The Essentials for Success

So, you’ve finally made the decision to chase your dreams! That alone is a brave choice in a world where many have settled for mediocrity. To celebrate this daring step you’re taking towards a life of prosperity, here’s a small but invaluable gift that will help you find the path to success.

What You’ll Need for Your Journey

You’re going to want to equip yourself with a variety of skills, mindsets, attitudes, and convictions for your journey. Here’s a short list of must-haves to get where you want to go.

A Vision of Your Destination

Unless you’re okay to drift from here to there and to get sidetracked from your real pursuit, you’ve got to know exactly where you’re headed. To make your dream of success a reality, you must be able to envision that success. The more detailed and precise your vision, the easier it will be to map out the road that will take you there.

Let’s get real here, because the truth is that if you’ve no idea where you want to go, it’s going to be almost impossible to get there! So, it’s absolutely essential to have a vision of your destination.

It’s great if you can imagine yourself living the success you dream of, but to make that vision more concrete you’ve got to further. Take the time to write out the specifics of what success means to you. Does it mean making a specific amount of money? Having a certain following? Does it mean creating or producing something? Influencing or affecting change in a particular area? Does it mean having a certain amount of free time to spend with family and friends or just doing the things you love? Does it mean helping a certain number of people or giving them the skills or tools they need to empower themselves? Does it mean living a certain lifestyle or in a specific city? Does it mean being able to travel or have new experiences?

Knowing what success means to you is a necessary must for your journey, so take the time and make a concentrated effort to discover what success is for you. If you have a general but hazy idea of your where you want to go, then take the time to do some soul-searching to clarify and focus the image. Find a quiet spot to truly paint a mental picture. The crisper and more precise your image, the more defined your path becomes.

Write down an hour by hour schedule of what your “perfect day” would look like. What can you do to start making that schedule come to life? Create a vision board – a collage of the images that define your goal. They could be images of the places you want to travel, the home or car you want to own, the body you want to have, the ethics or values you want to share. These images can be collected on a cork board or poster board and hung where you can see them daily. Or you might opt for an electronic version of a vision board and set it as the wallpaper on your computer or phone. Create it and put it where you can see it every day.

Wherever you decide to post it, make it detailed, personal, and inspiring. Your vision board should be a source of guidance, inspiration, and motivation for those days when the going gets rough.

A Bundle of Self-Confidence

You have to start this journey with a winning attitude! You must be committed to the process. Your excitement might seesaw from one day to the next, but what must stay constant is your commitment to stick to it for the long haul no matter what. Know that you can do it because all that matters is that you believe in yourself. And when you hear the critics and trolls telling you that the journey is too difficult, too long, too dangerous, and just impossible, put in your earplugs, put your head down, and just do your thing. Hear nothing, see nothing other than your vision coming to life. And when that pessimistic voice comes from within yourself (and sometimes it will), you’ve got to silence it and keep pushin’ forward because you owe it to yourself to pursue your dreams.

Build Your Self-Confidence by Listening to Success Stories

There are so many examples of truly successful people who had slid to the bottom of their ropes and then climbed up from the trenches before they hit the top. Know that if they can do it, so can you. You’ve got skills, values, and aspirations that you can build upon to reach your destination. Recognize your strengths and build upon them. Admit your weaknesses and work on them if needed.

Recalling Past Wins and Celebrating Current Ones

No matter how small, they can also give you momentum and clear proof that you are one step closer to your destination.

Just like counting the miles you’ve travelled or marking off each stop on the map you’ve made, every step you take on your chosen path brings you closer to your dreams.

Daily Affirmations

Are another confidence booster that will help you attain your goals. Verbal affirmations that you can do or be what you’ve envisioned strengthen your inner convictions that you are truly capable of achieving greatness. And when you believe in yourself and act with confidence, the road doesn’t seem as steep.

Energy for the Hustle

While self-confidence is essential to get through some of the rough times you’ll certainly face, the fact is it’s not enough. Excitement alone will not take you to your journey’s end. You also need the fuel to keep you moving. You’ve got to have the energy for the hustle this adventure requires.

