Success Formula: 3 Simple Steps to Achieve Your Goals
Last Updated on 1 week ago by Antony C.
Everyone wants to be successful, whether it’s building wealth, advancing their career, or simply living a better life.
But why do some people achieve their goals while others struggle to make progress?
I believe a simple three-step success formula can help us turn our goals into reality: developing the right mindset, creating a clear plan, and taking consistent action.
Key Takeaways
- Success starts with the right mindset. Be willing to learn, improve, and overcome challenges instead of expecting immediate results.
- A clear plan turns dreams into achievable goals. Know what you want, set realistic targets, and break big goals into smaller steps.
- Consistent action creates meaningful progress. You don’t need to make massive changes overnight. Start small, stay consistent, and adjust your approach when needed.
What Is the Success Formula?
The success formula is a simple framework that connects how we think, how we plan, and what we do to achieve our goals.
It consists of three steps:
Mindset → Thoughts and Planning → Action → Results
Each step plays an important role.
| Step | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 1. Mindset | Develop the right attitude towards learning, growth, and challenges. |
| 2. Thoughts and Planning | Set clear goals and work out how to achieve them. |
| 3. Action | Take consistent steps that bring you closer to your goals. |
Having the right mindset helps us recognise opportunities and learn from mistakes. A clear plan gives us direction, while taking action turns our ideas into something meaningful.
The problem is that many people focus on only one or two steps.
Some spend their time dreaming without planning. Others have detailed plans but never get started. And some work incredibly hard without knowing whether their efforts are bringing them closer to their goals.
The key is to make all three steps work together.
Of course, following this formula doesn’t guarantee success. However, it can help us make better decisions and improve our chances of achieving what matters to us.
Step 1: Develop the Right Mindset for Success
Everything begins with how we think.
Our mindset influences how we approach challenges, make decisions, and respond when things don’t go according to plan.
For example, imagine two people who want to start investing.
One believes investing is too complicated and assumes they will never understand it. The other recognises that investing takes time to learn and starts by understanding the basics.
Both might have the same amount of money and knowledge today, but their attitudes could lead them down very different paths.
Having the right mindset doesn’t mean believing that everything will work out. It means being willing to learn, improve, and take responsibility for the decisions within our control.
Here are a few qualities I believe are worth developing:
- Willingness to learn: Accept that we don’t know everything and remain open to new knowledge.
- Positive attitude towards challenges: Treat setbacks as opportunities to understand what went wrong.
- Patience: Recognise that meaningful results often take time.
- Open-mindedness: Listen to feedback and consider different perspectives.
- Personal responsibility: Focus on what we can control instead of blaming everything on circumstances.
As an investor, I’ve learned that we cannot control how the stock market performs.
However, we can control how much we learn, the risks we take, and how we respond when markets become volatile.
The same principle applies to our careers, businesses, and personal lives.
A good mindset won’t remove every obstacle, but it can help us deal with challenges more effectively.
Step 2: Turn Your Thoughts Into a Clear Plan
Having the right mindset is a good start, but it won’t get us very far without a plan.
Think about someone who says, “I want to become financially successful.”
That’s a wonderful ambition, but what does financial success actually mean?
Does it mean having S$100,000 in savings? Earning S$3,000 monthly in passive income? Becoming debt-free? Or having enough money to spend more time with family?
Before we can achieve success, we need to understand what success means to us.
Once we know what we want, the next step is to turn that goal into something specific and achievable.
For example, instead of saying:
“I want to save more money.”
We could set a clearer goal:
“I want to save S$10,000 over the next two years.”
Now we have something measurable.
We can calculate how much we need to save each month, review our expenses, and decide whether the goal is realistic.
When creating a plan, I like to keep things simple:
- Define your goal: Be clear about what you want to achieve.
- Set a realistic timeline: Decide when you want to reach your goal.
- Break it into smaller steps: Work out what you need to do each month or week.
- Identify potential challenges: Consider what might prevent you from following the plan.
Most importantly, remember that your plan doesn’t need to be perfect.
Sometimes we only discover what works after we get started.
Planning gives us direction, but we should remain flexible enough to adjust when our circumstances change.
Step 3: Take Consistent Action Towards Your Goals
This is where I believe many people struggle.
We might have the right mindset and a wonderful plan, but nothing changes until we actually do something.
Think about someone who wants to become healthier.
They can read books about exercise, watch fitness videos, and create the perfect workout schedule.
But unless they start exercising, they won’t make much progress.
The same applies to building wealth.
You can spend months researching stocks, learning about dividend investing, and calculating potential returns. However, knowledge alone won’t build your investment portfolio.
