What does it really take to be successful?
If you want something in life, you have to try and try and try again. Giving up is never an option and should never once be present in your thoughts.
Whenever we’ve set our intentions on a goal that we desperately want to achieve, doesn’t it seem like our lives just blow up in our face, and everything that could go wrong does go wrong?
That series of unfortunate events is the universe testing you to see how badly you want to achieve that goal. If you give up or let the tests push your goal further and further away from you then that only proves that you weren’t ready to step into that version of yourself.
The personal journey to success is ongoing, there’s no end. During our journeys, there are certain things that we have to give up that are impertinent to our development. If we keep doing these things we will not achieve the outcome that we’ve set our sights on.
So, What does it really take to be successful?
#1 – Quit Your Comfort Zone
If your job or your life doesn’t mentally challenge you then you’ve outgrown that phase. Imagine this, you log in for work and the same tasks that you accomplished yesterday are the same ones that are waiting to be done again. That task requires the same amount of energy, maybe even less since you’ve done it so many times, that it did yesterday. You feel no joy, no excitement, nothing. It’s safe to say that you’re stuck in a loop and that’s never the place we should aspire to be in our lives.
Waking up in the morning should excite you. The adventures of a new day and the valuable life lessons you’ll learn from those experiences should drive you right out of bed and you should be running out the door to meet the sunrise.
When things become too easy, it’s time to move on. Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from progressing. The unknown should be viewed as the ultimate place of knowledge.
“Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” – Robert Kiyosaki
#2 – Quit Avoiding
It’s natural for all of us to shy away from the difficult things that we have to tackle in life. We do everything in our power to avoid doing the hard things. It’s true that we are all lazy beings: If we can get something easy done then we’ll gladly do that first. But the problem with that mindset is that it’s not elevating your life. If we avoid all the hard things then we’re sticking to our comfort zone. Excelling beyond your current comfort zone requires that the hard work gets done.
Do the hard things first. Avoiding it will only push it back a few hours, days, or months. You never really get rid of the difficult things completely, you’re just delaying it.
Start your day off by accomplishing the most difficult task on your To-Do list first. Then spend the rest of the day doing the easier things that must be done that day. ALWAYS, always, always do at least one thing that brings you absolute joy. Doing something that creates bliss is the equivalent to getting that gold star from your teacher in school. Reward yourself for not avoiding the difficult things in your life.
The best way to eat an elephant in your path is to cut him up into little pieces. – African Proverb
#3 – Quit Expecting
Expectations lead to disappointment. In order to avoid the whole emotional breakdown that comes when our expectations are shattered in tiny fragments, we must not set any. Set goals and work towards accomplishing that goal instead.
For example, if I go biking and expect to hit the ten-mile marker every day, I’ll be greatly disappointed in myself for not living up to my expectations. If I approach biking with a different mentality and set a goal to get on that bike and ride daily the number of miles I can, no matter how low or high, it’s a great accomplishment because I achieved my goal of simply riding every day. Don’t get me wrong, setting the goal to ride ten miles per day is feasible but when that goal becomes an expectation then nothing that you’ve done towards accomplishing it will feel rewarding because you didn’t hit that number.
The key here is to be gentle with yourself. Set goals in your life and then work towards them one step at a time. If you didn’t hit that particular goal today, remember to tell yourself that it’s okay. You can always try to get closer to hitting it the next day.
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
#4 – Quit Quitting
If consistency is key, then quitting is not an option.
I started this article with a sentence that was repeated to me as a child countless times by my grandmother. She made sure to instill the values of never quitting something and seeing it through till the end.
A goal in life is NOT achieved by constantly giving up.
How will you become that yoga master you dream to be if you give up during your first difficult yoga class? How will you land that position, ace that test, swim those five miles if you stopped before you made a breakthrough?
Remember, the universe will always test you to see how easily you’ll quit. So when you feel down keep asking yourself, “What does it really take to be successful?”
Finish what you’ve started.
The joy of completion outweighs the difficulties on the journey. It will feel amazing when you’re able to check that empty box on your To-Do list. That checkmark represents your vigilance, your ability to stick to your goal, and accomplish it. If you quit before you’ve reached that goal you’re robbing yourself of a sense of worthiness and validation. Not validity from strangers or family but from yourself. How you feel is the only thing that matters.
Stop quitting because the moment you give up could be the very moment of a massive breakthrough.
You deserve the best so I ask you again, what does it really take to be successful?
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill
