Tuesday, March 9, 2010

101 Ways to your Dream Life

Dear Friend,

Today I would like to begin a series that will help you in that dream of yours. I guess I’ll have to title it “101 ways to your dream life”, believing this will boost your understanding and help you to become all that you’re dreaming of becoming.

Most people want to be successful in life. They have goals set and then the hard work begins to reach those goals. The question is what is success? Actually, success can mean different things to different people.

For example, a person that owns their own oil changing service for vehicles might set their level of success at servicing 50 cars a day while someone who loves music might consider success as cutting their own CD. In addition, success does not always have to involve money. Success could be getting a good grade in a difficult class or learning how to bake a perfect chocolate cake.
Success comes in all different shapes and sizes with one common denominator. Success is important and it takes effort to reach it.

Regardless of what your specific goal is, there are ways to surpass your goal. I’ve put together 101 tips that can be used for any goal. There are ways to better yourself as a person, proven methods you can apply to reach success.

So let’s get started, shall we?

101 Ways to your Dream Life

1) Realize your potential
In order to succeed at anything, you need to see that you have the potential to reach your goals. For example, if you want to be a recording artist but have no singing ability, having success in this field is not likely. However, if you love working on cars and have a real talent for fixing engines and transmissions, and to you success means working for NASCAR, you have the potential to learn and achieve that success.

2) Don’t Look Back
Everyone has failures or mistakes from the past. To have success, you need to learn from your past and value those difficult lessons but do not dwell on your past. Simply move forward and make better, more educated decisions from the lessons learned.

3) Dare to Dream
To succeed, you need to have dreams and aspirations. Be honest with yourself as what you want out of life and what you want to give of your life. Allow your mind to dream big and think big.

4) Business Plan
Create a business plan your very first step if you are planning to build a business. Whether you will be searching for investors or not, this plan will be the blueprint to your success. The business plan will consist of market trends, financial planning, competitive analysis, exit strategies, marketing and promotional options, everything about your goal. When going before an investor, you’ll be required to have a business plan. This is by far the most important document of all. If your success were something personal, you would not need to create a business plan although a project plan would be a good option to allow you to keep track of everything involving your goal.

5) Don’t Give Up
To reach success, you have to persevere. Even Thomas Edison had to learn this. When he was creating the incandescent light bulb, it took him more than 10000 times to get it right. Keep striving even when it becomes challenging.

6) Have an Unstoppable Attitude
You need to have determination. With good intentions, there may be a close friend or family member that feels it would be better if you focused your attention in another direction. Uphold your unstoppable attitude, determined to succeed.

7) Stop the Complaining
You might think there is no correlation between complaining and success when in fact there is a connection. When you are spending time complaining about the obstacles you’re facing, you are wasting so much time being negative that you are actually losing chances to move forward. Instead of thinking challenges as problems, think of them as opportunities.

8) Focus on Something you Like
To increase your chances of succeeding, you should concentrate your efforts on something you enjoy. When you start out, make a list of everything you find interesting. Then, in a second column, write down the skills you have in relation to each of those items. This will help you narrow down your choices based on your skills and interests which gets you started in the right direction for success.

9) Change your Circumstances
You have a choice in life whether to accept your position or change it. If you choose to plug along in life hoping that something will change for the better,
you will not get very far. Always remember that when it comes to changing your circumstances, you can—you have that power. As an example, women who are in abusive situations often feel controlled and powerless to get out of the situation. They have the same choice of changing their circumstances as you do. If your circumstances lower the chances of success, you need to change them.

10) Have a Plan
Even if it’s flimsy to begin with, you should construct a plan to include goals, milestones, deliverables such as contracts, business plans, etc. and accomplishments. This will provide you with a visual to what you are working for, what milestones you’ve successfully met, and where you need to do better.

11) Accept Responsibility
You need to accept responsibility if you make a bad decision or fall behind your plan. Let’s say that you you’ve set some firm milestones which needed to be accomplished in order for you to move to the next step. However, you got tired of working hard and took some time to play, which is fine as long as it does not affect your goals. Now, months have passed and you are way behind schedule. This delay has closed many doors of opportunities. Now, who is to blame?

12) Be Happy
A positive mind and a happy, upbeat attitude will help you succeed. It has been proven in many studies that a person living in a happy state generally gets much further in just about everything they do. This relates to attitude. Just as bad attitude can pull you down, a happy attitude and healthy mind will help you meet your objectives.

13) No Shortcuts
If you really want to succeed, you can’t afford to take shortcuts. Taking shortcuts leads to inadequacies and imperfections. Always strive for the best, even if it requires a little more time and effort.

14) Have Courage
Depending on what your specific success is, it may take courage to arrive at your desired destination. For example, if you dream of becoming a writer and to you, that is success, but according to your long line of family members who have all gone out to be doctors, the only success in their minds is to follow down the medical path. This means that you will have to have the courage to stand up for what you believe and desire to do, even if it means disappointing family.

15) Be Excited to Learn
Referring back to the analogy of Edison, when asked about his failures as a young boy, Edison commented, “Young man, I didn’t fail 9,999 times, I discovered 9,999 ways not to invent the light bulb.” As you work toward your specific success, always enjoy opportunities to learn, even if takes longer than you think it should.

16) Share your Success
Although this may be more at the end of the process, it’s important. When you finally do reach your success, use your experience to teach, guide, and mentor others so that they too might succeed.

17) Seek Input
Whatever your idea of success is, conduct a “sanity check” throughout the process of reaching your goal. This should be done with someone you trust and who are successful themselves. Ask them to provide honest feedback about your success and as you move through different milestones, bounce concerns or new ideas off them to help you keep on the right track.

18) Toxic Poisoning
No, we’re not talking about actual poison but toxic people that can poison. Unfortunately, it would be great if close friends or coworkers could share in your success, but all too often, there would be some who are either dealing with the “green-monster” of envy or has a case of the “I knew that” syndrome. If you’re serious about being successful, you’ll need to rid of your life these people. While you may not be able to get them out of your life completely, you should avoid them as best as possible. If this is a person you see everyday, keep your goals to yourself, and avoid that subject.

19) Be a Good Listener
To succeed, you need how to learn how to listen first. Pay attention to others who have enjoyed successes in their life, attend seminars given by people that can motivate. Good listening takes time to learn but in the end, it will be your greatest tool.

20) Birds of a Feather
If you have a goal of being a best-selling author, find mentors who either have achieved that same goal or are also pursuing a successful writing career. It’s important to surround yourself with people who understand your burning desire to succeed and can encourage you when you’re faced with disappointments.

21) Little Reed Engine
Do you remember the story of the caboose desperately trying to make it over a large hill? He kept telling himself repeatedly, “I think I can, I think I can.” When you start feeling defeated, tell yourself aloud these words. It may seem quite awkward at first, stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself those same words. Better yet, change it to “I know I can!”

To be continued!

I can do it
It is within my reach
Only if I can just believe
I can achieve it
Only if I keep doing what it takes
It is never too late
If only I take the right things serious
It’s merely a stepping stone
All problems are for growth
Salau O John©2010

Here’s wisdom
In the words of the wise
We search for wisdom
In the ways of the diligent
We can get our kingdom
We all try to see the light
But where is the freedom?
The truth, they say is unbound
But it sometimes creates boredom
What shall we do?
Just pay our due!
Salau O John©2010

Salau O John is a Communicator, Poet, Author, Singer & Creative Business Coach/Manager. He can be reached on the numbers on this blog to speak at your forums or write for your magazine, etc.

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