The one habit that EVERY successful person knows (and every unsuccessful person ignores)
Post written by admin. Follow him on Twitter.
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It doesn’t matter how you define success, what you are about to read is going to be true.
Think of every successful person you know about. What do they do that unsuccessful people do not do?
The answer is simple… perhaps more frustratingly simple than you would want to believe.
The most successful people in the world take action.
They act.
They move forward.
They do something.
They don’t sit still.
They don’t wait until everything is perfect.
They don’t wait until they know EXACTLY what they should be doing.
They have a plan but they don’t wait until all the pieces are in place.
They don’t wait until Monday to start.
They just take one step and move forward right now.
Unfortunately, many people don’t do these things… and that’s why many people aren’t successful. They don’t act and therefore, they wallow in mediocrity and don’t achieve the greatness that successful people achieve.
Here are some examples that are all-too-common in life:
- How often does someone decide to diet… but they’ll start tomorrow (instead of starting right now)?
- How often does someone decide to start exercising… but they’ll start on Monday (instead of starting right now)?
- How often does someone decide to quit smoking… but they”ll make it a New Year resolution (instead of starting right now)?
- How often has someone wanted to quit their job and start a business… but they don’t have the “cushion” money or the plan (instead of starting right now)?
- How often has someone created a list of dreams or ideas in life… but all the pieces weren’t in place to start (instead of starting right now)?
It happens so often. We know we need to act but we often delay that action until some other thing is true (like the day of the week to “make a fresh start” or some cushion money just in case our business fails). Successful people know that the best time to achieve success is right now.
And here’s the one reason why this works for them: It eliminates the possibility of other things getting in the way. (Let’s say someone wants to start a diet on Monday… they eat poorly for the days leading up to Monday as a pre-diet indulgence. And if they can’t start Monday for some reason, they decide to start NEXT Monday. Successful people, on the other hand, see every single day as a starting point, giving themselves seven times more starting opportunities!)
The best advice we can learn from the most successful people is:
Leap… then look
Start now and take action. Yes, it’s scary and you’ll make mistakes but successful people willingly accept these risks because they know that action breeds positive results and they learn from their mistakes anyway.
On the other hand, the people in life who are less successful — who don’t achieve their goals and dreams — are those who don’t take action. They have goals and dreams but they don’t move forward on them and they can find a million and one reasons not to.
If you have a goal that you haven’t started, I’d like you to stop reading this blog post and do one thing to move you toward that goal right now… even if you’re not sure what the step after will look like.
Posted on January 28, 2012
How to be mentored without the mentor even knowing it
Post written by admin. Follow him on Twitter.
In the past couple of blog posts, I talked about the importance of a mentor in a successful life and I talked about why you might need more than one mentor for your life.
Well, I guess it’s unofficially “mentor week” here at TheHappySelf because I’ve found myself writing about them again. Only this time, I’m taking a slightly different spin.
Not all mentors need to be face-to-face
Mentors are good to have and I firmly believe you need to meet with your mentors face-to-face (or at least over the phone) regularly. But I also recognize that we don’t all have the time or network to meet with mentors in all of the areas in our life that we want to grow.
So instead of finding a “face-to-face” mentor for every single area of your life, find a couple of mentors and work with them in some key areas…
BUT also…
… find a few people who you aspire to be like and learn as much as you can from them. You can do this for any public figure.
An example of an at-a-distance mentor
I’m going to use the example of stock market investing because it’s an area in life where I’ve actually used this method: I wanted to become successful in the stock market but I didn’t know anyone personally who was, plus I was already busy with another mentor and some other commitments in my life. So I went out and looked for an “at-a-distance” mentor who could give me some insight into investing even though we never met face to face. Warren Buffett turned out to have the kinds of ideas and skills and success that I aspired to have. So I constructed a mentorship program with his advice even though I never actually met him.
- I read everything I could get my hands on that was written about him
- I read everything I could get my hands on that was written by him
- I studied his successes (and failures)
- I learned that he followed a certain expert (Benjamin Graham) so I read THAT expert’s work, too.
After immersing myself in the mind and actions of Warren Buffett, I found it much easier to think and invest like him. Obviously I have not achieve the same level of success as he has (he’s about a thousand years older than I am!) but I am far more confident and successful in the stock market than I was… thanks to my at-a-distance mentoring relationship with Warren Buffett.
They’re more than just role models
I’ve heard some people call these mentors “role models” but for me, a role model doesn’t have the same impact on your life. I like to think of them as mentors… but just mentors I don’t get to meet in person.
Don’t think of this as an excuse to NOT have face-to-face mentors. However, adopt a multiple-mentor approach and get some face-to-face mentors and some at-a-distance mentors to improve your life!
Posted on January 27, 2012
Why I’ve failed at finding mentors… and the advice that changed it all for me
Post written by admin. Follow him on Twitter.
The idea of improving your life through mentors is one of those things that has popped up in my life from time to time.
When I was in college, the students were encouraged to find mentor but I struggled with finding one and when I finally did, the relationship fell flat.
Mentorship reappeared on my radar in my first out-of-college job when we were assigned mentors. Frankly, I hated my mentor — he was not the person I aspired to be! The same thing happened in my second job as well.
Later, I joined a charitable organization that encouraged its members to find mentors and even then I couldn’t find someone who I wanted to aspire to be like.
I believe that being mentored is a huge opportunity and a “must-do” activity for anyone who wants to be successful in life. But I could not find a mentor to help me. Over coffee, I shared my frustration with a trusted friend. He pointed out the following piece of advice that changed my approach to mentorship. He said..
“You don’t have to find ONE mentor. Instead, pick several spheres of your life where you want to grow and find a mentor for each sphere.”
My friend pointed out that I could never aspire to be 100% like someone else. Instead, I had to choose what aspects of several peoples’ lives did I aspire to be like.
This was a transformational thought for me. It completely fixed what I felt was broken in the mentorship process. For example, there was one person I wanted to mentor me in the area of business but he lacked the relationship-building skills that I also wanted to be mentored in. So I found two mentors — a business mentor and a relationship-building mentor. Yes, it doubles the amount of time that I am being mentored but the results are well worth the investment.
Now it’s your turn
If there is one person you aspire to be like, great. Make them your mentor. But chances are, there’s no one who you aspire to be completely like. (We’re all unique!)
So instead of trying to find one mentor who you aspire to, identify several areas of your life where you’d like to grow. Then pick two or three of those areas and find mentors in them.
Posted on January 26, 2012
