Clay Clark’s 6 Steps of Success

During the all-staff, Monday morning Thrivetime Show business coaching meeting, Clay Clark broke down his secrets of success in a very simple and practical way. Most of the steps are daily activities that I already know and am currently doing. But, I thought to myself, “This really is the simple, practical steps I’ve learned over the last year that has completely changed my life”. Here is the thing about constantly be surrounded by people like Clay Clark and Jonathan Kelly; you are never finished learning. Just when you think you have it down pat, they push you harder. So I ask you if you knew that all successful millionaires and billionaires do the same simple steps, would you repeat those steps if you KNEW that was the key?

Let’s just pretend for a minute that you do not want to be successful. Let’s just pretend you want your life to be as stress-free and as seamless as possible. If you had the six simple steps to create a peaceful, organized and non-chaotic life, would you do it? Whether it is success and money you seek, or a chaos-free, happy life, or both simultaneously, the steps are simple and I encourage you to implement these steps immediately!

Step 1: Create ONE To-Do List

I know EXACTLY what you are thinking. “DONE! I got it.” You were me a year ago. I thought I was decently organized. I had a to-do list and thought I was on top of things. No. Far from it. I could literally write a 50-page blog alone about how ONE physical (non-digital) to-do list is the move. Or, you can stop trying to justify the 85 different to-do lists, apps, emails, etc. that you are currently using to organize your life. 

Why not do the move from Clay Clark, Jonathan Kelly, every Thrivetime Show business coaching teammate and millionaire or billionaire Clay has ever interviewed and just do this one small task? Organize your day, every day. Print out, and I mean PHYSICALLY print out your to-do list and stop updating your to-do list on the notes app on your phone that you never check and forget that it even exists until it is time to add to it. Carry a clipboard around with you at all times so the thing is constantly staring you in the face. 

Step 2: Create ONE Calendar

Same concept here as the to-do list. One calendar. One life. I color-code my calendar based on events in my ONE calendar in Google, but it is still all linked to the one business coaching calendar that I print off. You can set different events to be recurring. You can create end dates. If you know you have a 2-week project that will take you 20 hours, block out the time on your calendar and create a custom recurring event. Block out specific time in your calendar. Another tip, don’t create a calendar that says 8:00 am – 5:00 pm WORK. List out your tasks. You will get more done in a day this way. 8:00 – 9:00 All Staff Meeting, 9:00 – 9:30 Respond to E-Mails, etc. 

Whatever your goals may be, make sure you are scheduling the time to complete these goals or you will never get them done. This increases efficiency. You are also able to find hour time blocks that were typically filled with unnecessary things. This is how successful people are able to get more done in a day. Check out this cool video for motivation.

Step 3: Take Things Out of Your Calendar

Here is the tough part. Take things out of your calendar so new things can fit. Maybe this is sleep. Maybe this is less time shopping, watching TV, hanging out with people you shouldn’t be hanging out with anyway. Whatever your goals may be, only you know the time you have blocked out for other things standing in your way. This may not be an act of physically deleting events in your calendar. It may be simply scheduling other things to fill up your calendar that are more important so the mindless act of watching TV is no longer possible. 

Step 4: Create an Environment of Momentum – Evoke Inspiration

To quote Clay, “Don’t make your house feel rapey.” Although this comment was comical, it’s so true! This was the one thing I learned from this meeting that kind of blew my mind. I’m doing the calendar, to-do list and I am very intentional on removing things in my calendar that don’t belong there. 

One thing I have not been intentional about is creating my perfect environment. Our home is very “homey”. We have it decorated with family photos surrounding us. If there is one thing you can feel in our environment, it’s love. But love doesn’t always inspire work. We have a happy home. However, the last thing I want to do when I get home is work. Whether that is work-related to chores for the house, an action item on the to-do list, or something needed to accomplish for family, I have not created an environment of momentum and it’s no wonder I get less done at home than anywhere else.  

Step 5: Learn How to Manipulate Yourself

This is something that has taken me YEARS to learn. For many people, learning how to manipulate yourself is related to the type of music they listen to, a devotional they read, a self-help book they read, audiobooks, podcasts, exercise or writing inspiration messages to yourself. If you haven’t found this yet, you MUST search with trial and error. Find out exactly how you can manipulate your mindset to accomplish the things you need to. For me, a daily podcast, morning “meta” time speaking powerful, uplifting thoughts is the way to manipulate myself every morning to create a sustainable momentum for my day.   

Step 6: Avoid Dramatic People

This is simple – yet the most difficult. If there are people in your life, dramatic people who discourage your success in ANYTHING you do, get them out. This could be people bringing you down for the simple, and the big things. Maybe your goal is to chew the most gum in one day and beat your all-time record. If someone says that is stupid and brings you down, get them out. Maybe your call is to make a $1,000,000.00 and discouraging dramatic folks say that isn’t possible. Either way, make sure you get these people out of your life.

There you have it! Straight from the Thrivetime Show business coaching Monday Morning All-Staff Meeting. Again, I want to ask, if you knew the simple practical steps to achieve success like Clay Clark, Dr. Zoellner, and Jonathan Kelly, wouldn’t you do it? Start now!