Eventually, you’ll need to put what you’ve learned into practice, when you’re financially prepared and understand the risks involved.
Start Small and Stay Consistent
One mistake people make is believing that success requires massive action.
I don’t think that’s always necessary.
Small actions, repeated consistently, can make a meaningful difference over time.
For example:
- Saving S$100 every month instead of waiting until you earn more.
- Spending 30 minutes a week learning about investing.
- Reviewing your spending at the end of each month.
- Developing one useful skill that can improve your career opportunities.
These actions might seem insignificant initially, but they help us develop habits that support our long-term goals.
This is also the principle behind my book, Start Small, Dream Big, where I share how taking small steps can help us overcome procrastination and work towards meaningful goals.
Of course, consistency doesn’t mean blindly repeating something that isn’t working.
We should occasionally review our progress and ask ourselves whether our actions are producing the results we want.
If they aren’t, perhaps it’s time to adjust our approach.
After all, the goal isn’t simply to stay busy. It’s to make meaningful progress.
How to Apply the Success Formula in Real Life
Let’s put everything together with a practical example.
Imagine you’re a working adult in Singapore who wants to save your first S$10,000.
You currently have little savings but want to build a financial safety net before you start investing.
Here’s how you can apply the three-step success formula.
| Steps | What You Can Do |
|---|---|
| 1. Mindset | Recognise that improving your finances is possible, even if you need to start small. |
| 2. Planning | Set a goal to save S$10,000 within two years. Work out how much you need to save monthly. |
| 3. Action | Set aside a fixed amount every payday, monitor your spending, and review your progress regularly. |
| Results | Build your savings over time and adjust your plan when necessary. |
Breaking Down the S$10,000 Savings Goal
Let’s assume you’re starting from zero and want to reach S$10,000 in 24 months.
Here’s the calculation:
S$10,000 ÷ 24 months = Approximately S$417 per month
If you save S$420 every month, you’ll have S$10,080 after two years, assuming no withdrawals and excluding any interest earned.
Rather than trying to save the entire S$10,000 at once, you’ve broken a large goal into manageable monthly targets.
Of course, whether S$420 is realistic depends on your income, expenses, and financial responsibilities.
If you can only save S$200 monthly, that’s perfectly fine. You can adjust your timeline instead of giving up on the goal.
And if your goal is to build an emergency fund, remember that S$10,000 may or may not be enough. Singapore’s MoneySense recommends setting aside at least three to six months’ worth of expenses, depending on your situation.
What matters is having a realistic plan that you can maintain.
Once you’ve established a comfortable financial safety net, you can consider your next goal, whether that’s saving for a home, building an investment portfolio, or working towards financial independence.
The same three-step formula applies.
You start with the right mindset, develop a clear plan, and take action towards achieving it.
Final Thoughts
Success means different things to different people.
For some, it’s about building wealth. For others, it could mean having more freedom, spending time with loved ones, or achieving something they’ve always dreamed of.
Whatever your goal, I believe the same three principles can help:
Develop the right mindset, create a clear plan, and take consistent action.
You don’t need to have everything figured out before getting started.
Choose one meaningful goal, take your first small step, and keep learning along the way.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are the Three Steps in the Success Formula?
The three steps are mindset, thoughts and planning, and action. Mindset helps you approach challenges positively, planning gives you direction, and taking action helps you make progress towards your goals. All three work together to improve your chances of success.
Why Is Mindset Important for Success?
Mindset influences how you respond to challenges, learn from mistakes, and make decisions. Having a growth-oriented mindset can help you remain open to learning and improvement, although it doesn’t guarantee success.
Can the Success Formula Help You Achieve Financial Success?
Yes, the success formula can help you approach financial goals more systematically. For example, you can develop better money habits, create a realistic savings or investment plan, and take consistent action to improve your financial situation. However, results will also depend on your income, expenses, market conditions, and other circumstances.
What Should You Do When You Are Not Achieving Your Goals?
Start by reviewing your progress and identifying what’s holding you back. Your goal might be unrealistic, your plan may need improvement, or your circumstances might have changed. Rather than giving up immediately, consider adjusting your approach and focusing on smaller, achievable steps.
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Antony C. is a Singaporean dividend investor focused on building passive income through REITs, ETFs, and Dividend Stocks. With 15+ years of experience investing in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China markets, he founded IncomeBuddies.com to share practical wealth-building strategies tested in his own portfolio since 2008. His expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq, and NFAA, and he’s the published book author of "Start Small, Dream Big".