5 tips to be crazy successful | How to be successful in business and life
Success in life, wealth, work/life balance, spirituality, health – whatever you’re focusing on right now and trying to be successful in, I want to share 5 tips with you. We’ll look at a few examples of what successful people do and don’t do. And with the new year just around the corner, this is the best time to start reflecting on the past year’s successes and planning for the next.
I created a printable worksheet that puts all the questions this post goes over in one place, to help you work out your goals for the year and create success in your life. Download by entering your info below.
I created an entire video on this same information, so if you would like to watch that – I will put the link to that video right here.
1 // All talk AND action – let’s make it happen
“I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know.” – Colonel Sanders, Founder of KFC
This quote from Colonel Sanders shows determination, grit and an all in attitude. I don’t think he waited around for things to happen to him. He was the conductor and made things happen for himself. No matter your past or current situation, we all have to work hard for what we want. Hard work will get you there and it won’t happen overnight. So, don’t get frustrated if success takes awhile, just stick to your goals and work towards them.
A lot of people fail because they get impatient or they shut down after failure. If you do that, you’ll never see your goals fully played out. Things don’t happen instantly or just because you can visualize them. Consistency, hard work and staying the course is what makes a real difference. Say you send an email to a prospect and you wait for them to respond and just keep waiting and waiting – nothing will happen. It’s up to you to follow up, and not just wait for them to respond. Don’t give up and assume they don’t want to talk to you – just try again – and stay the course until you get a response. And any response is a good one – even a bad response can be helpful because it allows you to move on to the next goal and have more focus there.
Success is hard, but with the desire to achieve your goals, any obstacle can be pushed through. Here are a few questions to get you on the right path:
Is there something you have talked about doing for a long time?
What steps have you taken to accomplish this goal?
Are there any obstacles blocking your way?
What steps can you take to break through these obstacles?
2 // Never stop learning about what you love
“You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job and not be paid for it.” – Oprah Winfrey
Continuous learning means you have to accept that you don’t know everything. Having the childlike attitude of wonder opens up your mind to learn new things and look at everything in a different way. You’ll remain stagnant if you put a halt on your learning for whatever the reason may be. Maybe you finished school and you don’t ever want to read a book again. Or you’re so busy, reading seems like the last thing you have time for. Or maybe you think you already know pretty much everything. But if you’re reading something that’s relevant to what you want to grow in this year, you can always find time for that. Self growth and targeted learning and education is something we can and should take advantage of every day. It’s cheap, it’s easy and if finding the time is the problem, just think of it this way – it’s something you are doing for yourself.
Take note of your assets, what are you really good at and what are you passionate about? What do you want to improve upon this year and what are your goals? Instead of getting sucked into a television series and spending hours watching that, look at what you can do to improve your existing talents by continuous education. Look for ways you can round out what you’re already good at by adding another skillset.
What are your favorite things to learn about?
What are you really good at?
What do you want to learn more about this year or is there a skill you want to master?
3 // Set daily and big goals through journaling
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson
Keep a journal, but don’t keep this journal to vent or complain about everything that went wrong in your day. Instead, use the journal to write down what you want your future to look like. What you learned during the day, and what you want to improve on. Being introspective is such a huge part of growth and it helps you not get set in your ways. I’ve noticed when I journal daily, I tend to ask myself questions about my direction, in life and business, because I’m taking that moment at the end of the day to reflect back and remember what happened and I’m literally take note and learning from that day. The words or images I’m putting down on the paper become more solid and I just see myself creating a strategy for the future by using this journaling method. It makes each day more meaningful being able to learn from all my experiences and helps me move forward in a positive way.
Have you had a recent experience you learned from?
What are your short-term goals (1 week, 1 month, this year)?
What are your long-term goals (12 months +)?
4 // Don’t be scared
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
Henry Ford had so many failed attempts at the Model T, he went bankrupt, and he even tried to go into politics but never succeeded at that. But here I am 100 years later quoting him because he was successful and wasn’t scared to try something new and certainly wasn’t scared of failure. It didn’t stop him, and it shouldn’t stop you either.
When Thomas Edison was inventing the lightbulb he had several hundred failed attempts. In an interview, he was asked “How do you feel after all of your failed attempts?”
His response was, “I didn’t fail, I learned hundreds of ways not to invent the lightbulb.”
He saw each of these “failures” as a lesson. Each failed attempt or each rejection, makes it easy to feel like you should give up after a failure. But by paying attention to your failures and studying them, you can learn how to succeed. Successful people thrive when they push themselves out of their comfort zone. That thing that you’re afraid of, is usually what you should tackle. Big changes only come when you do something huge and if you’re afraid of that then push yourself to try it. Otherwise, you’ll always have those “could have’s” or “would have’s” or “what if’s” in the back of your mind. So, ask yourself what you’re afraid of and then ask what you can do to move forward.
What fear is holding you back from your goals?
What can you do to remove the fear?
5 // move forward with your passions
“Never look back in regret — move on to the next thing.” – Richard Branson
In an interview with The Good Entrepreneur, Richard Branson said that, “The amount of time people waste dwelling on failures, rather than putting that energy into another project, always amazes me.”
So, after you’ve removed the fears and maybe had a few failures, there is no time to waste on feeling bad for yourself if it didn’t work out. Yes, maybe you wasted a lot of time, energy or even money trying to make an idea or invention work. But anyone who’s successful has had failures and they probably don’t waste any time getting on to their next idea. They just accept that it wasn’t meant to be and get back out there and make a difference in a different way.
You need to trust in your ability to succeed. This is the only way to cultivate the right mindset. Replace negative thoughts with the positive ones. Approach problems, not as obstacles stopping you, but merely as tasks that will help you to keep going. If you stay positive and think like this, setbacks won’t affect you so much and even the biggest obstacles will seem like tiny little problems.
Do you find yourself focusing on past regrets?
What are these regrets and have you accomplished anything by focusing on them?
Can you let go and move forward, knowing you learned something from that experience?
So, there were 5 of my tips to be crazy successful. I hope this inspired you and got you thinking about your goals for the next year. Remember to download the free printable worksheet, so that you can work through these questions and write down a solid plan for your goals in the new year. Here on Artsy Cupcake, we like to help each other out, so please share in the comments section below what you do to be successful in your life.
