“Success”

January 6, 2015 — 16 Comments

A new year and a new you: but are you really thinking about this objectively in the way that you see success in your life and your business?

So here we are at the first post in 2015.

Most bloggers and marketers would have (or will) post about your usual “10 ways to make 2015 a better year…” or “the key things you need to be doing in 2015.” I’m sure you know the posts I’m talking about.

And although these posts are sometimes useful and quite good to align your objectives and goals against your workload and core focus, they are usually the same old repeated ideas that we’ve seen year on year.

But it’s always good to do this kind exercise at the start of each working year. Therefore, I want to post a piece about success.

That word “success” is something that gets thrown about too loosely. In my opinion, success is about happiness. Too many will confuse the word success with how much money you have in the bank or how big your car or home is. But is this really what success is about in the grand scheme of things?

I’m not so sure.

I think that success is something that you have to decide and define yourself, simply because it’s only you that knows what REALLY does make you happy. Usually this kind of thing comes down to money and material possessions, but there are people all over the world who have all the money they can dream of and are yet miserable, unhappy, unsatisfied or plain old depressed.

Is that what success is? Is this what you dreamed of as a kid when you thought about how things were going to be like when you grew up?

Look at all the lottery winners and the millionaires and the ex-celebrities and ex-professional football players, are they all happy and satisfied with what they’ve done with their lives and what they’re currently doing with their lives? Well, you’ll find that a lot of them aren’t. It’s actually surprising how many of them are broke, unhappy and are living on drugs on the darker side of life.

Some of the happiest people are not the people who have all the money in the world, but are the ones who see “success” in a different light.

Let’s look at 5 simple factors that can help you be more successful (and also happier).

#1 Set your objectives early! How are you going to succeed, and what is “success” to you. This is the first step and what this post is all about. Your vision and your goals are all defined by something that deep down is meaningful to you and only you. Make sure you know this because this is what you’re aiming for and are motivated to get to every single day of the week. It’s hugely important.

#2 You need to be hanging around with the people who are successful, the various people in your field of business, and rid of the people in your life that are constantly dragging you down. These two types of people exist in your life and in your business, and it’s up to you to separate the two because you do not want a burden hanging on to you during this important journey.

#3 Put 110% into absolutely everything you do. Taking action is an important factor, of course. But the way that you go about taking action is something that will also define the outcome. Complete every task that you do with full integrity, commitment and confidence. You’re doing it for a reason and you won’t get anywhere if you’re not absolutely focused.

#4 Never underestimate the power of reading and consuming new information. There are thousands of high-quality books and audio books, magazines and online articles out there that can inspire and educate. To see the world in a new light, you have to discover how other (and more successful people) do it and think about it.

#5 More importantly though, if you’re going into 2015, and you want to be happy and successful with your business and with your life, then you need to start somewhere. You may not know where to or how, but you MUST start. Because if you don’t start your journey, you’ll never reach your destination. You’ll never be successful.

Never forget that people weren’t born successful and neither were they born happy. But what they did was work and focused to get to the level for which they aspire to be at. In my opinion, that’s happiness.

Now it’s time to really think about success.

This post wasn’t designed to give you an answer to the killer question of “how to be successful.” I just wanted to present an idea that may get you thinking about what really matters to you in your life and in the near or not too distant future.

Your business is your life, and there are a few things (as mentioned above) that can easily put you on the right track to success – and now that you’ve finished reading this post, you may feel that there’re a few things that you can begin thinking about doing differently this year to be successful.

Because NOW is the time to start thinking about it.