Do you want to be Successful? Do you want to live the life of your dreams? Have you achieved everything you want to achieve? – These may be some questions that you may have asked yourself at some point or other in your life. Most of us, if not all of us, have an inner desire to be and do something great, and follow a life of our dreams. But the reality is that most of us are unable to do so, because of fear, limiting beliefs, cultural codes, external factors, present circumstances, or responsibilities that life has thrust upon us, just to name a few. Also most people think they can’t be Successful, because of their negative mindset, but the reality is that they can be Successful, if they know what they want to do, and are shown insights and methods to be Successful.
We all have untapped potential, seeds of greatness on the inside, and most of the time people don’t know what talents they have and what they are capable of achieving in their lives. Also sometimes people do nothing about pursuing that inner dream that can remain dormant for an entire life time. We all have great potential inside of us, and we all have a calling and gifts, but we sometimes just don’t know what they are and how to apply them. We could all be sitting on the potential to do something great in our lives, such as being a great Student, Leader, Entrepreneur, Teacher, or Parent, for example. So tapping into our gifts, finding our Passion and Purpose, and being Inspired is key, if we want to reach our greatest potential and be Successful. Is that you?
To be Successful is not that difficult, but one has to be given some pointers to follow, and be willing to make changes to one’s life for the better. You can change the circumstances around you and attract the things that you want in your life, if you are shown the steps to take. Even if your situation seems tough and looks like there is no way out, you can move forward in the right direction for prosperity and Success. If you are willing to change, then everything around you can change, but you need to be open minded to what you can achieve in your life. Making a commitment to wanting to change is the first step, and having a made up mind.
Then in order to be Successful, you must be intentional about taking action and do something about it. Things don’t just happen, and you can’t want for someone else to make it happen for you. You must make an effort yourself to undertake things such as Personal and Professional Development, and be open minded to new ideas. Take concerted effort to develop yourself, take training courses, read non-fiction books, and even get a mentor or coach. These things have to be undertaken daily, and worked at so that it will have a positive effect on your life. It is never too late to make a start, you are never too old, and that start can happen even today!
What is Success anyway?
How do you know if you are Successful, and what does it look like? Success is about moving towards your Goals, in line with your Mission and Passion, within a measureable period of time. Success is about being abundant in all areas of your life, not just one area, such as Wealth, Health, Career, Happiness, Spiritual, Relationships, Wiser and Giving Back. Also finding an inner peace is important, and having a feeling of being fulfilled and happy. So developing yourself, getting better every day, being fulfilled, living the great life, and being happy are the key measures to Success. If you can find this, then you will truly see abundance and be Successful. But how do you make this happen?
The Way Forward to Success
To become Successful, you have to tap into your dreams, talents and abilities, and put them into action so that you can change your present circumstances and move forward on a pathway to a better place of abundance. You can make changes today to better yourself and find your personal purpose in life. You must also believe that you can attract great things into your life and you deserve it. What you think about comes about, and you can attract into your life what you predominately think about most. So it is highly important to think about positive things, not negative things, and to attract the things into your life that build you up in life. It is very important to align yourself with positive like-minded people, and be around people that believe in you and inspire you. You are like a magnet, and the more positive things you attract into your life will ultimately lead to greater abundance.
Also life is not a race, but rather a journey, and it is important to enjoy the journey. Some people only see the destination, and complain that they have not got there, and get disappointed. You should aim to enjoy life in both the good and the bad times. Also life should be viewed as an ongoing pathway of Development and Learning, and being intentional to take action. Taking action, and overcoming fears and knock downs, is key to being able to get up time after time, and to progress forward. The journey should be enjoyed, and looking for the right balance in life is what is key. Sometimes people get the perspective wrong, get things out of balance, and hence wonder why they are not happy or Successful.
10 Factors for Success.
But what are the Factors to Success? There are many, but here are 10 of the main ones that are seen as important, based on personal experience, and they should be considered and studied.
- Your Defining Moment
We all have a defining moment in life, that one experience or hardship, which molds us into who we are today. You may have been poor and broke, gone through bankruptcy, lost a job, gone through a divorce, failed an important exam or interview, lost a loved one, or had an accident later in life that severely affected you. By going through these defining moments, and coming out the other side, will have made you stronger as a result. A defining moment gives you strength, it gives you courage to face adversity, and allows you to be resolute.
