Have you ever hated someone who was just so good at everything they did?

They couldn’t do anything wrong whilst there was poor you, struggling with the most mundane of things.

You know what I mean – that smart ass kid at school who annoyingly always got straight As. That hot girl who everyone wanted to date, was super at all sports, knew all the latest dance moves and came top of the class.

And worst of all while you slaved away every day immersed deeply in your books during your college days, these smart students never seemed to study. Instead they were out partying every night – they were the smart in-crowd.

It was as if they were born high-achievers.

Yes, we have all been there. And didn’t you just hate these guys and gals?

Of course it doesn’t end there – at work there is always that one smarmy work colleague who just knows it all – and you hate to admit it but he really knows far more than you do. Like him or not, you grudgingly accept that he is simply brilliant. And sadly you are not anywhere near their level.

Yet deep down you know that you are as good as them. In fact you just know you are better than them. You even feel smug knowing that you are actually smarter than them – it’s just that no one has discovered this about you.

Worst is this pain of knowing that you could be so much more in life – it hurts you to the core of your being to know that life is passing you by whilst you are being mediocre. And others are getting the glory.

Life seems so unfair – you are from the same gene pool. What have they got that you don’t?

Well, what if I told you that there was a way to become just like them? To become even better than them?

If you wanted to, you too could become such a high-achiever. Indeed you could ruffle so many feathers with your brilliance and your success that others would love to hate you too.

The good news for you is that it really does not take much to raise your game and become a high achiever yourself.

And you know what, you owe it to yourself to do so. Remember, the clock is ticking.

“We all have two lives. The second one begins when you realise you only have one” – Tom Hiddleston

But first you have to be ready to play all out to finally become a high achiever and start creating amazing things in your life.

Now what I have learnt is that highly successful people always strive for more.

They work hard and play hard – and if that sounds like you, then read on.

So consider this right now – where in your life can you raise your game?

4 Underlying Principles for Becoming a High Achiever

There are 4 underlying principles for becoming a high achiever and transforming your life – Clarity, Commitment, Focus and Action.

I have learnt that achieving things in life is actually relatively quite simple – get clear about what you want, get committed to do whatever it takes to get this, become laser focussed and take action until you get there.

Of course it’s simple, but not easy – not everyone is willing to do the work and take the necessary steps. Which is why there are so many people mired in mediocrity.  But you no longer need be one of them.

1. Clarity

Clarity is POWER – the clearer you are about what you want, the more likely you are to achieve it.

Knowing what you want in life is key – but most people don’t even know what they want!

There are only a small number of people who do know what they want.

But there are only a TINY number of people who actually take the actions necessary towards getting what they want.

Most people go through life in a fog, meandering from day to day and before we know it, their life has gone by. And then they come and bury you.

Once you have the clarity about what you want in life, the rest is about creating a sensible strategy and taking action.

Getting that clarity in the first place is key.

Incidentally, when I first started coaching clients, I used to think that self-belief was the starting point i.e. you had to believe in yourself.

I have known some high achievers who were totally plagued by low self-belief in themselves and yet they were creating incredible things in their life.

Other times, I have worked with clients who couldn’t even get started as they had such low self-belief.

So get this once and for all – self-belief is not a pre-requisite to success and achievement in life. Neither is confidence.

Confidence is an outcome and not a pre-requisite for success in life.

So here are some key questions for you to consider right now to get more clarity for your life:-

What dreams did you have when you were a child?

What gives you joy today?

What have you given up on?

2. Commitment

The second principle for a life of high achievement is Commitment.

“Commitment is an act, not a word.”

Your commitment is something you renew every morning, and it’s not just a passing, fancy fad.

So pause right now and ask yourself –

What does commitment mean to me?

What I mean by commitment in this context is not just another word you throw around loosely – but it’s a way of being and something you take on for the rest of your life.

Let us look at the lives of 2 of my all-time heroes.

Mahatma Gandhi was totally committed to a free India – and he achieved that in his lifetime

Check out 11 Key Lessons from Gandhi for leading a Powerful Life of Commitment

And Mr Nelson Mandela was committed to a free united South Africa – and despite spending 27 years in prison, he achieved that.

During that time in prison he remained totally committed to his lifelong vision.

Commitment is about declaring your word to something bigger than you.

