The spirit of St. Patrick’s Day enjoys surprising popularity in North America. Reasons for this range from the silly and superstitious to the historic and religious. With an eye on our core values, we at ASEA today think back to those whose Irish traditions influenced the holiday’s adoption even as they entered the United States to try their hand at the American Dream.

The idea that you can gain anything you’re willing to work for is a hallmark that continues to live on in the free world. People from all walks of life and from around the world have cherished the idea set forth by early pioneers, that hard work, perseverance, and performance can bring success to anyone willing to do what it takes.

On this St. Patrick’s day, we want to emphasize the power of Performance, since that is where we believe real “luck” lies. We are focused on results and hold ourselves accountable to the daily, purposeful fulfillment of our mission and vision. And anyone who does the same will find fortune smiling down on them. The ability to shape your business, your life, and your success is already within you. What you’re willing to sacrifice and how you carry out your plan makes the difference between measured achievements and wishful thinking.

Performance is important because it reflects the very spirit of ASEA entrepreneurship and how our business model works. The way you work will determine what you gain as an ASEA business owner. Our compensation plan is built to reward hard work and high performance, making each associate the master of their own destiny. So, on this day of luck, we offer some advice for finding your own pot of gold.

Create a Personal Mission Statement

A personal mission statement helps you figure out what you like to do, how you operate, and why you want to excel. When you have a personal mission statement, you can use this as a guidepost for how you’re doing at any point throughout the process of achievement. You need to understand your values, your personality traits, and your dreams and passions.

Write down the kind of person you are, the business you’d like to run, and the way you’d like to conduct yourself throughout the process. Know your personality. List your strengths in life and the things you need to work on. List your values, your outlook on life, and ultimately what you want to be known for when you die. Give yourself rules for personal conduct and things on which you won’t compromise. Once you’ve established these, solidify your mission statement and hang it where you can read it every day. 

Start With Writing Down Achievable Goals

The work that we do in the early stages of our business development often goes unnoticed. However, this is the most crucial part of the process because it builds the very foundation of your organization. According to Business Coach Brian Tracy, only 3% of Americans have written down their goals, and only 1% review and rewrite their goals regularly. By simply writing your goals down and reviewing them regularly, you’re already ahead of 99% of your competition—and that can include your biggest enemy, yourself.

Making sure our goals are specific and manageable is the first step to achieving them. For example, if you wanted to write a novel in one year, that might seem intimidating, but if you set the goal of writing two chapters a month, that equates to writing roughly half a page a day. One could quickly write for 30 minutes a day to achieve that goal. 

Planning Out & Reviewing Your Day

Every night before bed, review the next day’s meetings, write down your to-do’s and goals for the day, and solidify your schedule and how you will spend your time. At the end of each day, review how the day went and write down three wins for the day and three things you can work on doing better. 

Doing this exercise daily not only allows you to review your goals and keep up on your schedule but to be aware of mistakes so you can correct them and count your wins so you can stay motivated to keep going.

You can also plan your day in terms of time spent learning, observing, and doing. Learning time could include reading materials to help you grow, observing time might mean shadowing a mentor and meeting with business partners and then dedicating the last few hours to working towards your goal. These remaining “power hours” could include conference calls with prospects, meeting and introducing your business to new people every day, and following up with those with whom you’ve already touched base. 

Performance for success only works when you do. To achieve anything in life, you have to work for it. Do the work, and it will happen. It’s that simple.