- You are here:
- Home »
- Opportunities
- » Success Manifesto
Success Manifesto
I’d like to take you through what I believe are the eight core principles to success.
These apply online, as well as offline, in all aspects of our lives and in every phase thereof. The 8 principles are the culmination of 20 years and $500,000 invested in all types of books, live seminars, videos, lectures, CDs, DVDs, tapes, courses e-books, magazine articles etc – I ate them all up like candy and distilled what I believe is the core essence to success.
Read through the following with an open mind, if some of them help you or match your lifestyle goals then, by all means – apply them to your life, if they don’t, then find a few that do, having principles and a code of ethics dictates who you are and who you turn out to be, and the sooner you find yours and live them, the sooner you’ll get what you seek.
Here are the 8 principles:
Principle #1 – Action
Principle #2 – Objectives
Principle #3 – Focus
Principle #4 – Discipline
Principle #5 – Time
Principle #6 – Just do it
Principle #7 – Communicate
Principle #8 – Leverage
Sowing seeds in a garden is only the first step in order to be able to harvest something later – all of the above steps need constant care and attention so that you will be able to reap the rewards of your efforts over time. Nothing in life worth having is instant – this is a process and will take some effort… but in my humble opinion, it’s worth the effort.
1) Act. That is essence is all I want to say about this particular principle. Ok, I want to add one or two more lines. “Act or ye shall be acted upon” Translation: get up off your lazy ass and do something today to help you move toward achieving one of your goals.
2) If you don’t set a specific and measurable goal as a destination, how would you know that you got there? Each of us needs to list goals and objectives for every area of our lives. Then, when we achieve one of our goals – we have something great to celebrate. There is a shortcut but you probably won’t believe me until it happens to you. One of my mentors told me years ago “Picture yourself already having achieved your goal. Make the picture as vivid and real as possible and remember to see yourself in the end result of having achieved your goal.” This sounds easy and can be a really fun way to spend a few meditative hours but the fascinating thing about this technique is that it works – and it works really well.
3) This is something that all successful people have mastered. It does not matter what their chosen field was, they focused on achieving their goals and no obstacle stood in their way for long. In an age where instant gratification is the rule rather than the exception, attention deficit disorder seems to have replaced focus as the chosen path. My suggestion: Drop the ADD and pick up your list of goals, select ONE then do nothing else for 2 hours except work on achieving that specific goal. As with most things you need to get used to doing this so expect to get into a groove after a few attempts but make the effort and get started today.
4) Discipline has to do with choices. It links your goals with achievement and is an essential element to accomplishing your objecives. You need to know what is the best possible choice available to you to help you achieve your goal. Once motivation has subsided, usually it is discipline that gets the job done. Every successful individual I have ever read about or known personally, had an over abundance of self discipline.
5) The only finite resource we have is time. Don’t waste a drop. Enjoy the road and journey as much as you enjoy the destination. Work on efficient and effective activities – those things that are going to be moving you toward your end result. Ignore the rest and be sure to prioritize how you spend your day / week so that you maximize your achievement including time with friends and family.
6) Take responsibility for action and follow through. There is no such thing as quitting or turning back. You simply need to move forward and get the job done – that’s it. Just do it and do it with compassion, honesty and integrity.
7) If you are going to look at your life with the end result in mind then do the same for communication too. If your intended message is received crystal clear by the person with whom you are communicating then mission accomplished. One way to accomplish this is to collect your thoughts on the person with whom you are communicating and put on their shoes… say things to them in a way that they will understand – speak their language – use words that they too would use. Then test this by asking them to explain what they just heard in their own words and compare it to your intent.
8) We can leverage time, money and knowledge in the pursuit of our goals. When you outsource grunt work to others you are leveraging your time. When you can use OPM to achieve an objective and score a win-win in the process you are leveraging your money. Knowledge on its own is without much value until it is applied. Know where to go to get help with achieving your specific goals by doing a bit of research. If you need help, hire a specialist and get the job done… when you do this, you are leveraging knowledge as well.
It all boils down to this:
Know what you want
Make a plan to get it
Focus on your dream
Have the discipline to work on the goal regularly
Reserve time for what is important not what is urgent
Just do it
Remember to communicate effectively so that the core message is received as intended
Leverage your time and apply the abundant knowledge of experts to get what you want
Good luck and enjoy the ride!