Success

 I knew I could be successful. I wanted to be. But I was so afraid. Afraid to fail, afraid to do the wrong thing, make the wrong choice, to screw my life up.

How do you become successful anyway?

Societies biggest communicated plan for success is this:

Graduate high school preferably Valedictorian

Go to college, preferably an expensive Division I one.

Graduate and move into corp America or some other industry.

Work 8-5

Tada, that is it, you will be successful!

We arrive there and…

What the actual fuck is this? Show up do the same thing over and over?

We don’t feel successful; we feel like another drone. Then to make the experience even saltier we are making shit money 30-60,000 a year. You can’t even afford a mortgage with that anymore let alone save.

Yet a large percentage of the “they” preach save, invest in 401k, which we would all love to BUT 30-60,000 a year isn’t enough to save and eventually be wealthy and retire. You get to live paycheck to paycheck on this.

We hate our jobs, we live broke and for A LOT in debt and feel utterly lost.

Where did we go wrong?

We went wrong way at the beginning of this, playing it safe.

Playing it safe EQUALS a life of average, mediocracy, pay check to pay check.

To achieve the success, we desire, we have to play with much riskier hands.

We have to be willing to get it wrong, screw it up, be embarrassed, allow for all the questions, head shakes, disappointments.

We have to agree to failure.

So what is SUCCESS to you?

We each have to define that for ourselves. Be brutally honest. Like I want a million dollars to just have a million dollars’ type of honest.

Then we have to re-define failure.

Miriam-Webster defines it as Failure: omission of occurrence or performance

It doesn’t say, one who is not enough, doesn’t have what it takes, isn’t worthy, isn’t smart enough, etc.

Failure is Quitting.

Stopping yourself from moving on after something doesn’t work.

The only way to fail in life is by quitting or giving up. Something not working out or going right or you not doing it perfectly the first 15 times IS NOT failure it is skill-building.

EVERYONE has to build their skills to be successful.

There is no such thing as overnight success, maybe we became aware of them overnight but they have been skill building for months/years before we became aware.

Here are the things I have found through my study of success, that make up the recipe for success:

1) Know what you want

2) Do thought work (coaching/self-coaching) to believe you can have it

3) From that belief create an action plan

4) Try and fail, try and fail, keep getting it wrong until you get it right

5) Never ever quit

6) Hire a coach to help you with the mind drama and to hold the belief in you while you move through the skill building stage and to hold you accountable

7) Evaluate all results, what worked, what didn’t work, what am I going to do differently.

8) Keep doing what works, keep tweaking with what am I going to do differently

9) Surround yourself with successful people in person or virtually

10) Acknowledge the success and, abundance already in your life and the success that is coming

We are all looking for a plan, a How To for success. Those 10 steps are it. If you are like me a few years ago I use to say “I know I have the potential to be successful, I just need someone to show me how to be. “

You now have the steps, what is stopping you from starting at step 1?