The Three-C Formula

The Three-C Formula

The Three-C Formula is a system that was pioneered by Michael Angier, founder of SuccessNet. It stands for clarity, concentration and consistency. Together, they have proven to be a tool of success for many people.

 If you develop the habits of success, you will make success a habit.

-Michael E. Angier, Founder of Success Networks International

Clarity

Clarity is knowing what your exact goals are and what specific steps you plan to take in order to reach those goals. 

Watch this short 5 min video on How to Set goals to help you set and reach your goals.

Why is clarity important?

Brian Tracy, CEO of Brian Tracy International, says that those with clear written goals accomplish more in a shorter period of time than people without goals. Being specific allows you to paint a picture of where you want to go in the future. That picture allows you take the appropriate steps to get there. Deciding where you want to go can provide you with direction for how to move forward.

Example – You want to grow your business-consulting firm to have 500 new clients by this time next year. Your specific steps include hiring a marketing specialist, outlining and attending at least 6 conferences and event, and re-structuring your services to be more appealing to potential clients.

Steps to Create Your Clear Vision

1. Clarify What You Want

Sometimes the hardest question we can answer for ourselves is, “What do I want?” For many of us, a large portion of our lives is dictated by the desires of others whether that’s parents, bosses, social expectations, etc. Take some time to decide what you really want. Have fun with it by eliminating factors such as money and location to uncover the unrefined truth of what you really want to see in your life.

2. Write It Down

Now that you have an idea of your hopes and dreams, write it all down. This step is often overlooked despite how important is it. By writing something down, we’re taking it out of our minds and putting it somewhere we can actually look at it. Looking at it in a different light can help you see your vision more clearly as well as refine it as needed.

3. Be As Specific As Possible

There is a magic in being specific. Your results will probably be much different if you say, “ I want a business consulting firm” versus “I want a business consulting firm with 500 clients by this time next year.” With the less specific version, you’re giving yourself room to move slowly and create excuses, thus putting off your dreams for 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and on and on.

4. Be Realistic

Nothing is more motivating than small (or large) wins along the journey. It’s challenging to keep going if you’re seeing little success. This is the reason why it’s so important to be realistic with goals. Of course, you want your goals to be genuine mile markers, but no so large and out-of-this-world that they cannot be done!

5. Schedule It

Scheduling the steps it takes to reach your goals will seal the deal. If you don’t create deadlines, there is room for procrastination and you risk the possibility of procrastinating on your goals. Create a 6 or 12 month calendar specifying what you want to achieve by when. It’s a good idea to schedule it into your phone so that you receive reminders.

Concentration

Concentration is being able to do an activity or work with little to no distractions. Less distraction means greater productivity!

Identifying and Eliminating Your Distractions

What are you particular distractions? Here are just a couple examples and tips to eliminate them from your routine.

• Social Media: The most popular time-killer! Limit your social media time. Rather than checking it many times throughout the day, limit yourself to 30 minutes in the morning and at night.
• Texting (and Related Apps): Yes, it’s difficult, but simply turn your phone off during your work times. Turn it back on during your designated breaks or when you’re not trying to focus.
• Chatting: If you work in an office, the hustle and bustle around you can be an enormous distraction. If you’re not able to move to an area that’s quieter, put on some headphones or nicely ask your co-workers to quiet down.
• Multi-Tasking: You might be under the false impression that you can get more down while multitasking. This isn’t By focusing on one activity at a time, you’ll get more done in a shorter period and not get tired very fast.
• Poor Diet: Junk food and sugary drinks can cause your energy levels to drastically go up and down. If you want a more consistent level of focus throughout the day, eat healthy meals at the right times without snacking furiously.
• Clutter: It’s true. Your outer world reflects your inner world. If your space is cluttered, your mind probably is too, making it challenging to focus and be productive. Try the reversed effect. By cleaning your space and keeping it neat, you may find that your internal world becomes clearer too!
• Fatigue and Stress: Fatigue and stress create a negative loop. Being tired is often a result of being stressed, and stress is often a result of exhaustion. Stop the cycle and start with getting a long night of sleep…and consistently! Your body will be able to handle stress with more ease and you’ll get more done. That’s a win-win.

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

-Beverly Sills, American Operatic Soprano

How to Improve Your Concentration

Eliminate Distractions

It’s simple…Follow the directions above. Create or research tactics to eliminate the things that are getting in the way of your concentration.

Use 30-Minute Spurts

There is a belief that you can accomplish much more if you work in 30-minute increments. If you take consistent breaks, your activity will have your full attention for the next half hour.

Meditate and Exercise

Italian neuroscientist, Giuseppe Pagnoni, wanted to find out how meditation affects the brain. He compared 12 meditators of three years to 12 people who had never meditated. After measuring their brain patterns in an MRI machine, he found that the mediators had more stability in the area of the brain that is the source of distractibility and a wandering mind.

The study proved deduced that meditation improves focus, but very few people want to sit cross-legged for 4 hours a day. Take as little as 10 minutes each morning to drop all of your thoughts away and just breathe. There are many guided meditations online that make this much easier too. Exercise has a similar effect, plus, it’s good for you.

Create a Schedule

We’ll dive more into this in the next section. Creating a schedule keeps you on task, informs you on what you have to get done by the end of each day, and prevents you from forgetting must-dos. Also, by pacing yourself and spreading out your schedule, getting things done will feel less daunting and more manageable.

Journaling Activity (5 min)

Write about a time when you were having a lot of trouble focusing at your workplace, but were able to regain focus. What did you do about it? Did it work? Are you still utilizing this method?

Consistency

Consistency occurs when you maintain the same amount of effort toward achieving your goals over an extended period of time.

“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Philosopher

Achieving Your Goals with Consistency

You may have heard the story of Thomas Edison, known for the light bulb and also known for how many times his invention failed before actually working. He stated that he didn’t fail, but simply “found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” As a child, his teachers often told him that he would never be successful due to his wandering attention. This is the ultimate story of consistency leading to success.

Know Your Limits

You don’t have to be a super-human to be consistent. Believe it or not, trying to do too much at once can decrease motivation by draining your energy levels. Be realistic, pace yourself and remember that your wellbeing comes first.

Eliminate What Doesn’t Serve You

You don’t want to overload yourself, especially when you’re going all in on a particular goal. Go through your daily schedule and try to eliminate the activities that aren’t helping or growing you in some way. Do you watch six hours of T.V. at night? Maybe you could replace that with two hours of reading and four extra hours of sleep!

Create an Action Plan

As mentioned in the section on Clarity, create a plan of action or a schedule. Post it somewhere where you can see it each morning such as a calendar on your door or Google Calendar reminders on your phone. Take the time to plan out the next couple months or so. This way, you’ll know what you need to do each day to stay on task.

Just Show Up

The first step to getting something done is simply showing up. Oftentimes, that is the biggest hurdle. Forget perfection, as that can cause fear of starting in the first place. Only once you show up will it become possible to begin your tasks.

Embrace the Kaizen Approach

Kaizen is Japanese for continuous improvement. It was originally created to help improve business flow, but is now used in all aspects of our lives. In essence, no matter how small, make it a priority to have continuous improvement through each day of your life, no matter how small or big. Just do one little thing, even if it’s a 5-minute meditation.

Activity: Create an Action Plan (10 min)

Recreate this template on your own sheet of paper and add more steps as needed. Choose one goal that you could achieve within the next one or two months. Thoroughly fill out the template to follow until the goal is achieved. Then, feel free to use this template in the future for other goals.