Success in life is a deliberate focus.
You can let life happen (reactive downward spiral) or make life happen (deliberate growth cycle) Here are some things I've learned along the way:
1) Add value wherever you go - There are givers and takers along the way. If you truly want to be successful you must be a giver. Adding value is like planting a garden. Plant and tend the seeds and you'll never go hungry.
2) Be a catalyst. Make things happen- Have you ever been in a room full of people and no one will make a decision? Be the one who gets the ball rolling. You may make a few enemies but one friend you will never make is mediocrity.
3) Give in the area you love- Passion is contagious. Like attracts like. If you try to contribute in an area you aren't passionate about your words and efforts will be far less fruitful than when you give in an area you love. You will be energized and not grow tired and you will also energize those around you.
4) If it's buy a new coat or buy a new book, buy the book- Never stop educating yourself. Build up your success attitude and you can own the coat store.
5) Never stop growing- Sounds a little like #4 but it's much broader. Constantly stretch yourself with new things. I have a quote on my desk from Eleanor Roosevelt. It reads "Do one thing every day that scares you." Nothing is worse than a daily life of mundane existence. Challenge yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, and financially. Never be satisfied with the status quo. All living things are either growing or dying.
6) Make your success a "have to"- A life of "shoulds" will never inspire or motivate you. It's like the business owner who plans a vacation and suddenly their business explodes. I once heard it said that you should live every day as though it's the day before your vacation starts. When your back is against the wall there is no room for procrastination.
7) There is no such thing as failure- We have all heard that the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is how they interpret failure. Every unsuccessful attempt teaches you something. The question is, are you listening?
8) Get a mentor or coach- Find someone or better yet, several people who inspire you. Follow them as closely as possible. Take their seminars, read their books, listen to their CD's, make them your best friend. Perhaps you will never meet them in person but that doesn't mean they can't mentor you. A coach, on the other hand, is someone you will have direct contact with. It may be by phone or on line but they can help you with the details of your success plan. With a coach comes accountability. That's a word that can be very intimidating if you've never had it but when you get use to it you'll find it's absolutely necessary for your ultimate success.
So how do we apply these principles?
The answer is that we have to break out of our default thinking and question our assumptions. Are our patterns of thinking empowering or disempowering? We all have the God given ability to think about what we think about. Operating at the default level is simply a life of reactions based on poor conditioning. The good news is, conditioning can be changed. The analogy I like to use is, if you walk out of your house and suddenly realize you're wearing an ugly shirt you simply go back in and change the shirt. Well, if you walk out of your house and have some ugly thoughts you can also choose to change those to empowering, productive thoughts. True there may be some things in life that aren't in your control but how you interpret those situations is completely in your control. Change what you can and learn from the rest.
