SUCCESS!!! What and How?

When talking about success and happiness, Viktor Frankl said it best in his top selling book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”.

There are many definitions of success. I did a survey not long ago on Facebook asking people what their definition of success was. The answers were random but that’s OK because it’s a subjective question. Some people believe success is based on wealth, friends, size of family, property owned, social following, etc. To me, it’s based on wins. Each day I like to think about my wins of the day. See, I define success as “Doing better today than I did yesterday”. If I failed at something yesterday but learned from it, that is success because I learned something new. It’s that simple to me. I don’t overwhelm myself with man made things of this earth or material things. I simply want to continue to be better every day.

Many folks beat themselves up trying to figure out why they’re not successful but that goes back to the first paragraph. What is success to you? If you make it this ginormous mountain, good luck!! Keep it simple. It’s all about the “wins”. Winning builds confidence. I’ve said before that “losing is a habit and so is winning”. Winning each day, doing better, becomes a habit, builds confidence and fills a person with joy. It’s mindset. Much like muscle memory. “When you repeat mistakes again and again, you build a muscle memory with those mistakes”. The same applies to winning which leads to success. Keep it simple and don’t set yourself up for failure.

Why aren’t you successful? Have you asked yourself that question? Much of it lies within what influences you directly. First of all, your social circle and activities. “They” say that you’re the average of the 5 people you associate with. If you hang out with losers, guess what, you’re headed down that path. You may even need to look at your own family. Cut off toxic relationships. I like to tell people that I’m like a ship. Ships were made to sail, not sit in the port. So, when I decided to sail I was off to a slow start because I had quite a few anchors attached to me. I had to cut those anchors. We call this “pruning”. In order for a tree or rose bush to grow, it must be pruned. That’s when you look at the life you’re living and the people your around along with your influences. You may need to sever some relationships. Don’t be mean about it, just begin to distance yourself. Another thing to think about is, how do you spend your time? Most people will say, “I don’t have time to read”. Well, guess what, you’re stating a priority not a fact. If I told you I’d pay you 10 grand to read 1 book in 30 days, you’d read that book. Uh OH!!! Did your priorities just change?! You bet they did. What’s more important to you? Those TV series you’ve been watching or “doing better today than yesterday”? I’m a HUGE advocate of reading books that fill me with knowledge. Here are a few.

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• Awareness by Anthony De Mello
• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
• Dare to Dream and Work to Win by Dr. Tom Barrett
• Struggle Well by Ken Falke and Josh Goldberg

Make the time to fill your mind with positive and uplifting information. Each morning when I take a shower I play a YouTube motivational video from Goal Cast or Daily Motivation. I really enjoy listening to Tom Bilyeu, Les Brown, Jim Rohn, Mel Robbins, Tony Robbins, Gary “Vee” and a few others to start my day. Another thing I’ve done is created a “Battle Board” in my office. It’s a whiteboard on the back of the door. When my door is closed, school is in session and my family knows it. On that board I have positive affirmations that I speak, things that I’m grateful for and I write down 3 things I’m grateful for each day. I pray, do my TM (Transcendental Meditation) and read a devotional or pages from one of my books.

Vision casting is HUGE. Envision yourself 6 months, 1 year or even 5 years from now. Where are you and what are you doing? Who are you doing it with? Think about that often. Set some goals to achieve those dreams and write down action steps to get there. You may be doing this on your own if you haven’t “pruned” negative influences out of your life. Many successful people PAY other successful people to be mentors or accountability partners. Being accountable for your wins and losses will help you grow. Confess your failures to others. Journal or write things down. There is an entire world of profound knowledge out there, but you must resource the knowledge and chase it! Remember, failing is OK as long as you’ve learned something from it. “Life’s a garden. Dig it”. – Joe Dirt

If you’re wondering how to “fuel” yourself to find success refer to an article I wrote earlier about that exact topic (The 3 Fuels of Success). I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and I pray that it helps those who need it. Never quit and never give up. If you’ve liked what you’ve read, please share and subscribe!!

Thank you!!