 
3) Initial fears and doubts 
4) Honeymoon phase of business where you have endless energy and excitement 
5) First big curveball / challenge to overcome 
6) Fears and doubts come back and maybe you don't feel as passionate as you did in the beginning
7) Overcoming initial challenges starts to snowball confidence 
8) People start to notice your business succeeding 
9) Those closest to you may express jealousy or negativity as you are making them feel inadequate for their own inaction on personal dreams and goals. 
10) If you are leveraging social media and start to gain followers, expect the negative trolling that will occur

As you can see, if you break this journey down into mini steps both good and bad, you can check things off as they come. Instead of getting blindsided by surprises, you can now take the approach of saying "yep, I was expecting that bad thing to happen or this good thing to happen, etc." It is also a good way to gauge if you think you can handle this journey. Don't even start unless you are 100% committed to making this happen. Now of course there are always unexpected things that happen. But that said, having a checklist that includes the vast majority of good and bad things will set you up for a much less dramatic and intense roller coaster ride. 

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best and enjoy the ride.