I’ve
always been fascinated by people who are consistently successful at what they
do; especially those who experience repeated success in many areas of their
life throughout their lifetime. In entertainment, I think of Clint
Eastwood and Oprah Winfrey. In business, I think of Steve Jobs and Warren
Buffett. In social influence I think of Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, and
Nelson Mandela. We all have our own examples of super successful people like
these who we admire. But how do they do it?
Over
the years I’ve studied the lives of numerous successful people. I’ve read
their books, watched their interviews, researched them online, etc. And
I’ve learned that most of them were not born into success; they simply did, and
continue to do, things that help them realize their full potential. Here
are twelve things they do differently that the rest of us can easily emulate.
1. They create and
pursue S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Successful
people are objective. They have realistic targets in mind. They
know what they are looking for and why they are fighting for it.
Successful people create and pursue S.M.A.R.T. goals.
S.M.A.R.T.
goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant,
and Timely. Let’s briefly review each:
▪ Specific – A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a related specific
goal would be, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week for the next 52
weeks.” A specific goal has a far greater chance of being accomplished
because it has defined parameters and constraints.
▪ Measurable – This must be a logical system for measuring the progress of a
goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask yourself questions
like: How much time? How many total? How will I know when the goal
is accomplished? Etc. When you measure your progress, you stay on track,
reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that
spurs you on to continued efforts required to reach your goal.
▪ Attainable – To be attainable, a goal must represent an objective toward which
you are both willing and able to work. In other words, the goal must be
realistic. The big question is: How can the goal be accomplished?
▪ Relevant – Relevance stresses the importance of choosing goals that
matter. For example, an Internet entrepreneur’s goal to “Make 75 tuna
sandwiches by 2:00PM.” may be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Timely, but
lacks Relevance to an entrepreneurs overarching objective of building a
profitable online business.
▪ Timely – A goal must be grounded within a time frame, giving the goal a
target date. A commitment to a deadline helps you focus your efforts on
the completion of the goal on or before the due date. This part of the
S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria is intended to prevent goals from being overtaken by
daily distractions.
When
you identify S.M.A.R.T. goals that are truly important to you, you become
motivated to figure out ways to attain them. You develop the necessary
attitude, abilities, and skills. You can achieve almost any goal you set
if you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to
carry out those steps. Goals that once seemed far away and out of reach
eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink,
but because you grow and expand to match them.
2. They take decisive
and immediate action.
Sadly,
very few people ever live to become the success story they dream about.
And thise’s one simple reason why:
They
never take action!
The
acquisition of knowledge doesn’t mean you’re growing. Growing happens
when what you know changes how you live. So many people live in a
complete daze. Actually, they don’t ‘live.’ They simply ‘get by’
because they never take the necessary action to make things happen – to seek
their dreams.
It
doesn’t matter if you have a genius IQ and a PhD in Quantum Physics, you can’t
change anything or make any sort of real-world progress without taking
action. There is a huge difference between knowing how to do something
and actually doing it. Knowledge and intelligence are both useless
without action. It’s as simple as that.
Success
hinges on the simple act of making a decision to live – to absorb you in the
process of going after your dreams and goals. So make that
decision. And take action!
3. They focus on
being productive, not being busy.
In his
book, The 4 hour Work Week, Tim Ferris says, “Slow down and remember
this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is often a form of
mental laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.” This is
Ferris’ way of saying “work smarter, not harder,” which happens to be one of
the most prevalent modern day personal development clichés. But like most
clichés, there’s a great deal of truth to it, and few people actually adhere to
it.
Just
take a quick look around. The busy outnumber the productive by a wide margin.
Busy
people are rushing all over the place, and running late half of the time.
They’re heading to work, conferences, meetings, social engagements, etc.
They barely have enough free time for family get-togethers and they rarely get
enough sleep. Yet, business emails are shooting out of their smart phones
like machine gun bullets, and their daily planner is jammed to the brim with
obligations.
Their
busy schedule gives them an elevated sense of importance. But it’s all an
illusion. They’re like hamsters running on a wheel.
The
solution: Slow down. Breathe. Review your commitments and
goals. Put first things first. Do one thing at a time.
Start now. Take a short break in two hours. Repeat.
And
always remember, results are more important than the time it takes to achieve
them.
