5 Things to Remember on the Road to Success

5 Things to Remember on the Road to Success
Unfortunately, not all of us are lucky enough to win the lottery or a game show. If you want success, you need to earn it. However, no one said it was easy. But if you have the right frame of mind, you can do anything. Here are five things to keep in mind on your journey to success:

1. Know Exactly What You Want

What do you want to accomplish? How can you accomplish it? Determine your goals and create a plan of action. Don't know what you want yet? Take Steve Jobs' advice: "If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

2. Believe in Your Idea (and in Yourself)

Did you know that when Howard Schultz first tried to start Starbucks he was turned down by 217 of the 242 investors he initially talked to? Talk about discouraging. But that didn't stop Schultz, who is now the CEO of the multi-billion dollar business. "You have to have tremendous belief in what you are doing just to persevere," he said in Stephen Harper's book Extraordinary Entrepreneurship. If you're going to do something, make sure it's something you truly believe in. (When 217 people don't believe in you, you have to be able to believe in yourself.)

3. Realize There Are No Shortcuts

In addition to regular team practice routines, Micheal Jordan, who is widely accepted as the greatest basketball player ever, would practice extensively on his own time. If you want to be successful, you need to put the extra time in. “If you do the work," Jordan said, you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.”

4. Don't Get Cocky

Once you board the success train, you will feel like you are unstoppable. But no matter how successful you become, always keep a level head. Bill Gates, the Microsoft Corp. co-founder, said "Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."

5. Fail

J.K. Rowling, author of one of the most successful book series in history, was turned down by several publishers before her first Harry Potter book was accepted. "Failure means a stripping away of the inessential," she said. If you don't have any mistakes to learn from, how are you going to improve? Reevaluate your plan of action and develop a new plan of action. Use your failures as motivators to do better next time. Image Credit: Shutterstock
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