8 Steps to Success in Anything

Posted by Eric Twitty on October 13, 2008

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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.

The Most Important Key to Success

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.