4. They make logical,
informed decisions.
Sometimes
we do things that are permanently foolish simply because we are temporarily
upset or excited.
Although
emotional ‘gut instincts’ are effective in certain fleeting situations, when it
comes to generating long-term, sustained growth in any area of life, emotional
decisions often lead a person astray. Decisions driven by heavy emotion
typically contain minimal amounts of conscious thought, and are primarily based
on momentary feelings instead of thought awareness.
The
best advice hise is simple: Don’t let your emotions trump your
intelligence. Slow down and think things through before you make any
life-changing decisions.
5. They avoid the
trap of trying to make things perfect.
Many
of us are perfectionists in our own right. I know I am at times. We
set high bars for ourselves and put our best foot forward. We dedicate
copious amounts of time and attention to our work to maintain our high personal
standards. Our passion for excellence drives us to run the extra mile,
never stopping, never relenting. And this dedication towards perfection
undoubtedly helps us achieve results… as long as we don’t get carried
away.
But
what happens when we do get carried away with perfectionism?
We
become disgruntled and discouraged when we fail to meet the (impossibly high)
standards we set for ourselves, making us reluctant to take on new challenges
or even finish tasks we’ve already started. Our insistence on dotting
every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘T’ breeds inefficiency, causing major delays,
stress overload and subpar results.
True
perfectionists have a hard time starting things and an even harder time
finishing them, always. I have a friend who has wanted to start a graphic
design business for several years. But he hasn’t yet. Why?
When you sift through his extensive list of excuses it comes down to one simple
problem: He is a perfectionist. Which means he doesn’t, and never
will, think he’s good enough at graphic design to own and operate his own
graphic design business.
Remember,
the real world doesn’t reward perfectionists. It rewards people who get
things done. And the only way to get things done is to be imperfect 99%
of the time. Only by wading through years of practice and imperfection
can we begin to achieve momentary glimpses of the perfection. So make a
decision. Take action, learn from the outcome, and repeat this method
over and over again in all walks of life.
6. They work outside
of their comfort zone.
The number
one thing I persistently see holding smart people back is their own reluctance
to accept an opportunity simply because they don’t think they’re ready.
In other words, they feel uncomfortable and believe they require additional
knowledge, skill, experience, etc. before they can aptly partake in the
opportunity. Sadly, this is the kind of thinking that stifles personal
growth and success.
The
truth is nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. It is because
most great opportunities in life force us to grow emotionally and
intellectually. They force us to stretch our comfort zones, and
ourselves, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first. And
when we don’t feel comfortable, we don’t feel ready.
Significant
moments of opportunity for personal growth and success will come and go
throughout your lifetime. If you are looking to make positive changes and
new breakthroughs in your life, you will need to embrace these moments of
opportunity even though you will never feel 100% ready for them.
7. They keep things
simple.
Leonardo
da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Nothing
could be closer to the truth. Here in the 21st century, where information
moves at the speed of light and opportunities for innovation seem endless, we
have an abundant array of choices when it comes to designing our lives and
careers. But sadly, an abundance of choice often leads to complication,
confusion and inaction.
Several
business and marketing studies have shown that the more product choices a
consumer is faced with, the fewer products they typically buy. After all,
narrowing down the best product from a pool of three choices is certainly a lot
easier than narrowing down the best product from a pool of three hundred
choices. If the purchasing decision is tough to make, most people will
just give up. Likewise, if you complicate your life by inundating
yourself with too many choices, your subconscious mind will give up.
The
solution is to simplify. If you’re selling a product line, keep it
simple. And if you’re trying to make a decision about something in your
life, don’t waste all your time evaluating every last detail of every possible
option. Choose something that you think will work and give it a shot.
If it doesn’t work out, learn what you can from the experience, choose
something else and keep pressing forward.
8. They focus on
making small, continuous improvements.
Henry
Ford once said, “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small
pieces.” The same concept configured as a question: How do you eat an
elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. This philosophy holds true
for achieving your biggest goals. Making small, positive changes – eating
a little healthier, exercising a little, creating some small productive habits,
for example – is an amazing way to get excited about life and slowly reach the
level of success you aspire to.
And if
you start small, you don’t need a lot of motivation to get started either.
