Posted by Eric Twitty on November 12, 2008
Welcome back!
When you look around and see the situation most people are in, why would anyone want to be in a similar situation? People are stressed and looking for any way out of their situation they can find. To turn things around you must first change your mindset.
Thinking differently from the crowd and adopting the mindset of the successful will put you on track to making positive changes in your life.
Let’s take a look at the average person, then we will look at what successful people do.
What is average?
So what is average in the United States today? The statistics show that most Americans are:
- Overweight
- Have little or no savings
- Have lot’s of debt
- Completely dependent on their job for financial stability
If this is what is average in the U.S., why would you want to be average?
Do what successful people do
These are the habits of the successful:
- They exercise and eat well- eating well and exercising keeps you healthy and energetic
- They build wealth for themselves- actively save and invest a portion of your income to build financial stability
- They avoid debt- avoid debt by living frugally and not worrying about owning all the superficial things with little or no value that most Americans purchase
Take steps to better your health. Build wealth for yourself so that you can retire and enjoy life. Avoid debt. Develop other sources of income. These are things that very few people do yet everyone should strive for.
This is what successful people do. They have a different approach to life.
Be Different
Imagine living a life where you are in shape and healthy, have little or no debt, and have money invested in various asset classes that have been proven to appreciate in value over time. This is a life that anyone can have. It does take work and sacrifice though. It doesn’t come easy.
“The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is.”
Charles Schwab
People will try to bring you down and tell you to live your life, eat what you want, and spend your money, but resist their temptations. Look at the person that’s trying to bring you down. Are they living the life they want?
Toxic people will always attempt to sabotage your productive habits but don’t let them. This is too important to you. If you are unhappy with your life then you must change it. Don’t let anything or anyone get in your way.
Don’t be like most people. Strive to be different. It will put you on the path to success.
Posted by Eric Twitty on November 7, 2008
What is rationalization? Most people do it without even realizing it. When you rationalize your negative habits, you definitely impede your progress towards your goals in life.
Basically, rationalization is creating plausible excuses to justify your negative behaviors. You are essentially lying to yourself to relieve guilt or make yourself feel better.
Here are some common examples of rationalization:
- “I had a good workout today so I can eat whatever I want.”
- “I’ll start saving money once I make more money.”
- “I’ll quit smoking after my birthday.”
- “I was drunk, so it was not my fault I cheated on my girlfriend.”
- “I’m underpaid, why should I work hard at work?”
These excuses can be the single biggest roadblock to a person’s success in any endeavor. Once you internalize the concept of rationalization, you can begin to recognize it and stop doing it.
Think about the times in the past you have rationalized your negative habits. Has anything good come from it?
Keep this concept in mind and try to recognize it in yourself and other people. Learning to recognize other people’s rationalizations is good practice for recognizing it in yourself. When you catch yourself rationalizing, recognize it for what it is and don’t let it be a roadblock to achieving your goals.
Once you stop rationalizing your negative behaviors, you will begin to achieve your goals faster than ever before. You will no longer be sabotaging your own success.
Posted by Eric Twitty on November 4, 2008
Are the people you spend your time with holding you back? Do they constantly want you to do things with them that aren’t exactly productive?
People like this are keeping you from realizing your potential. Successful people surround themselves with other successful people. We are extremely susceptible to the way of thinking of the people we are around most often.
When you spend time with a negative person with negative habits it tends to rub off on you. You begin to adopt those negative habits. These habits are counter-productive in achieving your goals.
When you spend time with a successful person the opposite occurs. You begin to adopt their successful habits. One of the best ways to become successful in anything is to mimic what a successful person in your chosen field is doing.
Successful people know that it takes hard work to achieve your goals and they will be more supportive and encouraging. They will keep you motivated and on the right path.
Avoid Toxic People
Avoid negative people that are insecure and jealous of your actions to improve your life. There is nothing to be gained by spending time with these “toxic” people. They will bring you down and sabotage your efforts in achieving your goals.
Many discouraging people have a negative mindset and they really aren’t aware they are behaving towards you in a toxic way. Usually making them aware of their behavior is all you need to do to end it. It will be very hard for them to continue their sabotaging ways once you make them aware of what they are doing.
A great book about dealing with toxic people is “Toxic People” by Dr. Lillian Glass. It will give you specific ways of dealing with the people in your life that are holding you back.
Determine Who is Holding You Back
Write down everyone that you spend time with. Who is supportive and who is not? Do these people encourage you, or do they generally tell you that you can’t do something or you are crazy for trying? Consider each person on the list and make a decision whether they are toxic or supportive.
You should really consider spending less time with the discouraging people or make them aware of the negative effect they have on you.
