I’ve been asked a few times about the secret to success. First, there is no secret. Many people believe that success is all about being lucky, being in the right place at the right time, or some other “by chance” event. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Successful people do seem to be lucky - but what they’ve done is put themselves in a position to take advantage of opportunity. And opportunity does come knocking more than once. In fact, it probably comes knocking every single day of your life in some form or other. Successful folk have trained their minds to see opportunities, to judge the risk and rewards, and then make a decision to act or not.


Some say that the “secret” to success is to have a mindset of “Just Do It Already!” And it is certain that action is required for any rewards to take place. What I often see are people who have great ideas, claim they have plans, and say the want to do something different with their lives, but never get at it.

So it is true that “Just Do It Already” is an important attitude one needs to have. But how can one become motivated to have that attitude, day in and day out? For some, it seems so easy to go through a life long routine of starting something, then stopping, starting and stopping, as if stuck in a traffic jam and getting nowhere really slowly.

I believe the basis of all success is the requirement to have motivation. And motivation is ultimately internal. I can perhaps to some degree motivate you to do something, but it’s up to you to carry through with the plan - even when the going gets tough. Most people give up at the slightest bit of hardship, or the need for a bit more effort, or some appearance of a roadblock in the way.

So what can one do to assure that constant daily motivation that is required? It’s quite simple really: Goals.

Someone once said that “Those without goals are doomed to work for those that do have them.” Think about that for a moment.

If you are employed by someone, your work is the result of someone having some goals and setting out to achieve them.

Having goals is the cornerstone of any successful life. And success may be defined by the way you wish to define it. A successful life may not be all about being financially independent (although finances generally do go along way to helping realize whatever it is you define as “success”).

Most people have no goals. Oh, they have dreams - and dreams are perhaps the “stuff” that goals are made of - but goals are concrete and something you can visualize. A goal is something you want - and you want badly. A goal is something you are willing to expend extra efforts to achieve and willing to figure out how to get around, get over, or go under the roadblocks in your way.

Setting goals is a skill that is easily learned. We’ll discuss more about goal setting and the specific steps you can take to create goals for yourself and realize their achievement. And in this way, “Just Do It Already” is perhaps the most important attitude you can have - Just set those goals!

I’ll discuss more about goal setting very soon!

Popularity: 55% [?]

Rate this:
2.5

See also:

Hot Topics: