Self Belief

You’ve probably heard the trite remark, “Believe in yourself”. Deep down, do you? As you already know, the road to success is paved with failures, disappointments, doubt, and fears. There are times your friends, families and those whose opinion you respect will tell you that you’re chasing shadows.

It takes self-belief to believe in your dreams and abilities to make it happen. Successful people believe in their vision and they will keep at it until it becomes a reality.

Because success looks natural to successful people, we fail to see the years of hard work

Goal-Setting

There are two kinds of people in life: go-getters and procrastinators. Go-getters know what they want out of life and create SMART goals (SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based).

By having SMART goals, successful people know what needs to be done and they set a strict deadline to accomplish it. Most importantly, they do what they need to do, whether they feel like it or not.

On the other hand, unsuccessful people keep pushing the needful into the future. Cultivate the habit of writing your goals and sticking to them!

Relationship Oriented

No one builds an empire alone! Successful people realize that they have weaknesses. They know they’re not an island. That’s why they form meaningful relationships with others that will complement their efforts. You can easily see how giant corporations thrive because everyone is pulling their weights. Although the founders or executive managers get the recognition, they know that without their workers, they’ll be nowhere. Even at the peak of his career, Usain Bolt still had a team of trainers.

Develop the habit of forming positive relationships with people that will bring out the best in you.

Growth Mindset

In her famous book, ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’, Carol Dweck argues that successful people have a growth mindset, i.e. they believe that most of their basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just starting point. On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset believe their success is just based on innate abilities.

Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. He wasn’t the best player in high school or at UNC. But he had one thing going for him; he had a strong work ethic. As he told Roy Williams, the assistant coach of UNC back then, “I’m going to show you. Nobody will ever work as hard as I can!”.

Because success looks natural to successful people, we fail to see the years of hard work, dedication, and self-improvement they put into their dreams.

Unyielding Determination

Many people don’t realize that most successful people failed at some points in their lives. However, the only difference was that they didn’t give up! J.K. Rowling’s pitch for ‘Harry Potter’ was rejected 12 times. Walt Disney was fired from Kansas City Star because the editor felt he “lacked imagination and good ideas”. The list is endless.

Successful people see failure as a learning experience after which they rise stronger. At the end of the day, that makes all the difference.

Success can only be attained and sustained by developing successful habits. Believe in yourself, set SMART goals, form meaningful relationships, be a lifelong learner, and never give up! Remember, Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”.

D

o this exercise when you wake up tomorrow morning: Grab a blank sheet of paper, and write down the words “I’m testing my energy levels throughout the day”. Rewrite the same phrase on that paper once every hour until you go bed.

Take a look at the paper before you go to bed. You will notice how your handwriting became more sluggish as the day progressed. Your drop in energy levels as the day went by reflects on the way you wrote that phrase every time…

Our body and mind are most active and “absorbing” in the morning. So, when it comes to enriching your knowledge i.e. from reading a book to learning a new language, or if you’re conducting an important meeting, try to use those first hours of the morning after you wake up efficiently.

This is part of the art of time management. I include this in time-management because you’re choosing what to do during what hours of the day depending on how active and energetic you are during those hours. Most Indian classical singers and vocal students wake up really early in the morning to be able to practice warm-ups. The Chinese have mastered the art of giving your mind and body what it needs at dawn.

Your brain is able to better focus on important things in the morning

A few years ago, during an early morning stroll in downtown Shanghai, I could not help but notice people practicing Tai-Chi on Nanjing Pedestrian Road, which is a large car-free walkable area full of restaurants and shops. Your brain is able to better focus on important things in the morning, and while this seems so obvious, you will be surprised how many people, even though are aware, do not put this into practice, and end up not making an efficient use of their time.

Try this. Make it a part of your daily discipline. You will be surprised how much faster you are suddenly getting things done.