The question for us is really not even about what Gandhi, Mandela and others like them have achieved in their lifetime – but what made them stand out from the rest of us?

So this is really an inquiry about what allows you to be totally committed to what you say you are committed to.

You simply have to take action daily to renew your commitment on a daily basis.

You have to be persistent and keep going till you get there. Even if takes you the rest of your lifetime!

WHO you are is not absolute nor set in stone – it’s a choice.

And you can choose to be whoever you want to be – and today you can choose to become a high-achiever and transform your life.

3. Focus

When you truly focus on what you what, everything else falls away.

Nowadays we have more distractions than ever before.

“Absolute focus is the key to all great human achievement – whilst preoccupation is the enemy of all achievement”  

And let’s just check in on you guys right now – whilst reading this blog post, have any of you checked out your Social Media notifications since you started reading it?

Come on – own up. It’s okay – I let you off this time :-).

But remember – how you do one thing is how you do everything.

First comes the clarity. You then declare your commitment and remain focussed on this until you’ve achieved success in your quest.

Once you are focussed, you simply do not deviate from your path.

There are so many distractions these days to stop you from focussing on the key things!

For example, if I didn’t switch off all my social media inputs, every time I try to write an article, I would have Twitter, Facebook and email notifications stealing my attention.

Not keeping your focus on your goals will lead to ineffective efforts – and you already know that ultimately this is the road to mediocrity. You might as well give up and stop reading this article if you are so easily distracted.

So here are some practical ideas for you right away.

Next time you need to stay focused, switch off your TV, log off social media sites and blogs and turn off your smartphone.

Even turn off your computer if you don’t need it for your work.

Simple really. That’s how you create time for the important things.

Commit to starting and finishing one key task at a time.

Create a powerful statement for yourself such as:-

“I’ll have 100,000 subscribers to my blog and I will not stop taking focused action until I do”

4. Action

You can have complete clarity and be committed to getting what you want in life.

But all that would be pointless if you do not take focused action every day!

Most of us procrastinate – some of us are even world class at procrastinating!

But the clock is ticking – we have very little time to waste.

“The trouble is you think you have time!” – The Buddha

Success in life is actually quite simple – focussed, relevant actions on a daily basis taking you to where you want to go.

So here’s something for you to do by the end of today. Start or finish off something you have been putting off for a while –make sure you do not go to sleep tonight until you are done.

You really have to do whatever it takes to get what you want in life.

So to summarise – my 4 underlying principles for ultimate success and high achieving in life are:-

1. Clarity – Get clear on what you want
2. Commit – Play full out
3. Focus – Get and remain focussed
4. Action – Take daily action

So these are the foundational principles for becoming a high-achiever – and to put them into practise, here are my 8 practical strategies:-

1. Review Your Starting Point

Start by focussing deeply on what’s happening in your life currently

Take stock of all the powerful and fulfilling things you have done and continue to do.

• What’s already really working right now?
• Where do you want to step up?
• What are your current challenges and blocks?

To start with, remember that you are already successful in your life!

However, let’s look deeper:-

• Where are you stuck?
• What’s holding you back?
• Where is there room for improvement?

Take an HONEST look at what’s really going on for you.

Getting this extra clarity will allow you to review and start again if necessary.

2. Get Clarity and Create a Bigger Vision

Now let’s look at the vision you have for your life.

What’s the powerful vision for your life? For today and the future?

To help you get a clear idea about what one thing you must do in your lifetime, I invite you to reflect on these questions:-

• What do you want to look back on when you are 80?
• If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do?
• What’s your ultimate game?

And this is the KEY question I would like you to keep reflecting on during the next few days:-

Just what one thing MUST I do in my lifetime?

And once you have an idea of what you want to do in your life, you have to go after it single-mindedly and let nothing get in your way!

3. Harness the Ultimate Mindset

Once you are clear about the ultimate vision for your life, it’s time to get committed to it!

Most people in life are NOT committed to anything!

Indeed most people go through life half-hearted committed to what they think they want.

And most people don’t even know what they want in their life!

So ask yourself just what are you committed to in your life?

What’s the one thing you are committed to make happen in your lifetime?

“It helps to be positive and upbeat every day, but unless you are committed to something bigger in your life, you may well spend the rest of your life in mediocrity” – Arvind Devalia

So it’s your choice – a life of mediocrity or a life of excellence!

