All too often when people think of success, they think that they should be the best in their field. Or they should have the biggest house or the flashiest car… or millions of dollars in their bank account.
Success in life goes beyond material possessions and the number in your bank account. Real success is about living life to the fullest and knowing that you gave it your all. To live life on your own terms, pursuing your own authentic purpose and dreams is success.
The concepts of what it takes to be successful are very simple. Anybody can understand them and most people do. Application of these concepts, however, is quite another story.
In this article, I’ll share 10 important success tips with you. While they may not be mind blowing, rest assured that if you apply them daily, success in any endeavour will be yours.
Even during those times when you do not get what you want or despite your best efforts you fail, you will still push forward and succeed in areas you never even imagined.
Don’t think – Know and act.
This is without a doubt the most important tip of the lot. Success is not a coincidence but a consequence and it’s a direct result of your actions.
The majority of people who never succeed in life invariably have one common trait. They don’t take sufficient action. They hem and they haw and never put their plan into consistent and committed action. Planning does not get results. Only doing does.
Do not keep thinking about what you’re going to do or what you will do. JUST DO! This is the key. Form a plan, do your research so that you know what you’re doing and then EXECUTE the plan. Don’t wait, just start!
Instead of taking notes about which exercises are the best for weight loss, put on your shoes and start running. Instead of hanging out in online forums reading advice from other clueless people, take action. You can learn and learn and learn, but go nowhere…
The best thing is to start doing and learn as you go. Most people are stuck in a kind of inertia where they just never get started. By consciously forcing yourself to take action, you’ll attenuate this lethargy and inertia that’s holding you back. This and only this will catapult you to success.
Define your goals clearly.
You must know what you want. If you’re undecided about your goals and have a flippant attitude about how you’re going to achieve them, you will be like a sailboat without any course that’s just tossed around by the prevailing winds.
Write your goals down in a list. Make them as specific as you can. State why you want to achieve them and how you’ll feel when you do reach your goals. You must define your why and be absolutely clear about it. Give yourself a time frame to achieve your goals.
Look at your list often so that you remember what you need to do… and then go do what you have to do so that you can see success and then be able to do what you want to do.
Don’t rest on your laurels.
This is a very common mistake that can turn a successful person into a failure. If the phrase “Resting on your laurels” could be summarized in one word, that word would be COMPLACENCY.
There are so many examples of people who did succeed at what they set out to do and once they got there, they were so happy and content that they relaxed and assumed that things would always be rosy. After a while, they realized that while they were resting, the roses wilted and the weeds took the garden.
You must always be alert. If you’ve lost all your excess fat and you have a fantastic body now, that’s great. Enjoy it and be proud of yourself… BUT… do not assume that you’ll stay lean forever.
If you let your diet slide and sneak in a doughnut here and a milkshake there, it’s only a matter of time before all those pounds come sneaking back in. Next thing you know, you’re fatter than you’ve ever been before.
The same applies to your spouse. Give them the same attention that you did before you married. If you let that slide and think you closed the deal by tying the knot, it’s just a matter of time before you’ll be signing the divorce papers.
Always keep moving. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Continually motivate yourself.
This is of paramount importance. Everyone is excited at the beginning of the year when they’re listing their goals and resolutions because of the promise of what is to come. The truth of the matter is that it will take time to achieve your goals.
During this time, your interest will start to wane and you will lose the drive to keep going through the hard yards. This is where most people throw in the towel and fail. They’ve lost sight of the promise.
The key to staying on track with your goals and succeeding in life is motivation. Do not renounce your personal responsibility of motivating yourself. Nobody else is going to do it for you.
You could attend a seminar by some famous motivational guru and be pumped up for a week, but you can rest assured that the high you’re feeling will dissipate.
What then? Who is going to motivate you?
The answer is you because you’re all you’ve got. Write your goals down and most importantly, write down why you’re doing what you’re doing. What is the emotional reason behind it? Write it all down.
Whenever you feel like the journey is just too much effort, look at your list of goals and ask yourself why you started. This should give you the impetus to keep going.
You MUST motivate yourself regularly, and take consistent action toward your goals!
Don’t be afraid of failure.
Always realize that failure is not the opposite of success. It is a part of success. Far too many people never do what their heart desires because they’re stifled by fear.
The lady who loves art chooses a career in finance because of job security. She hates her job and is miserable all her life.
The man who wants to travel the world and blog about his experiences as a global wanderer ends up tying the knot at 24 and has 2 kids because all his friends are getting married and settling down. It just seems crazy and immature to do what he wants to. Years later he’ll look back and wonder, “What if”?
Don’t end up in a “What if?” situation. You’ll find success if you pursue your true calling in life and not miss life-changing opportunities just because you were trying to be practical or following the herd.
You must follow your heart and your dreams without fear of failure. That’s the only way to live a life without regret. You can’t succeed at what you don’t do.
In the event that you do pursue your dreams and fail repeatedly, don’t let these failures discourage you. Fall seven times, get up eight.
The difference between the winners and losers is that the winners failed more frequently, and kept going. Learn from each failure, correct your course and keep moving forward. This is the only way to succeed and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Don’t compare yourself to others.
