9 THINGS I LEARNED FROM TALKING TO 9 MILLIONAIRES
4 Straightforward Steps to Success
Success is nothing more than a few
simple disciplines practiced every day.
Success
is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of
consistently applying basic fundamentals.
I’ve
said it before, that success is the study of the obvious—but sometimes we need
someone to remind us and show us the simplest way to get there.
Here
are four simple steps to find your way to more success than you could ever
imagine:
1. Collect good ideas.
My
mentor taught me to keep a journal when I was 15 years old. It’s the best
collecting place for all of the ideas and information that comes your way. And
that inspiration will be passed on to my children and my grandchildren.
If
you hear a good health idea, capture it, write it down. Then on a cold wintry
evening or a balmy summer night, go back through your journal. Dive back into
the ideas that changed your life, the ideas that saved your marriage, the ideas
that bailed you out of hard times, the ideas that helped you become successful.
That’s valuable, going back over the pages of ideas you gathered over the years,
reminding yourself. So be a collector of good ideas, of experiences, for your
business, for your
relationships, for your future.
It is challenging to be a student of your own life, your own
future, your own destiny. Don’t trust your memory. When you listen to something
valuable, write it down. When you come across something important, write it
down. Take the time to keep notes and to keep a journal.
2. Have good plans.
Building
a life, building anything, is like building a house; you need to have a plan.
What if you just started laying bricks and somebody asks, “What are you
building?” You put down the brick you’re holding and say, “I have no idea.”
So,
here’s the question: When should you start building the house? Answer: As soon
as you have it finished. It’s simple
time management.
Don’t
start the day until it is pretty well finished—at least the outline of it.
Leave some room to improvise, leave some room for extra strategies, but finish
it before you start it. Don’t start the week until you have it finished. Lay it
out, structure it, put it to work. The same goes for the month ahead—don’t
start it until you have a plan in place.
And,
the big one, don’t start the year until it is finished on paper. It’s not a bad
idea, toward the end of the year, to sit down with your family for the personal
plans, to sit down in your business for the professional plans, to sit down
with your financial advisor to map out money plans. Plan
out your calendar, your game plan, for all of life’s
moving parts.
The reason why most people face the future with apprehension
instead of anticipation is because they don’t have it well designed.
3. Give yourself time.
It
takes time to build
a career. It takes time to make changes. It
takes time to learn, grow, change, develop and produce. It takes time to refine
philosophy and activity. So give yourself time to learn, time to start some
momentum, time to finally achieve.
I
remember when Dad was teaching me a little bit about the piano. “Here is the
left hand scale,” he said. I got that; it was easy. “Here is the right hand
scale.” I got that, too. Then he said, “Now we are going to play both hands at
the same time.” “Well, how can you do that?” I asked. Because one at a time was
easy... but two the same time? But I got to where I could play the scales with
both hands. “Now we are going to read the music and play with both hands,” he
said. You can’t do all that, I thought. But you know, sure enough I
looked at the music, looked at each hand, a little confused at first, but
finally I grasped it. Then I remember the day when Dad said, “Now we are going
to watch the audience, read the music and play with both hands. Now
that is going too far! I thought. How could one person possibly do all
that? By giving myself time to master one skill before we went to the next, I
got to where I could watch the audience, read the music and play with both
hands.
Life is not just the passing of time. Life is the collection
of experiences and their intensity.
4. Change yourself.
Learn
to solve problems—business problems, family problems, financial problems,
emotional problems. The best way to treat a challenge? As an opportunity to
grow. Change
if you have to, modify if you must, discard an old
philosophy that wasn’t working well for a new one.
The
best phrase my mentor ever gave me: “Chima, if you will change, everything will
change for you.” I took that to heart, and sure enough, the more I improved,
the more everything improved for me.
You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can
change your direction overnight.
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Like the page “Be mindful of your mind”
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