How to Succeed in All You Do

An article by Kevin Givens    1 Comment

There are literally hundreds of books written on the subject of success in business and life. But I believe if you truly want to succeed there are three basic success principles you should know about.

I can almost guarantee that other successful entrepreneurs, internet business owners, and first generation millionaires would all say they practice the success principles I’m about to discuss.

Become a lifelong learner

The great news is, if you’re reading this article about success principles, you are probably already a lifelong learner. Basically, you want to be completely open to new ideas and principles that may present themselves to you.

Knowledge is definitely great, but the action it leads you to take is what is really powerful. I started to realize and practice this principle of success right out of high school.

I was deeply in debt and never learned the proper way to handle money. A friend told me about Dave Ramsey, a Christian Financial Counselor, radio talk show host, and author of Financial Peace Revisited.

Had I refused to listen to, or read his material, I never would have changed my way of thinking about money and debt. Instead, I read his book in two days and became a faithful listener of his radio program.

I got on a financial plan, paid off thousands in debt in less than a year, and paid cash for our wedding and honeymoon in the Bahamas.

If you want to know about something, read a book, go to a workshop or seminar, or find a website dedicated to the subject. Successful people never stop learning and growing as individuals.

• Take Action! – Dedicate RIGHT NOW to becoming a lifelong learner and start by finishing this article

Begin with the end in mind

This principle deals with having a clear and concise picture of your goals and dreams. What do you want out of life? Your business? Your relationships?

If you want to be involved in Internet business, this means planning your Internet business empire. Or it may mean mapping out your career goals.

Take the time to plan out your business and life. A cool exercise I recommend is to write out what your ideal life would look like 10, 20, 30, years down-the-road.

Some people do this by writing out there own obituary. That idea seemed a little too morbid for me. So I wrote out an imagined speech at my 50th birthday celebration which highlights my achievements.

Once you’ve got a good idea of what success and fulfillment in your life would mean, you can work backwards on more bite-sized goals to get you there. It’s also to important to try and read over your “ideal life” regularly to make sure your goals are working towards that end.

Also, as your values and beliefs change, so may your dreams and ideas about success and happiness. That’s o.k., just change your version of the ideal life to reflect your new dreams.

• Take Action! – After you read this, set aside time to write out your own Ideal Life speech

Don’t be afraid to fail

This is one of those “easier said, than done” type principles. Our fears are shaped by our past experiences and beliefs. Most of these fears come from early childhood, when we are most influenced.

Even school perpetuates the idea of the “fear of failure”. We learn that failure is bad! If you fail you are not smart and are a disappointment. Maybe growing up you tried something new and were ridiculed by your peers because you weren’t the best.

I experienced a lot of that sort of ridicule growing up for being a “nerd”. I did well in school pretty easily, but tried too hard to “fit-in” and got made fun of for the way I looked and dressed. Although I’ve always loved sports and was decent at most I tried, the fear of failure kept me from joining any teams in school.

When you are criticized as a child, you start to criticize yourself. You may tell yourself “I’m not good enough” when thinking about a new career, relationship, or hobby you desire to excel at.

Brian Tracy in his fabulous book Maximum Achievement calls the fear of failure “the greatest single obstacle to success in adult life”.

• Take Action! – Here are a few ideas to help you overcome the fear of failure

1. Remove the words “I can’t” from your vocabulary right now
2. Fail Fast - You are going to fail sometimes. Do so quickly, learn from the failure, and move forward
3. Write down at least two instances growing up where the fear of failure kept you from doing something like approaching a member of the opposite sex, joining a club or organization, or participating in a hobby like sports
4. Start a personal blog to express your views and ideas about the things that matter to you. You can check for your own personal domain name at Godaddy.com or you can get a free blog at Blogger.com

Remember, failure is simply a compass to guide you in a new direction. Thomas Edison when asked about his thousands of failed inventions said “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

Now I’d like to hear from you

How have you used these success principles in your own life or business? Or do you have another success principle that you’ve adopted and would like to share?

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