Success

The 10 Things Successful People Live By Before They Make It

1. They didn’t use excuses.

We all have two voices. There’s the voice that tells us to work hard, to focus on the task at hand and to finish it before we move on to the next. And to finish it well.

We also have the voice that tells us to take a break, to think about what’s on TV, or to visit a site that we like to visit that entertains us – whether it’s ESPN.com or facebook.

In life we’re the victim of injustice from time to time. It could be a promotion that we deserve but don’t get. No matter who we are, we’re going to be treated unfairly at some point. We can either feel sorry for ourselves, or push forward and put it behind us – even use it as motivation.

Nelson Mandela could have used his unjust imprisonment as an excuse to give into his anger. Instead, he used it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and eventually free others.

Listen to your excuses. Understand why you have them. Then figure out how you can use them for good.

2. It wasn’t just about them.

‘Things’ can be a motivator, they can even be a reward, but they can’t be the motivator. The truly successful in life always get there because they created change in the lives of others, not just their own.

If something drives you that is greater than just the ‘ends’, we’re going to work harder, longer, and we’re going to give more of ourselves to our project.

Yes we can make money when we have the primary goal of making money. Some might even use that money for good – which is awesome. But there’s no fulfillment in simply making money. And isn’t that the point?

3. Early mornings and late nights.

People who have achieved true success in their lives have worked for it.

This might come at the detriment of other areas of their lives, such as family or social life. But their mission is first and foremost. Until it’s complete, everything else comes second.

There’s literally no substitute for hard work. Abraham Lincoln said, “Things may come to those who wait… but only the things left by those who hustle.” If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to out hustle everyone else.

4. The greatest commodity.

Energy is a huge commodity that is often not talked about. Yes, energy in the sense of fuel and electricity is talked about everywhere, but I’m talking about our own energy levels.

The fact is that the more energy we have, the easier it is to focus, and the higher the quality of our work is.

One of Richard Branson‘s ‘key’s to success’ is staying in great physical shape. So would raised energy levels be the greatest benefit to working out? It may be.

Keeping physically fit gives us greater blood-flow to our brain, enhanced alertness and improved focus. Make training a routine part of your life and increase your chances at success – in every meaning of the word.

5. Principles.

History will be kind to me. For I intend to write it.

Winston Churchill had principles. The difference between him and the rest of us, is that he stuck to his principles at all costs. He didn’t waver when they weren’t popular – an extreme rarity in politics.

What are your principles? All of us should have them, know what they are, and live our lives bythem.

One of Apple’s principles is to bring change to the world through technology, and they do it with every product they release.

Identify what principles you have that guide your life through tough times, and when things couldn’t be any better. They shouldn’t change, and at your core, neither should you.

6. Wavering, yet unbreakable faith.

We all have moments of doubt. Even the best of us question if our dream is going to come true. The one thing that separates the truly successful from those who never reach their true potential is an unbreakable faith in the fact that what they’re doing is right.

Even if they have moments of doubt, they’re soon quelled, where other’s listen to that doubt and let it eat them up and finally they quit.

Have your moments of doubt. You’re human. Just don’t let that doubt eat you up. Instead let it motivate you to prove your optimism right.

7. A reason.

Many of the greatest accomplishments in the world were accomplished by insecure men and women, people who had something to prove to others. A desire to elevate their status and create change that was so strong, that failure is simply never and option.

Abraham Lincoln‘s reason(s) had to do a lot with his view of himself in relation to how other’s viewed him. Where others saw a poor, illiterate boy, Lincoln saw someone capable of achieving more, even if he had to do it completely on his own. He also saw the need for change. A nation that preached freedom wasn’t free. He saw something fundamentally wrong with this and set out to change it. His why wasn’t about him. Which in turn made him one of history’s great men.

Understand why. You have that reason to work when others sleep, to sacrifice a safe life for a risky one with no ceiling. Find it by asking why, and not stopping until you hit your core, emotional reason for wanting to change your status, or the status of others.

8. They persevered when others didn’t.

How does the guy who quit on his dream know how long it would’ve taken him to become a success? He doesn’t. None of us do. It could be tomorrow, or ten years from now.

