Although there are really no hard rules for success, there are certain actions that have been proven time and time again to increase one’s chances of succeeding. I have put together below a list of some of my favorite tips on how to be successful in life. I have found them really helpful, I hope they become as helpful to you too.
- Define success: We all have a different definition of success and making your very own clear definition is the first step towards your journey towards it. As they say, the clearer the goal you have, the easier it can be achieved.
- Surround yourself with successful people: Take a look at the people that you currently surround yourself with. It’s extremely important to surround yourself with people who inspire you and challenge you to become better. As they say, you are likely to become like the people you spend time with the most. When you're surrounded with people who are highly-driven, it's encouraging.
- Start with the basics: Willpower, effort, goals, and determination. Whatever you want to accomplish requires all of these.
- Learn to visualize: I have once read a quote that said: “The body won’t go where the mind has not gone to first.”. Visualization is a way to allow your mind to see your future and your goals. It is very powerful because it can physiologically mimic a true sensory experience without any actual external stimuli. Experts would often say that visualizing is the key to realizing; because the more a person visualizes what he want, the better chance of success he will have.
- Always be grateful: I remember a quote that says “When one is grateful, he is planting the seeds of success.” Being grateful is a huge part of becoming a successful person no matter where you are in life, you need to know how to find the best in things and be grateful for them. People who are naturally inclined to be grateful have been found to rebound faster emotionally from negative events. This means that maintaining a spirit of gratefulness could greatly help you hurdle through life’s obstacles. Be thankful for all the things you have today, and you will be thankful for more things tomorrow.
- Commit to never giving up: You must remember that success will never come automatically. What separates the great from the rest, is not just their dreams they have but also in how they deal with the inevitable difficulties in life. You must never give up if you desire for success. When you reach a point where you feel like you want to give up or you are about to give up, think about how your huge break-through is just around the corner. All the successful people you know were once failures, but they did not give up and they know exactly that if they continued, they will achieve success, and they did. So press on! Everything starts in the mind and ripples out, so what happens around us is a reflection of our own inner world. Whether we allow our inner world to grow wild, whether we let weeds spring up and take hold or whether we cultivate a green and pleasant garden – it is all our choice: this is what it means to be proactive. Our behavior is a natural outcome of our mental images, and so we are responsible for our behavior too, and also for the behavior we tolerate in others. If we allow others to ride roughshod over us, then we have ourselves to blame.
- Don’t fear failure: failure is inevitable and necessary. Look at the life of any successful person and you will see a litany of failure. This failure is the foundation of success, so long as we learn from it. Einstein said that the imagination is more important than knowledge. The more vividly and accurately you imagine your success, the easier it will be for the rest of your self to follow through. The same way engineers first imagine a bridge and then build it, you can be the engineer of your success by dedicating a few minutes every day for the mental movies of your success. You cannot have success if you do not know what it means for you. Everyone views success differently. Set clear goals and be realistic. How will you know when you've achieved your goals? Your standards should be quantifiable, or else you could spend your entire life chasing after a vague goal.Identify the things you love to do, the things that give you satisfaction.
- Step out of your comfort zone: Successful people think big and act big. It can be a scary thing to do, but if you don't, then will you ever be successful? Don't wait for opportunities to fall in your lap. Sniff them out. Successful people make big investments (in their careers, in their businesses, in their education) and all investments involve risk. But don't be reckless. Study your risks, make sure the odds are in your favor, then take a leap.Be bold.
- Don't give up: If your first attempt didn't work, don't quit. Always keep in mind the following sentence: "If you don't give up, you cannot fail". When asked about his 10,000 failed attempts to develop a storage battery, the prolific American inventor Thomas Edison responded: "I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Success is equated with the achievement of a goal, but don't assume it will always bring happiness. Many people make the mistake that if they accomplish this or that, they'll be happier, but fulfillment and satisfaction have a lot more to do with how you approach life than with what you do in life. Keep that in perspective.
- Listen. Study. Understand. Learn: Knowledge is power. Gather as much information about anything & everything. You can stop wasting time about the unfairness and think how to use the situation for your benefit. Remember Newton could have complained about the Apple falling down the tree could hit his head...but instead he identified the Law of Gravitation and known as The Father of Physics. There are so many Distractions in this world that you really don't know about. Whenever you are attracted to doing something which is totally not useful or productive, set the least possible time which you can give to that work.Whenever you get carried away by that work, Imagine yourself as a loser with shattered dreams and push yourself away from that work.