Achieving Success

Copyright 2006 Colleen Kettenhofen

Seven Strategies I Learned from Self-Made Millionaires:
About Achieving Personal & Professional Success

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
Albert Einstein

Ever wonder what makes self-made millionaires different from everyone else? Discover 7 secrets that are guaranteed to put you on the path to greater happiness and success in any area of your life ... if you apply them.

These proven success strategies are easy, and can be applied immediately. They can be especially beneficial for sales people, managers, executives, business owners and other professionals.

Proven Success Strategies

After attending a seminar in Las Vegas on achieving personal and professional success, I walked away with a plethora of time-tested tools that can be applied immediately. Many of the presenters were "self-made" millionaires, as I'm not talking about someone who inherited it or married into it. These individuals, through grit, determination and calculated risk did it on their own. Here are seven proven success strategies guaranteed to dramatically improve your happiness, and help you in achieving success in any area of your life, if you apply them.

1. You are a result of your past
Wherever you are today is a result of what you’ve done in the past. Take responsibility for the choices you’ve made. Learn from them and move on. Let go of the mistake but don’t lose the lesson. Don’t focus on the pain of your past, focus on your purpose for the future. This frame of mind alone can turn your life around.

2. Focus on achieving success
“You become what you think about all day,” Earl Nightengale once said. Have you ever noticed while driving your car that if you keep looking to the right, you eventually go to the right? Keep looking to the left and your car veers left? What you think about and focus on becomes reality. So focus on achieving success and be specific with your goals.

3. Surround yourself with successful people
The books you read and the people you interact with most determine 90% of your success. So surround yourself with successful, positive people. Join a mastermind group. It can consist of like-minded individuals all around the country where you talk by phone once a week. Attend business and personal development seminars to find the right people.

Who are the people you spend the most time with? What about their goals, values and priorities? Do they have any goals?! You are an average of the five people you spend the most time with. Try this exercise: Add up their yearly income and divide by five. Most likely your income is within 10% of that sum. You can spend time with people less successful than you and feel like a big fish, but as you discover your passion and climb the ladder of success, those same people will drag you down and discourage your dreams.

4. Read the books about achieving success
Make the books you read be about achieving personal and professional success. Invest at least 3% of your yearly income in personal and professional development books, CD’s, e-books, teleseminars, webinars and the like. If you’re pressed for time, listen to motivational CD’s in your car. The average person spends 500 to 1000 hours per year in their cars. Turn your car into a virtual mobile classroom.

5. Reprogram your mind
You’ve heard the phrase “stinkin’ thinkin’.” To reprogram your mind with positive thoughts, spend a few minutes upon awakening reading inspirational literature or something related to the field you are passionate about. Do the same thing within that last hour before bedtime. The subconscious mind is most amenable to suggestion the first hour upon awakening, and that last hour before retiring.

6. The mirror exercise
Every morning getting up and every evening going to bed, give yourself pep talks. At first you will feel embarrassed and ridiculous, but this technique is very powerful. Ruben Gonzalez, three time Olympian in the luge, was the keynote speaker this weekend. He told how his friend used to make him stand in front of a mirror and say to himself with emotion, “No matter how terrible it gets I am going to make it happen!” He would say this over and over until he believed it. Saying it with emotion will help your dream manifest itself more quickly.

7. Learn to overcome procrastination
Most people procrastinate doing something because they fear it. For example, if you’re procrastinating learning a new software program, take classes or hire a tutor. If that skill is necessary in helping you achieve an important goal you must do it. Also, do the thing you like least first. The more you think about what you “should” do and procrastinate, the harder it is to get started, and your anxiety is compounded. Think how much better, lighter (and more confident) you’ll feel when it’s complete.

Celebrate your successes and reward yourself for even small accomplishments. All work and no play serves as a de-motivator. The larger the success, the larger the reward. Have you ever noticed how much you accomplish right before a vacation? You’re looking forward to that reward, and you don’t want to think about it when you’re on vacation. Do the same thing with these simple steps. Apply them. Work them.

Focus on your dreams not the fear. The price of success is huge, but the price of regret is worse. Increase your self-belief and increase your desire. Ask yourself, “Who am I?” “What do I want to be?” And go do that. Good luck.

__________________________________________________________

Related Articles

• Costa Rica Offshore Corporation
  If you're considering to set up an offshore structure or corporation, then you will want to read this article outlining some basic points about Costa Rica offshore corporation. 
• Investing in Panama
  Panama a country which was founded and reached where it is now, all for business reasons (international trade – the canal) and for its friendly treatment of foreign capital and income. 
• Millionaire Mindset
  Millionaire businesspeople exhibit charateristics that are not different from not-so successful people. Learn the nine charateristics that business people have in common that create millionaire mindset. 
• Online Transactions
  Security and privacy of online transactions are more important to consumers than loyalty programmes, according to recent survey of British consumers.