4. Develop a Winning Strategy

What got you here may not necessarily help you to reach the bigger game you are committed to!

Once you’ve got clear of just what you want to do in your life and in your lifetime, how are you going to win at your ultimate game?

The key is to create a winning strategy to help you get there. And to correct your course if necessary.

It’s about bringing your best game to the table and to create your own rules for your game of life. And for transforming your life.

And YOU get to choose just who is going to help you become a high achiever and win your ultimate game.

• What are the special rules of YOUR game of life?
• What steps will YOU take to win the game?
• WHO is going to play with you?

5. Become Streamlined and Strong

To become a high- achiever in all areas of your life, you need to be in prime condition, physically, mentally and emotionally.

What we are looking at here is you being fully energised and highly optimised.

You also need to be streamlined and de-cluttered in all areas of your life.

Do an honest review today of what and who you can let go off from your life.

A coaching client living in the English countryside in Sussex took on de-cluttering her life. It turned out that she and her husband had so much junk, they were actually paying a lot of money to hire a large warehouse to store their stuff.

Within a month, they were able to get rid of most of their stored stuff and the warehouse was completely empty. And amazing things began to happen in her business once she had cleared all this unwanted junk.

So this is really, really important – I cannot emphasise this enough – please start to simplify your life in all areas from today onwards.

Here are 20 simple questions to help you simplify your life for ever.

Streamline all your commitments and start letting go of things that no longer serve you.

And to play your best game in the game of life, you also need to have an optimum self-care regime.

Please be clear that I am talking about talking TOTAL self-care here – there can be NO half measures when it comes to being your best mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Finally, it’s about having congenial relationships so that all your interactions with others are powerful and they support your quest.

Remember, you have to be intentional about creating the best and optimal environment for high level achieving.

It’s about calling on external resources where necessary so you can focus on what’s really important.

Crucially, it’s about not doing certain things at all.

And it’s about slowing down to speed up.

6. Create and Follow a Powerful Action Plan

You could have a really inspiring vision for your life and you can have the best strategy and your life could be really streamlined. But if you don’t take any action, your life will NOT transform!

There is no point in having compassion for something or someone if you don’t actually take a stand for them.

In the same way, being committed to something that really resonates with you is useless unless you take daily action.

Your commitment has to be renewed every day.

Most people go through life stopping and starting on their projects – or they keep going around in circles, never getting anywhere.

So it is vitally important to have your goal broken down into discrete and simple steps with clear deliverables.

“Most people never ever take the one simple action step which they know will change their life dramatically” – Arvind Devalia

It is about doing the simple things and doing them well – but doing them only as well as is absolutely necessary.

Take discrete and simple steps with clear deliverables.

Be creative and really think outside the box.

And always remember – strive for excellence rather than perfection.

7. Get Accountability and Project Manage Your Life

Your life of high-achieving is your own little project – it’s what you are going to create. Your own masterpiece.

As with any worthwhile project you must plan and manage your project – and you may need accountability to others.

Ultimately the only person who you are accountable to is YOU.

So check in with yourself just how committed you are to become a high-achiever and to create your legacy and your dream life.

And stick to the course and re-evaluate as necessary.

Remember that to get there, your mind-set has to be focussed on success come what may!

8.  Celebrate Life, Review and Plan Your Next Steps

Most high-achieving people rarely stop to celebrate.

It’s so easy to get totally and heavily involved in your work. Especially if it’s your passion.

But it’s all about working hard and also playing hard.

So how do you celebrate in your life?

How do you mark the big victories in your life?

I invite you to celebrate life over the next 24 hours in any way that excites you. It could be as simple as a nice cup of tea or that bar of chocolate you have been denying yourself.

Your big successes in life and your super achievements are worth celebrating big time.

Review daily how far you have come.

Express gratitude and appreciation for all you have.

And then perhaps it is time to step up your game even further.

You can create the next steps for an even bigger game – no point stopping now, right?

The Way Forward

So there you are – a rapid exploration of how to become a high-achiever – how to go from struggling in the shadow of all these so called high achievers – and learning not only how to be like them but even out-smarting them.

“Revenge” in your mind over those alleged high-achievers who made you feel small will be sweet.

But also watch out – don’t become smarmy and arrogant. Be nice to those not as smart and high-achieving as you – you never know just how quickly and when they could outdo and outsmart you :-).

It’s time for you to soar…