This blog isn’t about defining success,
we’ve written about that before. In a previous posting, I stated that before
achieving success, you must know what success is—for you. You are the only
person that can define your success.
Someone has said, if you can’t define success, how will you know when you
achieve it? Therefore, I assume that you have a definition of personal
success—what you want to achieve.
This blog deals with what happens once
your definition of success is on paper.
To start, you should list all the
positive things the success journey provides you. The list should flow from the
confidence that your goal is important. In working to achieve your goal, you
know you are investing in a personal high priority.
An additional positive benefit is, of
all the goals you could choose, this goal is the goal for you (it matches your
interests, talents, skills, etc). To achieve this goal, you will need to focus
your activity on accomplishing the goal and not dilute you effort on secondary
activities.
A key activity to achieving your goal is
to have or develop a positive attitude.
People traveling their road of choice to
success know that a positive attitude is the prelude to reaching their
destination. Successful people know a passive attitude built on wishing,
wanting, or hoping will not provide the infrastructure for achieving personal
goals. Ancient Chinese teacher and philosopher Confucius, wisely stated, “The
will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these
are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”
People with positive attitudes view
themselves as a work in progress. They continually look for activities that
bring them closer to their goal; and avoid actions that impede their goal
achieving. Every single activity you engage in either brings you closer to or
moves you further from your goal. Therefore, evaluate all possibilities and
spend time on what matters most.
People with positive attitudes focus on
what they want and not what they
don’t want. They see the preverbal glass as half-full; if not, full and
overflowing? They believe things are good and will get even better. Each time
they score, they are juiced to go for another score.
People with a positive attitude bring
their “A” game all the time, every time. In any task they undertake, people
with a positive attitude do the best they are capable of doing. They aren’t
concerned with being great but focus on being the best they can be (“best”
being defined as what you believe you can do plus some stretch for the capacity
you don’t realize you have).
The result of a positive attitude is
knowing that you gave your best. Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said
it this way, “You experience success when you have the peace of mind that comes
from know you have done the best of which you are capable
People with a positive attitude
constantly look for ways to improve. Perhaps the most obvious sign of a person
with a positive attitude is their enthusiasm for learning. Learning leads to
improvement and one of the best ways to learn is to read and learn from the
leading experts and authorities in your field of interest. Personal education
is not complete with the last formal education class.
In addition to having a positive
attitude (will, desire and urge to succeed), I believe the best way to find
personal success is to actually look for it. View your strengths, weaknesses,
and interest from your goal perspective. Ask yourself: “Do I have or, can I
acquire the needed skills or attitude for reaching my goal? Do I have the will,
desire and urge to achieve the ultimate outcome? In his book, The Master Key to
Riches, Napoleon Hill writes, “The only thing over which you have complete
control is your mental attitude.” A positive attitude is necessary to success
and you have complete control of your attitude.
Two action steps that help develop a
positive attitude: First, accept responsibility for your own success. In doing
this, you demonstrate a level of personal accountability and enthusiasm. It shows
that you have a winner’s attitude and not a victim mentality. When you accept
responsibility you make a statement: “I am a performer!”
Second, accept that you are responsible
for your own continuous learning: updating knowledge, skills and improving on
personal strengths. By doing this, you will boost our level of performance to a
new level and then keep it there.
Being responsible for your own success
and your own continuous learning tells everyone that you expect to be
successful. Perhaps Brian Tracy was thinking of this when he wrote, “Disciplining
yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the
high road to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.
Three Point
Success Summary
SUCCESS
THOUGHT: People with a positive
attitude have a life-long self-improvement plan that enables them to think
beyond the crisis of the day. Their plans emphasize the reading and studying of
the writing of experts in their field of interest. Then, they quickly make
application of the principles that caused these writers to be successful.
SUCCESS
QUOTE: “Desire is the starting point
of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which
transcends everything.” Napoleon Hill
SUCCESS
ACTION: Commit to a life-time of learning
and having a positive attitude.
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