The simple act of getting started and doing something will give you the
momentum you need, and soon you’ll find yourself in a positive spiral of
changes – one building on the other. Start with just one activity, and
make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they arise. For
instance, if you’re trying to lose weight, come up with a list of healthy
snacks you can eat when you get the craving for snacks. It will be hard
in the beginning, but it will get easier. And that’s the whole
point. As your strength grows, you can take on bigger challenges.
9. They measure and
track their progress.
Successful
people are not only working in their job/business, they are also working on
it. They step back and assess their progress regularly. They track
themselves against their goals and clearly know what needs to be done to excel
and accelerate.
You
can’t control what you don’t properly measure. If you track the wrong
things you’ll be completely blind to potential opportunities as they appear
over the horizon. Imagine if, while running a small business, you made it
a point to keep track of how many pencils and paperclips you used. Would
that make any sense? No! Because pencils and paperclips are not a
measure of what’s important for a business. Pencils and paperclips have
no bearing on income, customer satisfaction, market growth, etc.
The
proper approach is to figure out what your number one goal is and then track
the things that directly relate to achieving that goal. I recommend that
you take some time right now to identify your number one goal, identify the
most important things for you to keep track of, and then begin tracking them
immediately. On a weekly basis, plug the numbers into a spreadsheet and
use the data to create weekly or monthly trend graphs so you can visualize your
progress. Then fine-tune your actions to get those trends to grow in your
favor.
10. They maintain a
positive outlook as they learn from their mistakes.
Successful
people concentrate on the positives – they look for the silver lining in every
situation. They know that it is their positivity that will take them to
greatness. If you want to be successful, you need to have a positive
outlook toward life. Life will test you again and again. If you
give in to internal negativity, you will never be able to achieve the marks you
have targeted.
Remember,
every mistake you make is progress. Mistakes teach you important
lessons. Every time you make one, you’re one step closer to your
goal. The only mistake that can truly hurt you is choosing to do nothing
simply because you’re too scared to make a mistake.
So
don’t hesitate – don’t doubt yourself! Don’t let your own negativity
sabotage you. Learn what you can and press forward.
11. They spend time
with the right people.
Successful
people associate with people who are likeminded, focused, and supportive.
They socialize with people who create energy when they enter the room versus
those who create energy when they leave. They reach out to be connected,
influential individuals who are right for their dreams and goals.
You are
the sum of the people you spend the most time with. If you hang with the
wrong people, they will negatively affect you. But if you hang with the
right people, you will become far more capable and successful than you ever
could have been alone. Find your tribe and work together to make a
difference in all of your lives.
12. They maintain
balance in their life.
If you
ask most people to summarize what they want out of life they’ll shout out a
list of things like: ‘fall in love,’ ‘make money,’ ‘spend time with family,’
‘find happiness,’ ‘achieve goals,’ etc. But sadly, a lot of people don’t
balance their life properly to achieve these things. Typically they’ll
achieve one or two of them while completely neglecting the rest. Let me
give you two examples:
▪
I know an extremely savvy businessman
who made almost a million dollars last year. Based on the success of his
business, every entrepreneur I know looks up to him. But guess
what? A few days ago, out of the blue, he told me that he’s
depressed. Why? “I’m burnt out and lonely. I just haven’t
taken enough time for myself lately, and I feel like something is missing in my
life,” he said. “Wow!” I thought. “One of the most successful
people I know doesn’t feel successful because he isn’t happy with how he has
balanced his life.”
▪
I also know a fisherman who
fishes all day, every day on a lake where we have a house at Rough River,
Kentucky. He’s one of the most lighthearted, optimistic guys I’ve ever
met – usually smiling from ear to ear. But he sleeps in a rusty van he
co-owns with another “fisherman”, and they both frequently live from hand to
mouth. He has admitted to me that the stress of making enough money to
eat often keeps him up at night. So while I can’t deny that this man
seems happy most of the time, I wouldn’t classify his life as a success story.
These
are just two simple examples of imbalanced lifestyles that are holding people
back from their full potential. When you let your work life (or social
life, family life, etc.) consume you, and all your energy is focused in that
area, it’s extremely easy to lose your balance. While drive and focus are
important, if you’re going to get things done right, and be truly successful,
you need to balance the various dimensions of your life. Completely
neglecting one dimension for another only leads to long-term frustration and
stress.
