Take a look at the businesses that have massive success and strong company cultures like Zappos, Google and Moose Jaw Mountaineering. The key underneath the culture is relationships. Their internal company relationships, the bonds that tie the employees together, are so powerful they have crossed the boundary into the customer portal and become a part of the brand.

Building strong internal relationships starts with authenticity. When a company empowers people to be their true selves and embraces their strengths, it fosters trust and clarity. People want to spend time with, work for and even take criticism from authentic people. Relationships built on authenticity give you much more freedom than you could ever have trapped in the frustrating game of trying to be someone you are not.

Authenticity breeds loyalty, the kind of commitment that says, “When you need me, I’ll be there. If you want the truth, I’ll tell it to you. If I say I’ll do something, I’ll do it.” In the early stages of building any company, or when you know you are in a tight spot, knowing you can rely on your team and trust that they have your back can be the key to achieving success.

Here’s a quick test:

1. Can you clear issues effectively? Are employees able to bring forth an issue with safety and can team members listen without judgment and work through issues expeditiously?

2. Listen to the way conversations are framed. We should all shoot for minimal use of the word “I.” Healthy relationships are about the “we” and consider the other party.

3. Create surveys or check ins to get strong honest internal and external feedback. Have procedures in place so you can act when you see a trend.

4. Is there trust? Trust is the glue that holds any team together.

I believe the more you focus on relationship quality, the better the long term financials will look and the stronger and clearer the culture will be.

Great relationships = sustainable success!

Discipline was never my favorite word.

Whenever I used to hear the word discipline, I would cringe.  When I was a kid, discipline meant losing something, not being able to do what I wanted.  As an adult, discipline is one of my key hunts, a target that is always in focus.  Discipline now means I can have EVERYTHING I want. Discipline is not deprivation; it is being conscious of choices and being aware of how they impact the goals you set in your life.

Acceptance.

Doing what you have to do so you can do what you want to do.  As a parent, I find myself in a constant state of saying that phrase…you have to eat your vegetables so you can have ice cream…you have to put your shoes on so we can go out and play.  For adults, the return on acceptance is greater.  The small annoyances (vegetables) are nothing compared to the trophies (ice cream) you can achieve.  The trail you need to follow from point A to point B is more complicated and the first step is so much easier when you accept it’s what you must do.  Choosing acceptance is easy.

Willpower.

Overcoming your feelings/emotions about a task and getting it done.  I can truly say I very rarely “feel” like tweaking a business proposal for a third or fourth time.  Does this mean it’s not necessary?  No.  Does it need to get done? Yes.  While it’s not the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning, I know that my feelings have nothing to do with it.  It is will that gets you out the door and in the hunt.  Never underestimate the power of will.  It is what allows you to target a specific buck, climb Mt. Everest or make the impossible possible.

Persistence.

Plugging away; crossing t’s and dotting i’s, solving problems, getting to the core, staying in it until it’s right.  When your heads-down and in your hunt, persistence is the fuel that keeps you focused on the prize.  Now you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  You can taste the freedom your discipline has brought you.

Some final questions: are the choices you’re making the best for you and your life?  And if discipline is just a series of choices, can we consciously make our lives better by choosing to, say, get up 15 minutes earlier to exercise, not because we feel like it, but because the end result takes us closer to a coveted target?

When you find clarity about your goals, discipline will be a key weapon you use to take down the targets that mean the most to you.

The successful people I admire all share one thing: they know what they want.  They set big goals, make outrageous demands and go out and take their targets.  From the outside, it might seem simple or that maybe they know something you don’t.  Goal setting is both an empowering and frustrating task, as it both flatters and confuses your ego in a constant war of “Yes I can” vs. “Why hasn’t it happened yet?”

Life is a game of balance in business, relationships, and hunting. You need to always be aiming for a trophy that’s just out of range yet appreciating the wins along the way.  I like to set big goals, aspirational targets that are seemingly unreachable until I break them down in to bite-sized chunks, chipping away at them daily until the big goal is right in front of me.

What I find most important is to check in periodically with all the small goals and refer back to those successes as I work my way to the aspirational targets.  Each step on a journey is as valuable as the next; it’s all getting you where you need to go.

Say your goal is to get out of debt. You look at everything you owe and it seems insurmountable.  Rather than looking at it as “I need X amount of dollars over Y amount of time to achieve this goal,” think of what you need to do in this week or this month.  At the end of each smaller time frame, take a moment to appreciate what you have accomplished, rather than beating yourself up about what you have yet to do.  Celebrate the small stuff, embrace every opportunity for success and your goals won’t seem so far away.

When we aspire beyond the targets we used to think were our ceilings, we start seeing the winning trails.  And if there is someone in your life struggling with their goals, be a champion for the steps on their journey and a reminder that life is a series of small wins that add up to success.