I recently came up with a list I want to share with you. I wrote it when I sat down to think through the steps I will need to take in order to succeed at what I want. It assumes you don’t get any help from others (angel investors, rich uncles, get set up with a supermodel), but pull yourself up by your bootstraps until you are at a point where people and success naturally flow your way.

Okay, you must first have a goal, something you really want to bring about in your life. You have to want it badly enough to commit to achieving it. That can be called step 0.

Step 1

Identify what it will take to achieve your goal. Work past your fear, insecurities, shame, and any other psychological reasons that would hold you back. Commit yourself to a rational process: if you conclude you must do something, then work on getting rid of the obstacles and allow yourself to do it. (Maybe even enjoy the process of getting better at it.) Be ready to accept the consequences.

Step 2

Make a plan. Write down concrete milestones and deadlines. Then, double or even triple your deadlines to accomodate overhead (you will have to take care of other things too), and downtime (you might get sick, or sidetracked). The schedule may take longer than your exuberant optimism predicts, but the point is that you should be sure you can finish ahead of this schedule. You can have a good degree of certainty.

Now, fill in the space between the milestones with smaller tasks that you’ll have to complete, taking into account the dependencies some deliverables may have on others. Because you’ve stretched your deadlines out, this should present you with a pretty lenient minimum achievement curve. This is the curve you will have to outperform.

Step 3

You are probably in a relative stable position at the moment (unless you just lost your job in this current economy). Stay there, but start earning more and spending less. Save up enough money to buy yourself financial independence for as long as it takes to get your business running. Get access to resources that you will need to utilize once you start working on your project full-time. This step might take a long time, and you might be itching to start on your project execution. Use that energy to do well in your current work, and later on you will have a great shot at emerging successful with your project.

Yes, you can work on your project in your spare time, but you’ll have to juggle work, your project, your social and personal life, and meeting with other people about your project. Multitasking on this scale can cause a lot of stress and put various aspects of your life at risk, including your income and your commitments to others. I know this from personal experience, having worked late hours after coming home from work. My advice would be to do this only if you really think you can afford it.

Step 4

When you have saved up enough money to live on, you can leave your job. Do it as amicably and as cleanly as you can. If you and your employer part on good terms, you may be able to come back later on if your project doesn’t work out. At any rate, you’ll be able to rely on them to give you a good recommendation should you have to get another job in your industry. If you are a consultant and have clients, then tie up the loose ends as completely as possible. You don’t want your clients to be calling you two months down the line and distract you from working on your project. One thing you could do is put them in touch with a colleague of yours who is in the same business. Give them some of your accounts to maintain. They will appreciate the business. If things don’t work out down the line, they might return the favor and help you get started again by referring a couple clients of their own to you, or you might even get some of your old clients back. Or if you didn’t succeed, you might consider switching gears and getting a long term job.

Minimize your responsibilities as much as you can, but some may remain — for example, visiting your mother. Start meeting these responsibilities even better than before, since now you have more time. That way the people close to you will appreciate what you are doing and be more supportive.

Step 5

Begin executing the plan you’ve created. Pay particular attention to how you set things up in the beginning. This is probably going to be one of the most enjoyable times for you, anyway, since you are taking your first bold steps toward the future you want for yourself. You might be renting your first office, creating your first business cards, or getting the equipment together to build your first prototype. You’ll be setting up your workspace, decorating it, putting your personal touch on something other people will see later.

Keep a calendar and populate it with the minimum achievement schedule you’ve created. If you fall behind this schedule, you have to get on track as quickly as possible. On top of this schedule, mark down any new appointments that come up, such as following up with people you met, or going to new events. Since you are now all by yourself without a job, you will have a lot of overhead. Oh, and try not to get too sick — you probably don’t have health insurance at this point.

Step 6

Produce materials that you can show and tell others wen they get interested in what you’re doing. It is not enough to achieve something silently; there will be points when you will have to share with others what you do — on a dinner date, perhaps. So prepare in advance your shpiel about what you are passionate about, where you’re at today, and even better, have some marketing materials that explain to people (who may be unfamiliar with the technical details) the importance of what you are working on, and what you have already accomplished. Keep updating and refining these materials, and your story. If they are online, they are accessible from anywhere. If need be, hire a professional to help create these materials (e.g. call me for web design, hehe).

Step 7

Find out about opportunities in your area. Network and meet other people. Find out what they are doing and if you could help each other. Be interested in them, and be interesting yourself. If you have a lot going for you, and/or a lot of potential and enthusiasm, you will find people who naturally feel inclined to help you. People must feel good around you in order to help you, so be mindful of that. Make friends, and they may turn into partners.

Step 8

Finally, keep re-assessing where you are and where you need to be going. Life takes us in interesting directions. So often, people start thinking they are going to do something, and find themselves later on enjoying a totally different path. As we achieve, we learn, and we grow, and we change. Wherever we are, we are always headed somewhere so we might as well find our happiness along the way.