This is a simple one. Stop worrying about what others are doing. It’s human nature to measure one’s self against others.
Guys at the gym look around to see who can bench press more, and who has bigger muscles.
Women tend to judge other women’s bodies very harshly just to feel better about themselves.
Businessmen compare their earnings and net worth with their peers to evaluate their own worth.
None of these is necessary and can in fact be destructive. All unhappiness starts with comparison. There will always be those who are better off than you and there will be those who are worse off. Know this from the beginning and you’ll save valuable time and energy that you can apply toward making your life better.
If you constantly measure yourself up against those better than you, you’ll be bitter, discontented and miserable. That’s no way to live life.
If you compare yourself against those who are worse off than you, you’ll not be motivated to do better for yourself since you already think that you’re a success. This will lead to complacency.
So, your personal motto should always be to better your own personal best. You are your biggest competition. Always strive to be better today than you were yesterday.
If you focus on beating your own achievements, you will reap success over and over. Your only limit is you.
Keep your calm.
We live in a world where the majority of people are very quick to react. They’re often just waiting to get offended by others or curse at their own misfortunes.
In Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If”, his very first line was “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you”, and concludes with: “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!”
In simple words, do not be quick to anger or become overly emotional. Do not make decisions based on haste or fury. Millions of people have been to prison because they lost their minds for a split second and did something they regretted.
Extricate yourself from any unfavorable situations so that you can keep a level head. If you’re struggling to lose weight and give in to temptation and eat something you shouldn’t have, don’t curse yourself and give up on your goal. Move on, and get back on track.
In times of failure, take a deep breath and stay focused. Analyze what went wrong and remedy what you can. Don’t run around screaming and blaming everyone else. If you truly want to be successful in life, reining in your emotions and staying cool is a skill you must develop.
The same boiling water that softens potatoes hardens eggs. It’s all about what you’re made of, not your circumstances.
Eat, sleep and spend in moderation.
This may sound simple but millions fail at it. Eat clean and eat in moderation. Food is fuel, not therapy. So many people eat when they’re happy, they eat when they’re sad, they eat when they’re bored… It just doesn’t end.
Eat only when you’re hungry. It’s fine to occasionally indulge but know your limits. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions because of poor diet choices and overeating.
Sleep soundly but don’t sleep your life away. 6 to 8 hours of sleep a day is adequate for most people. Don’t sleep 14 hours a day like a baby. At the other extreme, try not to burn the candles at both ends and leave yourself in a quivering mass of exhaustion because you’re only sleeping 4 hours a day.
Spend your money wisely. One of the most common traits of successful people is that they save money and live beneath their means. Don’t spend money that you don’t have to buy things that you don’t need to impress people who don’t care.
While these 3 pointers might seem commonplace and almost inane, you’d be shocked to know that millions have ruined their lives just by not getting these three points right.
This is the real world and these are hard truths. To succeed in life, you must master yourself, and stay balanced.
Keep your promises to yourself.
When you make a promise to yourself and don’t keep it, on a subconscious level you’ll lose respect for yourself. You’ll feel like you’re not worthy of success.
One common example is people who struggle to lose weight. They have the same weight loss resolutions every year and they never succeed. They try a hundred different programs and thousand different slimming pills and whatever they do, weight loss eludes them.
The reason for this is that they break their promises to themselves. If you say that you’ll not drink soda today, then you don’t. Do NOT make an exception and tell yourself, “It’s ok. I’ll work it off tomorrow”.
Yes, you can work it off but you broke a promise to yourself. The next time you tell yourself, I’ll restrict my carbohydrate intake today, on a subconscious level your mind will tell you, “No, you won’t. You always give in”.
And guess what? By noon you’ll give in and have 2 slices of pizza. Your resolve was already weakened by earlier broken promises.
When this process is repeated over and over, it becomes a habit. You tell yourself one thing and you do another. Your self-esteem and confidence in achieving the goals you set is diminished in this way.
You decide that the ideal body weight is just not possible for you. You tell yourself that you have poor genes, no discipline, etc. There is one thing you are succeeding at when this happens, and that is FAILURE. Many people are very successful at failing.
Always remember. Do not make exceptions when you commit to a goal. Do not skip the workouts. Do not indulge in foods that you said you wouldn’t. Stay focused and exercise self-discipline. Keep promises to yourself above all else!
Believe and have faith in yourself.
In order to succeed in life or business, you must believe that you can do it. If you didn’t, you’d never begin. You must believe that whatever you desire is within reach. After all, if it wasn’t, why bother?
Start believing it, and you’ll be on your way to seeing it. Have faith in yourself. There may be times when you’re dogged by failure and nothing seems to work. It’s during these times that it’s imperative that you do NOT give up.
It is always darkest before the dawn. If you stay on track and keep at it, success can be yours. You must stay the course, believe in yourself and your vision, and never stop working toward it until you have achieved the success you desire.
Conclusion
These 10 tips are simple to understand and you’ve most probably heard them before. Yet, you’re still reading because on some level, you know it helps to see them again.
Keep these tips in mind at all times and apply them over and over. Initially, it may be difficult and you’re bound to fumble and flounder a bit, but with practice and repetition, it will become second nature and you will be a living embodiment of success.
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