From the dawn of time man has always wanted to find a shortcut to success.

There are literally millions of books, magazines, classes and coaches who are very happy to share their insights on how to succeed for a fee. Forget about them. There is no one size fits all formula for success.

We all come from different backgrounds. We have different ideas, work styles and situations. There is no way that one system is going to work the same for everyone.

But you know what we can do? We can study people who have succeeded. We can talk to industry mentors, we can read articles and listen to interviews with people we know have started with nothing and found success. And if you research enough of these people you're going to find that in spite of their different situations there are a few commonalities.

These people:

• have a plan: a clear vision, they know what they want to do and have a good idea of how to do it
• have good time management skills
• know themselves: they have self-awareness, they know their limitations and how to work around them
• stick to their plan: they have gumption, they trust in their vision and aren't swayed by the naysayers
• have flexibility: they go with the flow

At the end of the day you have to rely on yourself.

It's your idea, your goal. You need to create a system that will help you move through the interim tasks so that you can stay focused and still be evolve with changing circumstances. That's it. There is no universal solution that works for everybody all the time, but once you master these five steps you can adapt them to your own work style.