Success principles
July

 
 
 

‘We fall forward to succeed’

Mary Kay Ash

 
 
 
 
 

Focus on the next logical step
There are no hopeless situations. There are only people who have grown hopeless about them. So keep your hope alive. Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energy moving forward towards a solution. If you take full responsibility for yourself and your current situation, you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams. And then you will discover a way to get there.

 

Practice genuine kindness
The best choice you can make is to be genuinly respectful and authentically kind. Though your kindness will not always be returned, it will certainly be noticed. And even when it is not fully appreciated by others, your kindness will always inject more positive value into you own life. What you give comes back to you in ways that are impossible to predict. So give your kindness as often as you can and enjoy the more positive world you are helping to create.

 

Express appreciation 
You develop three kinds of friendships in life: friends for a reason, friends for a season, and friends for a lifetime. Take note of who these ‘lifetime friends’ are and never overlook their worth. Just because they are reliable and there when you need them, doesn’t mean you should fail to give thanks and appreciation on a regular basis. To value someone too lightly is to risk missing their goodness before they’re gone.

 

Be grateful for your blessings
We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. What if you gave someone a gift and they neglected to thank you for it? Would you be likely to give them another one? The daily events in your life respond the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must be grateful for what you already have.

 

Enjoy yourself
In between all your goals, priorities, obligations, and everything else that might appear on one of your upcoming to-do lists, there are moments called ‘life’ that still have to be lived and enjoyed.  The trick is to make the best of each moment, and value it for what it’s worth.  In other words, don’t wish all your time away by waiting for better times ahead.  Smile, right now, because you can.

 

Make someone else smile
Ordinary people worry today and postpone their happiness for tomorrow. Intelligent people are happy today and postpone their worries for tomorrow. Wise people only wish happiness for all, today and tomorrow. If you wish to have a lifetime of happiness, dedicate time every day to helping others smile with complete sincerity and enthusiasm.

 

Be imperfect
Something that is really difficult, but totally worth it, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the journey of becoming your true self. The most beautiful part of this journey is simply returning to the peaceful feeling of being. This peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.

 

Be enthusiastic about what you do
You’re not given a good life or a bad life. You’re given life, and it’s up to you to make it good or bad. So wake up and get motivated. Not everybody made it to today… Don’t take your time for granted. Don’t waste time thinking back to what you could have done differently yesterday. Keep your eyes on the road ahead and do it differently today. Wherever the road takes you, bring your passion. Whatever you do along the way, do it with all your heart.

 

Make the best of what happens
More important than what happens to you, is what you make of what happens to you. The more thankful you are, the more beautiful this world appears. You must uncover the good in the bad, the happy in your sad, the gain in your pain, and what makes you grateful not hateful.

 

Forgive your past self
Sometimes, good people like you make bad choices. It doesn’t mean you’re bad, it means you’re human. So get over your past. It’s over. Forgive yourself for what you think you did or didn’t do, and focus on what you will do starting now.

 

Spend time just being and breathing
The only way to live happily ever after is one day at a time. Just be, breathe. Do not think about what you’re missing, but what you’ve been given. Happiness is something that comes into our lives gradually. Often through the doors we don’t even remember leaving open.

 

Learn something new
It’s important to remember that you cannot become who you are capable of being by remaining exactly where you are. If you are not willing to learn and grow, no one can help you. But if you are determined to learn and grow, no one can stop you. In the end, there are no permanent jobs on this planet; we are all interning here. Learn from everyone, evolve, remain humble, and don’t forget to have a good time.

 

Love yourself
What we see in the mirror is what we see in the world. Our disappointment in others perfectly reflects our disappointment in ourselves. Our acceptance of others perfectly reflects our acceptance of ourselves. Our ability to see potential in others perfectly reflects our ability to see potential in ourselves. Our patience with others perfectly reflects our patience with ourselves. Love yourself.

 

Focus on what you like
Whenever we focus on a person’s not so wonderful qualities, we have a not so wonderful relationship with them. Whenever you focus on a person’s wonderful qualities, you have a wonderful relationship with him/her. Focus on what you like about those around you. What we focus on grows in our minds and hearts.

 

Say ‘YES’ to a spontaneous opportunity
Not everything in life can be planned. Some of the greatest opportunities will knock on your door when you least expect them to. Be flexible, be spontaneous, and just say ‘yes’!

 

Acknowledge yourself
You are creating results all day, every day. You are a creator. You create what you intent. Acknowledging yourself and all the small everyday things in life makes them magical. Practice this and you’ll find life sparkling with small miracles.

