I hate titles like this. I mean are there really secrets to success? Or some magical keys to achieving pretty much anything? Since the age of 14 I was eager to know, eager to learn and understand why some people live their dreams and others die with visions that they never manifested. For me personally, the best feeling in the world is feeling ALIVE and what makes me feel alive is turning thoughts into action. It's the most beautiful experience when you learn something new, practice and try again and again until you master it. We've all experienced these successes before, as children we are successful all the time, we see others talk, imitate and learn until we are able to adapt and speak a language fluently. We learn how to crawl, how to walk, how to eat, tie our shoes and many other things. Whether you know how to play an instrument, cook, read or write. You know that every single skill you now am a master of, you were a student first. The only way you've managed to achieve things is through TRIAL & ERROR. Imagine you would have been sick and tired of not knowing how to walk, so you simply gave up, or you were afraid to talk as a toddler, because you felt embarrassed everyone around you already spoke fluently. Good thing we all continued failing, learning and trying again until we were successful.
School is when things start to turn, for the first time we are exposed to failure, we are judged based on our grades, compared to others that are "better" which makes us feel "worse". Over time the feeling of "being a failure" gets installed into us and eventually this thought becomes a new belief that we perceive to be true (despite it being false in every way). Now with this list and PART 1 of the "Secrets of Success" Series, I want to remind you of the basic principles of success, whether that's in your personal life, relationships, finances or anything else where you wish to see improvement.
As you can tell from my previous articles, I'm obsessed with human psychology and love to learn about the variables, that I can control. I'm at the beginning of my journey, and yet in the past 5-6 years I have learned so many incredibly valuable lessons already from experience, my mentor, books, tons of research and a lot more experience. This is part 2 of a small summary of points that I find highly valuable.
Enjoy the read!
6. DECISION - COMMITMENT
This is an easy one, but again just as important as the other ones. You can think through what you want to do for hours, days, years, but be aware that the more you think, the harder it will be to stop thinking and stepping into the much more important phase, also known as: execution. One of my biggest issues was that I had so many ideas and things I wanted to do that I ended up with all these images in my mind and no real plan to match my vision. For quite some weeks I was trying to do everything at the same time, a little bit of working on one thing and the next week on something else and it's only plain logic that eventually it would not get anything to where I wanted it to be. So... change of game-plan. As hard as it was a decision needed to be made. What do I want to do most? I chose one thing out of all of them, and this decision was a COMMITMENT. It's important to mention that, because only if you are 100% focused on one thing and consistently work on it you have a chance of getting ahead. Now only if you get this one thing rolling, you can start something else and mange to include two or more things in your daily routine.
7. PATIENCE - LONGTERM VISION
This one has got to be the one point I admittedly suck at most, kind of. I hate that you need to be patient, but then again I don't. First of all let's not confuse waiting (passive) with patience (active). When you are patient, you are still pushing, moving, working, but without force because you know that not one empire was built overnight. I love the journey and know for a fact that the moment of accomplishment never feels as good as it does in your imagination. If you don't enjoy the journey you're on, switch lanes, now! Way too many people are on a journey they don't enjoy and I can guarantee 1. it would not be worth the end goal and 2. they never get to the end goal, because they don't love the journey. What I don't mean is that you have to love every task. I certainly don't love everything that comes with what I do, but every night when I go to bed I can sleep in peace, knowing that I'm doing what feels right, it's what I enjoy, I'm happy with the people in my life, the business path and the journey. Also, important! Celebrating milestones, so you enjoy the journey even more. Don't wait to feel successful, happy or fulfilled. Continue to progress and achieve.
8. FOCUS - ON THE PRESENT
At some point I want to write a book. A few years ago I would've told myself that it's not possible, now I know that I could easily do it. Why? Because I now know that it has to do with nothing, but the approach. When I applied to the "international baccalaureate" while still pursuing my german degree, people thought I was crazy and I thought I was crazy too. I mean.. 15 end exams instead of the regular 3, a 20 page math exploration when you suck at math. How in the world would I ever do it? But, I decided to go after it inspite of my fear and told myself I'd figure it out when the time was there, which I did. Somehow I managed to get everything done, pass every exam and achieve the seemingly impossible and all because of the approach. I only focused on, let my mind enter and executed on what was relevant in the exact moment. I learned the skill of working off one thing at a time and now integrate this strategy every day into my life (otherwise I don't know how I'd mange).
9. FLEXIBLE APPROACH - STUBBORN GOAL
Speaking of approach.. I'm a big believer in maintaining a "flexible approach". You can set a goal, a direction and as I mentioned be persistent. It's important to be stubborn on your goal, but be aware that there is not one way to get there. Sometimes you only have to change a minor thing to make it work (if you're a coder you'll know). So when you fail, which will happen at some point, don't give up on the end result. View everything you try as an experiment. If it doesn't work, label it as "negative", then try something else and eventually you will get a "positive", just like when rolling a dice. The chance of getting it right every time you try increases with every trial, which means as long as you try you have not lost. All you have to do is switch up the approach! If you do the same thing, the same way twice, you will be likely to end up with the same result. If you do the same thing, different you get a different result. The 1 $Mil Question: How many times are you willing to try?
10. TIME MANAGEMENT - PRIORITIES
I cannot stress this often enough. If you don't control your hours, you cannot control your life. Knowing what you do with the time you've been gifted with every single day is a huge key to anything. Why you are where you are is because of how you spend every hour, minute, second of your day, for years. If you want to change something, you have got to change your routine, your habits, your time devotion. The math is pretty simple. We all have one thing in common. We have 24 hours in a day, no one in the world has more or less AND you can decide what you do with you most valuable asset aka. TIME. When I started my journey of independency I had no choice, but create my own schedule and more importantly make sure that my hours match whatever I want to achieve. Whatever you want more of... family time, money, freedom, serenity, it's possible. Take a look at your time schedule, take a look at your PRIORITIES, match them accordingly and watch your life change for the better.
Lastly: OPTIMISM! Always know that life isn't static. Bad times come and go, Good times come and go. Hold on to the saying: "Everything will be okay in the end and if it's not okay, it's not the end.
I could literally go on forever and I can't imagine how much more I will learn in the years to come. But I hope this gives you an insight into my mind and thoughts about achievement in any area and subsequently happiness in life. I believe that human psychology, understanding the self and implementing strategies into your life to match you aspirations, is the number one thing that should be taught in school... and since it's not, we should strive to educate ourselves and make an effort to in-depth study this matter, take the responsibility to improve ourselves, our lives, and this world.
Question of the day: Which of the 10 "Secrets of Success" is the one you find most interesting, and would like me to elaborate on? (It can also be one that I didn't mention)
Much love,
- Mrs.Steemit