If you can tap into your defining moment, reflect on what it was and be able to tell others, you will also be able inspire others to greatness. There is nothing more powerful than a person describing their story to someone who is in a similar situation and needs help. Your story can greatly help others in times of need, whether this be at work or at home. Also you may use your own defining moment to help clarify your own life Mission and Purpose.
- Don’t Ever Give Up
The ability to be Successful in life is based on the fact that you must never give up when either things get tough or when you hit obstacles of temporary defeat. However, most people do give up when they don’t succeed the first time or they hit setbacks. If your mind is made up, you never give up, regardless of the pain and adversity. If you believe in where you are going, and it is in line with your Passion and Purpose, and what you are called to do, you will not give up!
When defeat comes your way you have to see beyond the temporary defeat and keep your eyes on the end goal or prize. Temporary defeat must be viewed as stepping stones, and learning moments, to greatness. It is the steps that one has to take to grow and develop, whilst travelling along the path to being Successful.
- Hard work and Determination
If you are going to be Successful, then you have to undertake hard work and have determination. Hard work is what is needed to do anything great, whilst determination is what gets you through the tough times, and you have to have both! To do anything well in life, whatever that may be, you must work hard and be determined. You also need time, and be patient, as it takes time to develop skills. Hard work is required to refine our skills to something that is above average and then stands out against the rest. The time required to develop one’s self, so that you are successful and have skills that are superior, may in fact take years to develop.
Determination is required to push things forward as learning and practice of your skills have to be done every day, and you have to be fully focused and determined as you refine your skills. It takes patience and time. Hard work and determination needs focus, and it needs you to be intentional in undertaking the development of your skills. It requires focus and ambition. To be intentional means that you have to take action to develop yourself in certain areas of life. It will probably not happen unless you are intention. You have to take intentional action.
- Passion and Purpose
The most important thing in life is to find your Passion and Purpose. Knowing what your passion and purpose is can truly lead you to being Successful. If you can define what this is, and undertake it, you can live the life of your dreams. You may have the passion to help people, to be a great engineer, student or school teacher. Passion is the energy and fuel to do something great. Purpose is your reason for getting out of bed every day, and it is all about finding your why? Purpose can be thought of as your personal mission or your virtue. It is very important to define what you purpose is, so that your ladder is not leaning against the wrong building, so to speak. Have you asked yourself what your Purpose is in this life? Have you thought what you truly would love to do?
To be excellent at anything and to be truly Successful, you have to know your Purpose in this life. You have to enjoy what you are doing, in fact love it, otherwise you will never be fulfilled, and never be at the best you can be. If you enjoy what you are doing, then it is a lot easier to work hard on it, and even work all night if required. When you have found your Passion and Purpose, the activity that you are doing becomes effortless, and does not feel like work. If your passion is your job, you will probably excel and be successful at it. Can you imagine getting paid to do something that does not feel like work?
- Dreams, Visions and Goals
Dreams. You have to dream and believe that things are going to happen. You need to dream of the things that you want in your life. You have to dream that you achieve everything that you want in your life. You are destined to greatness and you have seeds of untapped potential on the inside.
Visions. Visualization is extremely important aspects of manifesting anything great into our lives. All great leaders are Visionary. They may not have known how they were going to get there, but they had a Vision for it first. You have to paint a picture of what you want in your mind first, even if you don’t know how you are going to get it. When you think about what you want, and you concentrate on this, you will attract these things into your life. Important to focus on the things that you do want.
Goals. One easy way to become Successful is to be a proficient Goal Setter, and to set goals in all areas of your life. A goal is a specific item, obtained in a measureable period of time. You have to be specific and set a date for achieving that goal. This allows you to track them. E.g. not…’I want Money’. But rather ‘I want $100,000 in my bank by Dec. 2016’.
Even if you do not know today how you are going to achieve these goals, that does not matter, you will attract the resources, circumstances and people, and find a way. Your goals will become a burning desire and fuel your passion. If we were to be intentional, and for example got into the great habit of having written goals, then we would see progress. The reason for this is that most people do not know how to undertake goal setting, and may never have been exposed to it.