Spend Your Time With the Successful
Choose to spend your time with people who are successful. Their positive way of thinking will rub off on you. By spending time with these people you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Posted by Eric Twitty on October 13, 2008
Successful people are successful because of their way of thinking. Success in any area of life has little to do with luck. If there is any area of your life you would like to improve then you should follow these eight steps:
Step 1: Know What You Want and Make a Plan
Sit down and visualize being the person you want to be. What areas of your life do you want to improve? You need to know what you want to become before you can get there. Write these thoughts down. It helps you stay focused when you have them down on paper. Make a commitment to yourself to improve these areas. Make a plan.
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Alan Lakein
Step 2: Learn, Learn, Learn
There is tons of information out there on just about any subject you can think of. After you have decided on what areas of your life you want to improve, acquire the knowledge necessary to get where you want to go. Read everything you can. Go to seminars. Do what you have to do. Learn the subject inside and out.
“Knowledge is the food of the soul.” Plato
Step 3: Think Positive
Know that you can achieve what you have set out to do. Positive thinking is a trait that all successful people have. They know they can succeed.
“For myself, I am an optimist–it does not seem to be much use being anything else.” Winston Churchill
Step 4: Take Action
Be a doer, not a thinker. This is the most important step. Anyone can spend countless hours researching the area they want to improve, but the truly successful take the knowledge they have acquired and do something with it. Read The Most Important Key to Success for more on taking action.
“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” Henry David Thoreau
Step 5: Be Willing to Take Risks
Successful people know they are not perfect. They know they will make mistakes. The key is to control your risk. As long as you are able to try again, no risk is too great. Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from trying.
“Our doubts are traitors,And make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” William Shakespeare
Step 6: Be Persistent
Never give up. The only true failure is when you stop trying. They say it took Thomas Edison 1,000 tries before he invented the light bulb. Now that is persistence.
“Continuous effort–not strength or intelligence–is the key to unlocking our potential.”
Winston Churchill
Step 7: Network
Get out there and make some contacts. Find people that are good at what you want to be good at. Surround yourself with successful people. I’m sure you have heard the saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I disagree. It should be “It’s what you know, and who you know.”
“Position yourself as a center of influence - the one who knows the movers and shakers. People will respond to that, and you’ll soon become what you project.” Bob Burg
Step 8: Be Patient
Patience is important. No one becomes successful at anything overnight. As long as you strive to make a positive step towards your goals everyday, success will come. Enjoy the journey.
“The value of achievement lies in the achieving.” Albert Einstein
Follow the Path
This is the path to success. It has been laid out for you. Now it is up to you to take these steps and achieve the things you always wanted. Don’t accept failure. If you follow these steps you will become successful in any area you want to improve.
Posted by Eric Twitty on October 9, 2008
There are many keys to success. Knowledge, persistence, and the willingness to take risks are a few. There is one in my opinion that stands out above all others. That key is the ability and willingness to take action. Without action all other keys are meaningless.
This is a common problem with the self-improvement programs out there. Some do a good job teaching you a particular subject but it is up to the reader to apply what they have learned to their life. Every one would like to improve their quality of life but few are willing to put forth the effort necessary. They spend countless hours studying the areas they would like to most improve but they never take the actions necessary to turn their dreams into reality.
Remember a dream is just a dream until you turn it into reality. Vision without action is meaningless. Stop telling yourself that you will take action when you have the time, or have more money, or have more knowledge. Excuses have no place in the path to success.
There are very few reasons out there that you cannot achieve what you want. If you keep thinking that you will take action when your situation is better you are kidding yourself. You have to take action to make positive changes in your life. Don’t wait around for the changes to happen for you.
Don’t let the life you want to live pass you by. Don’t be one of those people who look back 10 years from now and say, “I wish I would have started when I was younger.” Take the knowledge you learn and start applying it to your life immediately. Even if you take action and fail that is fine. Not taking action is admitting failure. At least if you try you have the chance of making positive changes in your life.
Action is what ties together all the other ingredients of success. Without it you accomplish nothing. Your entire life is left to chance. Leaving my life to chance is not good enough for me. I prefer to take my life into my own hands and start making things happen.
So how do you make things happen? It all begins with the decision to make positive changes in your life. You have to want it. Success doesn’t come easily. It’s easy to revert back to your old habits. Don’t settle for anything less than what you expect to achieve.
Next you need to take some time and think about the areas of your life you want to improve. What would you like to achieve in these areas? Only you can answer these questions.
Now you need a plan of action. What actions will it take to accomplish your objectives? Do you need to become more knowledgeable on the particular subject? Once you begin to acquire the knowledge required it will become clearer to you the steps that you need to take to get closer to your goal. Write everything out and hold yourself accountable. Set goals for yourself and smash through them.
Taking action cannot be taught. It is something that is left completely up to you. I think more often than not, it is what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. There are plenty of books and programs out there to teach you the particular subject you are interested in. You can check my recommended reading page for suggested books covering various subjects. It is not the amount of knowledge you have that matters though, it is what you do with that knowledge that will determine your chances of success.
For a complete step by step guide to achieving success in anything, have a look at my Path to Success article.