 

Wake up to water
Your body loses water while you sleep, so you’re naturally dehydrated in the morning. A glass of water [or two] when you wake helps start your day fresh. Doing this boosts metabolism by 24 percent for 90 minutes afterward. Water is inexpensive, widely available, naturally low in sodium and caffeine-free, making it preferable as a first source to meet your hydration needs.

 

Define your top 3
Every morning ask yourself, ‘What are the top three most important tasks that I will complete today?’ Prioritizes your day accordingly and don’t sleep until the three tasks are completed. What’s your ‘Top 3′ today?

 

The 50/10 Rule
Solo-task and do more faster by working in 50/10 increments. Use a timer to work for 50 minutes on only one important task with 10 minute breaks in between. Spend your 10 minutes getting away from your desk, going outside, calling a friend, meditating, or grabbing a glass of water.

 

Nothing is impossible
Many things that before seemed impossible are now part of our every day lives. Flying, penicillin or computers where not considered possible about a century ago. So what will become possible a few years from now? Use your imagination! Believing in impossibilities is suffocating. Stops you. Remember: nothing is impossible! The crucial question is ‘How can it be possible?’

 

Smile big!
You have so many good reasons to smile. Smiling makes you happy. Smiling makes others happy. Smiling makes you more attractive. Make you look younger. Smiling helps do de-stress. It can lead to laughter. Smiling just feels good. When you smile the world smiles back at ya’!

 

Take a leap
Success requires a planning, careful preparation, networking, consultation and a lot more of that. At some stage however you must make that leap, commit yourself and take a risk. If you start your own business you must go through a period of not only earning less, but also probably receiving lots of discouraging advice from friends.

 

Everything is energy
With his famous equation E= mc2, Albert Einstein proved that when you come right down to it everything in the universe is energy. He proved to the scientific community that atoms and subatomic particles are not solid, but rather vibrating frequencies of pure energy that give them the ‘appearance’ of being solid. Everything vibrates. Everything is energy. You are energy. Life is so much simpler when you realize that everything is energy. All you need to do is raise your level of energy and stop wasting your energy [on unproductive actions]!

 

Take ownership of your life
Take 100% responsibility for your life. No excuses, no blaming others, stop playing the victim. You have to give up all of the reasons why you can’t or haven’t done something up until now. You have everything in your power to fulfill your potential. Your life is your own. Take ownership of it today!

 

Dare to dream
All the daily hassles of life have a way of stealing our dreams. We shove them aside in order to meet the daily demands of survival. Maybe the road to reaching your dreams seems too long and too difficult. When you let go of your dreams, you burn out and loose our sense of joy. Life is for living! Dare to dream again!

 

Make lists!
Make lists as a kind of inventory of your life. Maybe at first you’ll think you have nothing to much to write. Maybe you’ll put your pen down. Mope for a while… And maybe then, after a few minutes, you’ll start writing. Furiously. In fact you will think of things to add to your lists weeks later. Use these lists to brainstorm ideas, to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, to map your resources and experiences. Make lists of your successes, your ideas and dreams, skills and qualifications, contacts and friends [your network], your long term planning and your good intentions!

 

Avoid the bandwagons
Successful people habitually do what other people won’t do. They go where others won’t go, because there is a lot less competition and a much greater chance for success.

 

Do that bit extra!
If you do all that is necessary and all that is asked of you, you will do well in life and have a decent career. But that’s all. To be really successful you have to do that bit extra. That means missing the late film or sleeping in. You have to do something for your dream every day. The problem is that people plan their dream-project for the spare time they will have when they finish their current ‘project’. You’ll never get there! Something always pops up…

 

Write yourself an ambition letter
Write down where you want to be this time next year, where in your career, how much of your book you want to have written, how far you are in your project. Be careful that you mean what you write and that your plans are realistic. Review it and then seal the envelope. Then visualise how happy you are going to be when you open that letter in 12 month’s time.

 

Be slow to judge people!
How much time do we spend judging others? Others’ clothing, others’ actions and others’ words. It relates completely to how we feel about ourselves. We feel insecure, lonely or even scared. If you are 100% happy with who you are, you are a lot less likely to feel the need to judge others. Stop putting negativity into the world. Monitor your thoughts, avoid stereotyping and last but not least: stop judging yourself!

 

Express gratitude
Gratitude fosters happiness. Keep a gratitude journal. Every morning or evening, write out at least five things you’re thankful for. In times of stress, pause and reflect on 10 things you are grateful for! What are you grateful for today?

 
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