I hear tons of the supposed experts telling others that they need a strategy, yet very few of them actually have a strategy of their own and even fewer can tell you how to create one for yourself. 

The word "strategy" implies planning.  What's your plan?  Let me ask that differently:  what's your plan for your life, for your career growth, for your fulfillment, for your health, for your relationships, for your spirituality, and for your finances?

Do I mean that you need a plan for all these areas?  Absolutely!  You must plan each category of your life individually and create a collective plan too.  This collective plan is really your strategy for success.  So how should you proceed?

For each area of your life, brainstorm and write out exactly what you want.  Go into excruciating detail.  Write out why you must achieve your end result and exactly what you'll lose by not achieving your end result.  Next right out quarterly, monthly and weekly benchmarks that must occur to achieve your success.

That's your strategy, or plan for your success.  The tactical plan is the actions necessary to make the strategy work.  For the tactical pick your top 3 highest value action items for each category of your life that will beat your benchmarks, and execute them every week.  Capitalize on Pareto's Principle where 80% of your success will come from the top 20% of highest priority efforts.

Review your strategy every Sunday.  Take an hour for yourself, review your professional and personal strategy, celebrate your victories and mitigate your shortcomings.  Does this take time?  Absolutely!  Will this strategy reward you?  Thousands and millions of times over.  An hour of "you" time is better than anything else you can do.  Turn off the tv, the radio and your email and start strategizing.

Passion, Planning and Positioning are absolutely critical to you success.  However, without the fourth and final "P", Persistence, you're unlikely to succeed. 

Persistence is simple to define, yet it's the hardest to follow through on.  Persistence is your ability to never give up no matter what the odds, to persevere through life's challenges and to keep your fire burning deep when everyone around you has a fire extinguisher.

We're surrounded by negativity all day long, people telling you it can't be done, or to just cave in and take it easy.  When you listen to the naysayers, and let them into your mind, than can and definitely will kill your dreams.  Guard very carefully who and what you let into your mind and your life.  

Persistence says I won't quit, I won't give up and I will overcome any obstacle you put in my path no matter what.  Surround yourself with those who share this belief and being persistent isn't quite so difficult.  When the world is beating you down, beat it back.  Who said you have to listen to the garbage.  Let the garbage be overtaken by your action and forward movement.

Dig deep and find your passion.  When you find it, hold on tightly and nurture its growth.  Keep that fire lit inside you and create a plan.  Start executing your plan.  While you're taking action remember to position yourself strategically, and when you do that remember never ever give up.  Be persistent in your actions.  The more persistent you are the more likely you will succeed.

And now you know the 4 "P's" to your success.

What is success to you?  Your definition is likely unique to you, just as its definition to your neighbor is unique to them.  What leads to success though?

The 4 P's:  Passion, Planning, Positioning, and Persistence.  All four carry a tremendous amount of weight on your path to success, and not one of them can function on its own.  You must have all four playing, integrating and operation in harmony.

This week we'll start with, Passion, and its effect on your definition of success.

Quite simply passion is the first critical key to your success.  Passion is the fire in your belly.  When your knocked down or feeling out of sorts, Passion is exactly the ingredient that will fuel your fire to get back in the game and keep persisting.  

Passion is a deep-seated love that's so strong you simply want to do more and more.  The challenge is most people don't work their passion.  They've settled for a life less than what they are destined for.  The status quo has taken over, and they basically are going through the motions day-after-day.

If you really want to be successful in life, on your terms, then you must find and work your passion.  What you'll discover is that your job is no longer a job.  It now is like playing everyday.  What would you rather do; work at a job or play everyday?

The answer is obvious, and by the way, you'll find the most successful people work and play within their passion.  Success isn't all about money, but when you play everyday and are paid to do so, isn't that a huge part of success?

Passion is the first critical element of the 4 P's to your success.  Find it, discover it and nurture it.  Life will reward you accordingly.  This leads too Planning, which I'll cover in detail next week.