Does this sound familiar? You set out towards your goals with good intentions and lots of excitement, just to find yourself doing something completely unrelated the next day. Or worse still, old habits slowly creep in and life is generally too busy to make the changes you know you want and need but find it so hard to implement.

It’s one thing to have a clear vision about your future but completely another to make that vision become a reality. You want to take your career to the next level or find your purpose. You want to work less and feel more satisfied emotionally, financially and spiritually with what you do. You want to make a difference and use your talents for the betterment of the world.

To turn a dream into a living success we need to turn our days into a string of positive habits that support the life we wish to create. But when you think about ‘positive habits’ you are likely to vision yourself going for a run or making a green juice. They are great habits, of course, but it may be difficult to see the direct connection between a green juice and becoming a published author, as an example.

When we talk about good habits at DrivenWoman we talk about a framework and a process.

Habits form a permanent structure to guarantee your success, what ever your goal or dream.

Let us give you an example.

Ivana is at crossroads and looking to go back to work after staying at home with kids. She wants to find something that aligns with her values and gives her a deeper meaning, a purpose. Marisa is a researcher and recently gave her first TEDx talk. She has big ambitions for the future but her daily habits keep slowing her down.

Both Ivana and Marisa can use the same framework to stay focused on their dreams. The key is showing up every day and understand that mindset patterns are also ‘habits’.

The following five actions will become a structure for your success, if you stick to them:

Setting The Intention For The Day

Starting your day with intention setting is a very powerful habit. Commit to writing down what you want to focus on that day and what is the one thing you will complete to stay focus on your dreams. This only takes 2-minutes. Everyone can make the time. If you can’t, ask yourself if what you want is that important after all? Be prepared and have your notebook and pen next to your bed so that there’s no excuses to skip this habit. Write down one or two sentences for the day, that’s all, as way of creating positive habits for success.

Show Up

People who regularly show up to what they value have made a habit of it. It’s not random. They too feel like cancelling, or pressing the snooze button, but they don’t because they’ve established a strong habit.

If you are used to cancelling important things at the last minute or generally putting your own needs last, you will need support to start showing up fully without excuses or fear. But don’t worry. With a lot of repetition, kindness to oneself and some stamina, it can be done!

Start paying attention to the moments when you show up and when you cancel. Journal in the evening why you showed up or why you cancelled. Again, this takes no more than couple of minutes and that note pad and pen will come in handy.

Commit To Taking Action

At DrivenWoman and our online accountability club the Academy, we write down five things we are going to take action on every month. This happens because we’ve dedicated an hour or two in our calendars for this. Again, it’s not random. It happens every month.

Make a habit of dedicating one hour every month just for writing down what is important in your life right now, what you are struggling with and what needs to change. And what five actions you can take to change things in order to develop positive habits for success.

Small Steps

The best habit you can ever create for yourself is small daily steps. These will be affirmed in the morning as you write down your intention for the day. It’s the belief in small steps as opposed to gigantic leaps (which never happen, by the way) that will make the greatest difference.

This is a mindset habit. Your ego worships ‘big things’. Therefore whether you want to stop eating unhealthy food or find your purpose, it’s your ego’s belief that only big grandeur gestures are worth pursuing and it’s keeping you stuck. Accept the smallest possible ‘win’ for the day, such as one healthy snack or reading one inspiring article and your life will start turning around sooner than you think.

Do Something Scary

If ‘Small Steps’ are the gun, this is the (magic) bullet. If you can establish a habit of stepping outside your comfort zone – you are winning!

The scary or uncomfortable actions, conversations, emails, phone calls, meetings, performances, health habits, presentations, talks…. Initiate them the first thing in the morning. Make a habit of ‘eating that frog‘ the first thing, then nothing more horrible can happen to you all day. Get into a habit of doing what you don’t want to but know will be good for you, first. This, completed, will boost your energy for the rest of the day. However, if you procrastinate and do 100 unimportant tasks it will suck your energy and you’ll feel worse.

So what now, you wonder. “I know all of this, but it’s hard.”

Yes, we know it’s hard. But the rewards are well worth the hard work and effort.  Just imagine how you’ll feel when you start achieving the things you wanted to.  Here’s a great way to start.