Hey Reader,

I want to start today by sharing a little secret I’ve picked up over the years.

Here’s the secret: Though the frameworks I share may look easy to implement as you’re reading, the truth is, these practices are incredibly difficult to apply when life is going full speed.

That’s why in every edition of the Pulse this year, I’ve encouraged you to ease up on yourself, celebrate your victories, and really look at the challenges getting in the way of your big goals and dreams.

I intentionally started the year off focused on the air sandwich — the gap between your day-to-day reality and those goals — because it’s going to be easier to address and adjust now than at the end of the year.

You’re now a full month into 2023 and I’m going to guess you’ve already started to recognize that those carefully constructed plans you made at the start of the year need adjustment.

And that’s not a bad thing! Because if you’re planning effectively, you’ll always be changing your plans.

The good news: Once you can see what issues are holding you back, you’ll find it’s easier to achieve the kind of success you have dreamed of.
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​The bad-ish news: The higher you set your sights, in terms of success, the greater likelihood you’ll slam into the challenges of the air sandwich.

Let’s take a moment to look at the levels of success worth celebrating.

3 Levels of Success

Here’s another little secret… There are different levels of success.

I share this because we tend to split our outcomes into either success or failure. Often we set the bar so high that we end up counting what may have actually been a moderate or small success as utter failure.

As you think about resetting some of those 2023 plans, consider what level of success would be required to achieve those goals.

1. Small Success

Since tests are the easiest analogy, consider a small success as getting the minimum score needed to pass. The thing about small successes is that a string of them done with coherence and intention can lead to much greater success down the line.

2. Moderate Success

A moderate success is nothing to scoff at – while you may not be shouting from the rooftops, you’re likely proud of the outcome. It’s the highest level of success you can achieve with just your own effort, resources, and advantages.

3. Epic Success

An epic success greatly exceeds the minimum requirements for success and is a “tell your Momma” moment. Epic success requires you to build a team to help you get there.

Benefits of Applying Levels of Success

The higher the level of success you choose, the more you’ll need to do to achieve it.

Considering the levels of success while goal setting helps you align your expectations and resources. Small successes don’t require nearly as much effort and focus as epic successes, but many of us expect epic success with small-success-level effort and focus.

Go back to your 2023 goals and ask yourself these two questions:

1. What would success look like at each level?
2. What effort and resources would be needed to reach each of these levels?

The answers to these questions will help you make more informed plans and lessen the challenges that make up the air sandwich.

Build Your Team Habits

From my upcoming book, Team Habits:

Setting the right level of success for your team is going to be based on their readiness level. The problem is that many leaders continually expect high levels of execution from their team when their team actually has low levels of readiness.

This sets the team up to fail in one of two ways: 1) they’re not going to hit the goal or 2) they’re going to succeed, but only through such extraordinary effort and expense — a Dunkirk effort — that the bill will come due. They’ll be worn out, burned out, or they’ll spend way more resources than you expected in order to get it done.

If you don’t have an honest idea of what your team’s readiness level is, you can’t set reasonable goals.

Consider January your trial period for 2023. Celebrate your victories, appreciate what you’ve learned, and readjust your plans accordingly. Next month we’ll focus on how to create the space you’ll need in your schedule to move that work forward.

Stand Tall,

Charlie

Other News & Features

🎙️On the latest Sparked podcast, presented by LinkedIn, Jonathan Fields and I explored how to scale a business and find ways to duplicate yourself when offering highly-skilled, one to one services without degrading the quality of the service you want to deliver. Listen here to the full conversation.

📱Are you a Momentum app user looking to level up your projects and goals going into February? Join us on Friday, February 3, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. PST for our free Monthly Planning Webinar. Our Momentum Skills Coach, Maghan, will walk you through the monthly planning process in our Momentum app. Register for the free.