Success. One day at a time
When it comes to success, you will find as many definitions as there are stars on the night sky. Some people will say that success is having a lot of money, a brand new car, a private island and a big house in Los Angeles or in a beautiful valley in the North of Italy. Others will say that inner peace and love are the biggest achievement that one person can have in this life.
I believe that everybody is equally wrong and right at the same time.
You are the only one who can define what success will represent for you in this lifetime. Despite the fact that there is no exact recipe for greatness, by undergoing a retrospective review I managed to define some steps that will take you closer to your dreams.
Do not forget to shift
As kids we all wanted to be police officers, firefighters, superheroes who fight crime or farmers because we were obsessed with animals and we wanted to feed them and take care of them. Times have changed, life hit us with all of its might and now we all want to be successful businessmen, self made millionaires, accomplished writers or people who have immersed themselves in Zen. My point is that as we get older our goals start to shift and I want to emphasize on this: Don’t keep running on the same path thinking that your happiness will be at the end of that road. When you are at a cross path consider shifting to another route.
When you are at that intersection in the road and you’ve got two paths to go down, because of the impact of certain people in your life, you’re able to choose the right path.
Jason Witten
Turn your losses into profit
At this point in your life you are most certainly having a lot of habits that make you feel like you are time travelling into the future. Before you know it, it is already the end of the day and when you look back the only thing that you did was drinking coffee because you wanted to start your day right, watching Netflix because you felt like taking a 3 hour break and immersing yourself in the beauty of social media because it is rude to sunder your friends from your likes and attention.
One of the biggest mistakes is to think that you should give up on those habits. One day you will relapse. You will start binging once again and everything that you did would have been in vain. Even if you do it and you cleanse yourself of any stain of procrastination, you will not be able to keep up and you will burn yourself out because you can’t work without taking any breaks.
My solution to this problem is to overturn everything. Have your coffee in silence or if this isn’t your style, listen to some music that you love or read a book so you can be in the right mood when you start working on your dreams. Instead of wasting your time on social media, read an article that is related to the field of your goal, instead of watching some movie that you picked only because you already spent 30 minutes trying to find a good movie, you can watch a documentary or listen to a podcast from which you might learn something new and expand your knowledge, instead of playing a video game or staying in bed like a bear that is about to hibernate, go outside and just breathe, let the nature do all the work. Let the sun warm you up and illuminate your face, let the wind blow on your skin, disconnect from your work and reconnect with the Universe.
Always invest in yourself
In order to achieve a real profit, you have to invest money, time and dedication and the best investment that you can make is to invest in yourself. Buy that expensive course that you were reluctant to take, buy yourself as many books as you need in order to become great at something, buy yourself the gear that you need and don’t be afraid to spend a lot.
You can’t grow until you are ready to do it and the only way to achieve that is by constantly improving yourself, by constantly bringing your knowledge, your body, your mind and soul to the next level.
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”
On paper we are the best real estate agents, famous writers, mesmerizing bodybuilders or productivity icons. The truth is that we are dreamers and until we are going to leap over that hole filled with doubt, procrastination and fear, we are not going to get any closer to our goals. We will keep planning our future without getting the chance to actually live it and sooner or later “I will do it” will become “I wish I would have done it”. Do not waste your time being afraid. Reshape yourself into a fearless, driven doer.
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.
James F. Byrnes
Take a step back
Once in a while the best action is to slow down and take a step back. This is the only way to see if the path that you have taken resonates with you. This is the perfect opportunity to analyze everything that you have done and think if this is still what you want to invest your time into.
Taking a step back is the only way to see if you can improve your work ethic or change something for the better. Small changes bring big profits in the long run. Changing things little by little can make the difference between success and failure.
Hit rock bottom
Do not be afraid to fail. Hitting rock bottom is not pleasant, but it is the moment when you have to pick yourself up and try again. Failure is nothing but a sign that you are not ready yet, it is a sign that you have to change your game plan and try harder.
When you hit rock bottom, remember this. While you’re struggling, rock bottom can also be a great foundation on which to build and on which to grow.
(Rick Rigsby, Lessons From a Third Grade Dropout)
Reward yourself
Do not forget to reward yourself. Every step towards your goal should be celebrated because it is your achievement. Buy something nice for yourself, something that you always wanted, take yourself out for dinner, take the day off and enjoy life, have some time for yourself and celebrate the fact that you are getting closer to fulfilling your dreams.
Start your path to success by conquering one day at a time
Today is the best day to start working on your dreams. Yesterday is “too late” and tomorrow is “unknown”. Don’t try to plan everything because something will come up in the near future and I am 100% sure that it will mess up your plans. Plan what you are going to do today. Start your day by making a step towards your dream. Do one push up, read one page, close one deal, write one sentence and after you did all of those things once, repeat them all over again. Do it until the day is over, do it until you feel accomplished.
The only way to become successful is by seizing this moment and making the most out of it. Remodel yourself by the image of the person you want to be. Harness your power from every little thing that surrounds you and use it to go the extra mile. Look inside yourself, find your hunger for success and let it drive you to the next level.
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston S. Churchill
Empower yourself.