What separates a lot of the great people we read about in our history books from those we’ve never heard of is the fact that they never quit. Quitting was never an option. They only stopped when they reached their dream. And even then, they created a new mission.

Take James J. Braddock, or even Nelson Mandela, for example. They didn’t achieve their greatness or success early on in their careers or in life like some. They achieved it after surviving. They survived while others literally died, or quit. In their cases it wasn’t just that they were the best, but they were the best because of what they endured. They were the last one’s standing.

We don’t know when our breakthrough will come. So don’t guarantee your failure by quitting. You can adapt, change, and evolve, but never, never, never quit.

9. Great people relentlessly studied their craft.

Tony Gwynn and Mike Tyson studied their craft as much as anyone. Gwynn spent hours upon hours studying opposing pitchers. He studied their patterns. He wasn’t the most athletic guy around, but he put his work in to be the best at what he did: hit baseballs.

When people think of Tyson, they think of an animal, but what we fail to see is the student. No one studied boxing like Tyson did. Watched more film than anyone in the history of the sport. He was a student first, a fighter second.

These great athletes studied film, but how can we perfect our craft?

Using myself as an example; much of my job has to do with writing, and obviously fitness. So, I study those two things. I read books about how to become a better writer, ways to connect with the reader, and I simply read great books written by authors who are much better at writing than I am. If you’re in sales, read and study sales. If you’re a marketer, then do the same with marketing.

Being a drone that simply goes through the motions is no way to achieve greatness. Assuming success is something you want, you have to study your craft, whatever it may be. Learn it inside and out. Build a wealth of knowledge. It’ll help you create great, inspiring, and unique work.

10. Risk.

No risk, no reward. Yes it’s an over-used, cliché of a phrase. But it’s true. Those who have achieved real success have often risked the most to get there.

There have been billions of people throughout history who have had the ability to achieve greatness, whether it was the talent or smarts, they had it. What they didn’t have was the guts to risk the life that they were living. They also didn’t have the work ethic to see their talent realized.

The greatest tragedy in life is wasted talent ~ A Bronx Tale

Your big, audacious dream might be to marry the girl of your dreams and have a family with her. You risk might be to leave the career that you love in order to support her and your family. Your dream might be to help millions live longer, healthier lives. Whatever your dream is, give it enough of a chance to be realized.

Risk if you truly want to see the reward.

Find your dream. Then risk everything to get it.

The Top 10 Reasons Why You! Will Never Be Successful

In an ideal world every man, woman and child would be programmed for Success, the truth of the matter is that Success is alot harder than you think. Success takes alot of Passion, Drive, Focus, Risk Taking etc… to get there and alot of people are just not up for that kind of work.

These are 10 of the most common reasons people end up failing, not just in business, but what they want to be successful at in life also. Read on and see how you can improve on your road to Success. 

1. Because You Procrastinate- Yes this is one of the more common reasons for most people to never excel in fulfilling their chosen field or business. Instead of taking advantage of every waking moment you make excuses on why you can put it off until tomorrow or put the “grunt” work off until later, which is usually the most important of your daily task. Many will complain about why they’re not successful, but continue to put unimportant events ahead of what really should be a priority to anyone trying to better their situation or build a successful business and the answer is right in front of you and the sad thing is most know it, but fail to do anything about it.

2. Because You Blame What You Lack as your Reasons for Failure- Nine times out of ten if you ask any person or entrepreneur why they have failed in finishing or accomplishing a goal their sentence will begin with Because I don’t…. Depending on what field of business they’re in many of us could guess how that sentence will end. The sad reality is that most of us lack one thing or another and many of our predecessors have overcome many obstacles and proven time and time again that where you live, your financial status, your race, location, height, and/or belief has no take on whether or not you will be successful and it is ultimately up to you.

3. Because your idea isn’t as Brilliant and Unique as you think- I know this doesn’t come as a a suprise to most of you especially if you have ever started a business or had an idea that you thought was just revolutionary or unique with no competition, but once you do a little research or decide to launch you see ten other businesses doing the same thing. As I’m sure you have heard this before, but it is obvious most need to hear it again a successful business begins with a great execution and a failure is well… lack there of. Most ideas have been thought of or tried and tested, but many failed because of their execution and how it was brought about. There are many reasons why the same businesses fail while others succeed timing has a lot to do with it, capital, the person or entrepreneur, knowledge on the subject and much more.