- Growth – continually Study and Learn
It is so important that you have a lifelong ambition of continually refining your skills and undertaking studying and learning. You can never go far wrong by undertaking studying of some shape or form. You will be the same person in 5 years from now, other than the books that you read and the people that you meet. Invest in yourself! You need to read some books, listen to some motivational CDs, attend some seminars, learn from people that are further ahead in life. It is important that it is nonfiction books, and try to read one hour per day. Turn your car into a mobile library and listen to CD’s and podcasts of motivational and personal development. Getting a Mentor or Coach can help here significantly, hold you accountable, and stretch you to hit your goals in key areas.
Develop Soft Skills – Continually develop and refine your skills. Soft skills are lifelong skills that can significantly help when need in certain circumstances. Read and undertake courses. Continually train and work at refining and honing the skills. Subjects like Communication, Public Speaking, Networking and Teamwork. Overcoming your fears. You have to overcome your fears if you are to excel and reach you greatest.
- Strive for Excellence
To be successful you have to have to strive excellence in both your personal life and your work life. You have to be determined to work harder than the rest. This could be your differentiator to stand out against the rest. Be a person of Excellence. Do everything to the best of your abilities. Don’t settle for average or second best. Strive to be better than the rest. Do more than you get paid for. This philosophy will help you to become Successful.
- Positivity and avoid Negativity
Positivity is the fuel to Successful. Negativity is normal, or average, but positivity leads to excellence and Success. Hang around like minded positive people, and avoid negative people who can drain you of your energy and passion. Be positive! Positivity always wings over negativity. Important to hang around like mind individuals that are going to build you up and not knock you down. Important to be in a positive environment. Positivity radiates around you like a light. People like positive people. You are like a magnet. If you are positive, you will attract positive people into your life.
Avoid people that criticize and belittle. Remember this phrase ‘When they belittle you, they are being little’. Small minded people will not celebrate you, and when you are Successful and out in front you are going to get your fair share of jealous people. But when you are focused on what you are called to do, you are following your Passion, you will leave naysayers behind.
- Handle Change
Whatever the change is, we all experience change, and it can be very stressful at times. However, change should be viewed as an inevitable part of life, and it happens all the time in some shape or capacity. Change should be viewed as an opportunity to take on new ventures, new horizons, and to view it as part of growing. Change can allow you to grow as you take on and learn new experiences, and have to develop and grow in new areas. It is often said that the pain of change is worth the gain! You have to embrace change. If you are secure in yourself, and you know what you want and who you are, then change is viewed as a positive thing. Change can stretch you and grow you.
- Giving-back Ethic
Giving back is such an important ethic to have. Give back time and money to help and be a blessing to others. Help others to get what they want before you get what you want. There are many ways to give back. Since undertaking this ethic, my life has gone from strength to strength and I am more abundant. The more you give away, of your time and money, the more you will see it in return multiplied many times over.
What next?
One Way to learn these ‘Factors for Success’ is to undertake ‘Personal & Professional Development’. If you start to intentionally develop yourself, you will see a significant impact on your life. For example, making an effort to read non-fiction books, listening to motivational CD’s, attending conferences and seminars, joining Institutes and Societies, networking with like-minded people, and writing goals.
Personal and Professional Development is a lifelong experience, and we should always be continually refining our skills, and learning new ones. Learning should be undertaken daily, and we should be aiming to learn something even if we do not feel like it. Be inspired, be uplifted, see your untapped potential, and obtain abundance in all areas of your life. By applying these ‘Factors for Success’, and working on these items daily, you will live the life of your dreams, and you will be Successful!
The Jukes Group is committed to peoples’ success. It is our mission ‘to grow and inspire both people and business and to help others become Successful’. We have developed a Leadership and Motivation Group that offers a range of Services so that you can become a better Leader and Person. Services such as one-on-one Coaching and Mentoring, a Job Opportunity Service which include development classes, Leadership & Motivation Classes, Personal & Professional Development classes, and Leadership Webinars. Please don’t hesitate to get in contact if you would like to know more about our services.
Want to know more? Please email paul.jukes@thejukesgroup.com
