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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

To Succeed, You Must Do These

 by dominictay

 Photo: ebooksbay.org

There are probably hundred and one ways you can succeed. At the same time, after reading the biographies of successful people, what I've discovered is that if you are truly committed in achieving success in your own field, there are 3 main things you must do.

1. Put yourself on the line

When Bill Clinton was studying in Yale University, everyone thought that he was crazy when he walked around telling them that he will be the President of the United States one day.

What they did not know was that every single time he declared his goals in public, he was putting himself on the line and intensifying his urge and commitment to achieve his dreams (which he did, as we all know).

When Slyvester Stallone got so broke financially because he did not get the opportunity to fulfill his acting dreams, he was forced to sell his dog for $50 just to survive.

And because his dog was the only friend he had at that time, he told himself that he would buy it back once he got the money. What he was doing was actually placing himself on the line, committing himself to earn the money so that he can get his best friend back.

And because he was firm on his decision to be an actor, he knew that the only way for him to ever get his dog back and to recover from his financial difficulties is to achieve success in his acting career (even though he did not have one at that time). How?

Remember Rocky I? He wrote the script, sold it for US$35,000 and even starred in it. And the first thing he did with the money?

He bought his dog back and even gave the buyer a part in his movie plus $15,000 when the owner refused to sell the dog.

Rocky I grossed over US$171 million on it's launch and turned out to be a major success.

You see. When you put yourself and the things that are important to you, on the line, your goals and success no longer become a mere 'want' for you. It becomes a 'must' to achieve them and you would do whatever it takes provided (within legal and moral means, of course).

2. Get dissatisfied with life

While most people hope to achieve their goals (level of expectations), most of them are comfortable and satisfied with their lives once they've achieved their level of acceptance (which is usually a lot lower than their level of expectations). And that's why only few of us ever succeed in achieving our goals.

And the only way for them to get into the 'panic' mode to drive themselves towards achieving success is to raise their level of acceptance. How? By getting dissatisfied with their current lifestyle.

Were there times when you felt comfortable with your achievements in your health, career or financial status? I bet there were.

But the moment you see your best friend achieving better results in the same field, how did you feel? Did you feel the sudden dissatisfaction? Did you feel the sudden desire to improve yourself? Well, if you dislike losing to your peers (which is one of my motivational forces), I bet you felt that way.

The only way to get dissatisfied with your current lifestyle is to constantly expose yourself with people who are achieving what you already want to achieve. Trust me. It's more challenging and motivating to hang around people who are larger than who you are.

Why? Because you not only get to learn from them. You would also feel the commitment to achieve your goals.

I once heard a personal development expert (I can't remember who at this time) say: 'If you are already the best among your peers, it's time to find new friends'.

If you are already the best among your peers, it's most likely that you're going to get comfortable and satisfied with your achievements. And as we all know, 'being comfortable' is never part of the equation of achieving more personal successes. In fact, once we get comfortable, it's very unlikely that we'll have the urge to improve ourselves. If you want to achieve more successes in life, you must never get comfortable with where you are now currently.

3. Realize why you want to succeed

What I've discovered is that if doing something does not help you achieve a purpose, you'll never get it done. If health is one of your lower priorities, you would never be committed to get out of bed an hour earlier for that morning jog. Isn't it true?

If you do not know why you are doing something, you would never be committed to complete the task. Again, that is the same as success. If you have yet to realize why you want to succeed, and what you want to succeed in, it's very unlikely that you would take the necessary actions to achieve those goals that you've written down.

Let's use achieving financial success as an example. Do you want to achieve financial success because you want to provide for your children's education? Or is it a mean to achieve freedom to do what you want to do, with who you want to do it with, anytime you want? Or is achieving financial success a mean to achieve a sense of security in life, knowing that you would never have to worry about getting thrown out on the streets because you couldn't pay your bills?

Whatever form of success you want to achieve, you must first come to a realization to why and what you want to succeed in what you are doing. As long as you develop a strong purpose in what you do, it will naturally become a must for you to achieve your goals.

Being a personal development blogger for the past few years, Dominic Tay has written over 60 articles in the area of self help which benefited over 3,000 people worldwide. Currently his blog, "A Blog on Success, Marketing and Public Speaking" at http://www.dominictay.com/blog - is ranked the 1st Personal Development Blog in Google, Singapore.


Source: ArticleTrader.com

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