4. Because some of your Best Ideas are just Memory or Were Never Brought to Life- I definitely think this is one of the biggest reasons most are never successful. Many of our best ideas that would have spread virally or been a necessity in life were never brought past the brainstorming process or seemed like one of them unobtainable goals, because most of the time the brilliant ideas are the hardest to accomplish or will have you facing the most obstacles to see them come to life. I read an article about how almost everyday people think of at least two million dollar ideas on their way to work during a 5day workweek, but over 90% never put any of them into action pass the the thought phase and without reasonable doubt I agree.

5. Because you’re not patient- Many of us fall into this category and I was once a very impatient person (still am at times) when it came to seeing results with a new venture or goal I wanted to attain. I think the above title is why many of us fall victim to all of these get rich quick schemes we see in our email inbox everyday or on late night TV infomercials. In reality there is no quick-legal ways to get rich or becoming successful anything that is worth attaining will take time to acquire. Many of us abandon a business before we give it time to get over the first years slump or automatically mark it as a failure before it has time to reach its full potential.

6. Because there is always somebody working harder than you- This article goes back to the first reason on procrastinating and reinforces that you’re not taking advantage of every waking moment. Every moment you sleep or take off for a break or make time for anything other than the goal you want to accomplish or the business you want to be number one there is always another team of people or a person working toward the same goal. I think every time you decide to tackle an objective or start a new business that you want to succeed in that you should keep in mind…there is always be somebody putting in harder work and longer hours than you. Remember the number one spot or your accomplished goals wouldn’t feel so good if you were the only one going for it, because it wouldn’t be worth attaining.

7. Because you wait on Luck or Opportunity (Meal Ticket) to be given to us- In most instances opportunity is not given to you it is created and you’re lucky if you are prepared. That is why it is important to always be prepared for the unthinkable, because opportunities usually arise when you least expect it and that is why in most cases we’re not prepared and that is what we call bad luck. You can’t wait fo rANYTHING to come to you or for somebody to hand it to you. If you want financing for your business go out and get it, if you want to relocate to another city go do it, if you want to be a millionaire before 25 get to work today not tomorrow anything is attainable with hard work and being persistent no matter how small or large the obstacles to success may seem.

8. Because the odds are against you- In most cases people want to be successful from starting a business whether it is online or offline. The reality is over 50% of small businesses fail within the first five years and out of all businesses started 85% fail within the first five years as you can see the odds are not in your favor to succeed. Many people who have weight loss goals will most likely not meet them considering that more than 65% of the United States population is either overweight or obese and it was up more than 16% from the year before. Your chances of being a millionaire are not as bad when compared to the other odds, because the average American has a 1 in 13 chance of becoming a millionaire and more than 741,666 become new millionaires every month. Will you be next months millionaire??

9. Because life is too short- This reason basically takes into mind all of the above reasons for reaching success, tried and failed and taking time for granted for when opportunity is presented to you. You should take advantage of every SOUND opportunity that is presented to you, make use of every free second you have available, read up on any topic relevant to any goals you want to accomplish, make no excuses for tasks or goals not completed, and realise that you have nobody to blame, but yourself for any failures that you have or goals that you didn’t accomplish within your lifetime.

10. Because you will NOT make a change today- Even though this article stated in the beginning that “you will never be successful unless you make a change today” most of us will read it in its entirety and actually agree with its content, but will still go back to our same habits of procrastinating, blaming what we lack, putting together half-thought out ideas with poor execution, never bringing our greatest ideas pass the brainstorming process, being impatient and not persistent, letting someone work harder than you for that number one spot, waiting on our meal ticket, still understanding the odds are against you, but not working harder to overcome them, not taking advantage of all our time on this earth to see our dreams and goals manifest into something greater than we could ever imagine.

It is still in your hands whether or not you will become successful and defeat these odds. Just don’t become a victim to one of these common mistakes and reasons for not being successful within your lifetime.