Last year, I sat in a Mastermind Meeting with Pat Rigsby, and clearly remember saying the following:

“My goal for 2011 is to help as many trainers and coaches get better than ever. As a result, I want to speak more in 2011 than ever before.”

As the saying goes, you better be careful what you wish for!

This year, I’ve spoken more than ever before.

The downside? That also means I’ve had to travel more than ever before!

But I’m already getting off-topic – let’s focus on what that travel has meant to me.

This year, I’ve gotten to work with and meet more trainers and coaches than at any other time in my life. It’s incredibly fulfilling for me, because it’s directly in line with my life’s mission statement, which you can learn more about HERE.

Through those meetings, I’ve gotten to meet tons of unique people.

Young trainers who are just getting started.

Savy veterans have been doing this for years.

And grizzled business owners who are serious about taking their game to the next level.

But what’s really cool is how this has given me unique insight as what separates the best of the best from the rest of the pack.

What makes people like Eric Cressey, Pat Rigsby, or BJ Gaddour different and unique?

You may think it’s something big or incredibly obvious. Maybe they’re smarter, have better connections, work harder, or something along those lines.

And while you could argue that all of those things are true to some degree or another, I really don’t think that’s the truest limiting factor.

No, the reason some people are wildly successful and making their dreams reality is because of the following:

1. They’re willing to make tough decisions, and
2. They take meaningful action after that decision has been made.

Let’s examine each.

Making Tough Decisions

This is the first real step towards any kind of success.

What is important to you?

What do you want to achieve?

What are your goals – in life? Training? Whatever?

Jim Rohn calls this asking the “tough questions.” If you want to achieve true success, it starts by asking yourself the tough questions – like what you really want to achieve.

The key here is that just because you’ve made a decision, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve made the right decision. Once you decide on a fat loss program to follow, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good program – but at least you’ve made a decision!

Sometimes it’s more valuable to fail early on than to succeed. I don’t know about you, but I always tend to learn more from my failures than my successes.

So once you’ve made a decision, the next step is to actually take action.

Taking ACTION

I know this sounds elementary, but decision-making is often the easiest part of the process.

Hell, even taking initial action isn’t all that bad – after all, your dreams are in sight, you’re on your way…

…but sticking with it? Seeing your goal all the way to fruition?

That can be a little bit more challenging.

But the people that are consistently at the top of their game – whether it’s in their business, training, or anything in between, are the ones that make decisions and consistently act on them – seeing them through to their end goal.

In life, there are starters, and then there are finishers.

Early on, I was a great starter. I loved brainstorming, dreaming, thinking about what could be.

But I’ve had to work to make myself a finisher. To take that idea or dream and make it reality.

So without continuing to wax philosophical, let’s take this post and make it into something usable. Something actionable.

Actionable Item

This is incredibly easy to do on paper, but a lot harder to do in reality. But here goes.

1. Make a decision about something important in your life TODAY. This exercise will prove most beneficial if there’s something you’ve been wavering on for weeks or months. It could be to learn more about training, start a new training program, go into business for yourself, etc.
2. Now that the decision has been made, start taking action! It doesn’t have to be something huge – in fact, often the smallest decisions that can be quickly and easily acted upon get the momentum rolling and set you up for further success.

I sincerely hope I’ve motivated you a bit to take life into your own hands – make a decision and take action.

For those of you that are still undecided, I’ll leave you with the following story.

In my speaking over the past couple of years, I’ve dealt with one gentleman in particular who loves chatting me up. I’ve seen him at least the last 2 (if not 3) years, and he’s always talking about a big project he wants to pull together.

The sad thing is, this guy has made zero progress towards his goal in two years.

Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t let your goals and dreams pass you by, while you thinking about what could happen tomorrow.

Make today that start of your new reality.

And if you want a little built-in accountability, share your decisions and actions in the “Comments” section below. I’d love to hear from you!

All the best

Mike