BY: ROBERT CHEN
Sometimes
what helps us to be successful in our professional lives is not such a great
idea in our personal lives — competition is a quality that comes to mind. At
the same time, we all have a limited amount of time each day to do the things
that we want to do. So for the sake of saving time and energy, I’m sharing a
list of tips that will help you be successful in both life and in business.
1. Add
Value
No matter
what you do and where you go, you can’t go wrong with adding value. Simply put
value is anything that people are willing to pay for. In your professional
life, the more value you can offer the more money you can make. In your
personal life, more value translates to closer relationships and strong
personal growth. The best way to add value is to find the intersection between
what people are willing to pay for and what service or product you can offer
that is aligned with your values, strengths and goals.
2. Follow
Your Passion
Reading
numerous biographies on great people and from my own personal observations and
encounters, I’ve realized that those who achieve greatness professional and
personally follow their passion. The reason why great people are few and far
in-between is because most people don’t even know what their passion is. For
those that do figure
out their passion, most of them don’t follow their passion
consistently. This is one of the main reasons why people don’t reach their goals.
3. Be
Extraordinary
If you do
the same thing as everyone else, it’s hard to be successful. It is important to
find the edge and then push past it. That is how you become noticed and get
what you want. Whether it is money, meaningful relationships and/or a sense of
personal accomplishment, the extraordinary person attracts them all.
4. Start
Now
There are
many factors that go into becoming success in both your professional and
personal life but the one factor that is required is taking action. Most people
miss out on reaching their full potential because they never start. They are
always preparing, planning and waiting for the best time to start. If I waited
until I was ready, I would not have a coaching practice, a website, a blog, a
workshop, etc. The stars rarely align and you will never be completely ready so
just start now and adjust along the way.
Are you
waiting for something before you start? What is your planning to doing ratio?
What’s really the worse thing that can happen if you got started right now? If
you are someone that’s just been waiting, stop reading this post and get
started on what you have been wanting to do. This article will still be here
when you get back.
5. Hunt
for Good Mentors
People
who “make it” usually credit their success to a mentor or a group of mentors
who really helped guide them to get to where they are. Mentors have gone down
the road that you want to travel and can guide you to get to your destination
faster than if you went at it alone. If you want to be healthy, you would find
a mentor who is already healthy. If you want to be rich, then you have to find
someone who is already rich. What surprises me is how rarely people engage in
mentoring relationships and those who do usually find mentors in only one
aspect of their lives. If you want to be successful, be active about finding
mentors that will help you achieve what you want. Jeff Goins has a nice short
article on finding mentors.
7.
Personally Know Your Finances
Numbers
scare a lot of people. Start talking about assets, liabilities and net worth
and people’s eyes just glaze over. If you are one of these people who run away
from numbers, please stop running because you are hurting yourself. If you want
to be financially independent, you need to know how to keep score. If you have
your own business or want to successfully invest, finances tell you how well
you are doing and reveal the health of a business. If you don’t understand
finances, you have to learn. It’s easy once you get over the limiting belief
that you are no good at numbers.
8. Get
Help
I have a
tendency to try to do everything myself and in some ways it is good and in many
ways it is bad. It is important to know and understand all aspects of your life
and business but that does not mean having to do all the tasks involved in
maximizing your potential in those areas. It is true that we can always learn
new things and become competent in them but what is also true is that we are
only given 24 hours each day and to live full lives, it is more effective to do
what we do best and to outsource tasks that we’re not good at to people who
excel at them. Delegating
effectively takes trust and the ability to clearly communicate
what you want. For those that want to outsource, Elance is a nice way to find
some quality freelancers.
9. Learn
Sales
Many
people cringe when they hear the word sales. “I would never be in sales, that’s
a sleazy job.” It is exactly this type of thinking that stops people from being
their best. Sales is nothing more than persuading someone of something.
When you are looking to get a date, you are selling. When you are interviewing
for a job, you are selling. When you are trying to persuade your spouse or kids
to go to Europe for your family vacation, you are selling. In a professional
setting, sales is paramount and the lifeline for any business. If you want to
get the most out of life and business, learn the skills for effective selling.
I am beginning a series of blog posts on How to Sell on my blog and you can
learn from other successful sales trainers by reading material from Zig Ziglar,
Brian Tracey and Og Mandino.
10. Be
Resilient
Things
rarely work out the way you planned and there will always be distractions and
stumbling blocks that you have to deal with when you are on your road to
success. The key point to remember is to persist and to develop the courage to
move on even when everyone around you is telling you it is ok to give up. This
does not mean stubbornly holding on to your original plan but rather continuing
to pursue your goal as long as the reasons for doing so is still valid (Make
sure you know the “Why” of what you want). When everything seems to be going
wrong, keep in mind that “the road to success is paved with a thousand
failures” so each failure actually brings you closer to where you want to be.
If you have trouble being resilient,
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