Energy is physical and mental, and the bottom line is that without a nutritional diet you won’t have either. Now it might seem strange to talk about your diet when we’re discussing how to attain your vision of success, but let’s face it, without sustenance there is no life, but improper sustenance brings only laziness. No matter the dreams, hopes, and intentions someone has for their life, if there is no action then nothing will ever come from all those dreams, hopes, and intentions. So, yes, you need to make wise choices about the food you eat and when you eat it. Stay away from high sugar foods that are going to drain your energy. Instead, concentrate on eating nutritional, high energy foods. If you’re going to travel the road to success, you’ve got to have the physical energy to get the work done every day. You’ve got to have the energy to move and go and do. If you don’t eat right, you won’t have the energy for the hustle ahead of you.

Working out is an energizing activity that can’t be underestimated.

If you’ve ever felt lazy and then pushed yourself to go workout, ride your bike, go for a walk or a run, you’ll find that a burst of energy is moving through your veins and your muscles when you’re done. It wakes you up and energizes you. Your physical activity of choice could be a vigorous session at the gym, a run around the block, or some light stretches in the middle of your living room. Choose what satisfies your need to revitalize and invigorate you. You can find this even from just a few minutes of light physical movement. If you’re dozing off at the computer, you can revive yourself just by walking around for ten minutes, refreshing yourself with some water, green tea or by washing your face. Cultivate energy and harvest the power to hustle by giving your body what it needs. Because plain and simple, without the energy to act and to follow through, you won’t be going anywhere.

A Willingness to Fail

Success doesn’t come without failure. What doesn’t move you forward will either set you back or drop you on your rear end. You need to learn from mistakes, so you don’t make them again. In fact, the only people who never fail are those who don’t take chances, who never step out of their comfort zone—those who settle for mediocrity.

But those who have chosen the path of success are different. This journey requires that you bring a willingness to fail. Each failure will teach you something new. Every tumble or wrong turn will give you a new perspective and another angle of approach. Failing doesn’t mean having to lay down and give up or admit defeat. When facing failure, you must stand back up again, adapt, and make another attempt. So be ready when it happens, be ready to feel the sting of the fall and the triumph of getting back up on your feet. And then just keep trekking down the road answering the sound of success calling your name!

An Openness to Learn and Hear from Others

You’re not alone on this path. You’re not the only one who’s ever traveled this way searching for success and the satisfying happiness it promises. There are many who have passed this way before and who are still pushing forward on the road further on, and there are yet others who have accomplished what they set out to do and have reached their destination. They have much to share with you that will motivate you to keep going and will ease your own journey. They can give you an idea of what to expect along the way and provide you with suggestions for the tools you’ll need or the detours and side-roads you can take. Be humble and gracious enough to listen and learn.

You may know some of these individuals personally or they might be people you’ve heard of who have made a name and a following for themselves and who maintain a public presence. Either way, seek the knowledge they share. If it’s someone you know personally, you can ask for advice or feedback the old-fashioned way over a cup of coffee. For others, read their books or follow them on social media. Some of the best of these successful people often offer valuable insight through their blogs, interviews, videos, or on-line course offerings. Take advantage of whatever value they provide.

There are also times when someone unexpected might share some advice, observation, or recommendation. Receive it graciously and act upon whatever is beneficial. There are times that an outsider has a perspective of the situation that is unseen by you because you are too close to the matter. Be open. Listening to someone else’s ideas doesn’t obligate you to follow them, and sometimes other’s ideas trigger something within your own mind that you hadn’t previously considered. So be thankful and humble when others offer sincere words of guidance.

Keep Moving Forward

These are a just few of the necessities you’re going to want to bring along for your journey. There are others that you’ll discover along the way as well, but above all, enjoy the ride. You will push yourself past limits at times and amaze yourself at others. Sometimes, you will be tempted to give up, and then somewhere find the courage to press on. It’s all part of the scenery and experience of the journey to making your vision a reality. Stay the course and move forward every day, even if it’s only a step or two.

Reaching your destination at the end will undoubtedly be exhilarating and rewarding… but so is the journey itself!