Day 622. Whatever your definition of success, be it personal, spiritual, emotional or physical, there’s one thing that is clear in the modern world is you need money. May be not a ton, surely not billions, but some to be able to achieve whatever level of success in the other plans. The first guy who tells me that money is evil and that seeking financial success is against any spiritual spirit will can go away, this is clear BS. Sorry to be rude, but money rules this world, whether you like it or not, better accept it. The second thing that is clear, is that if money should not be the only goal and only a secondary that allows you to reach the success you want. Money is a means, not an end. If you do not believe me, so be it, it’s your choice, I do not tell you to believe everything I write, we live in a free world. Third and last thing, your definition of success has to stand the mirror test? What is this? Simple, step in front of a mirror, look into your eyes while you provide your own definition of success. If you have a fraction of a hesitation, you are lying to yourself! Go back to your drawing board and be 100^% sincere. Do this until you can stand the mirror test without a single ounce of doubt!
This said, each one of us has a personal definition of success. However, whatever self-help, spiritual guidance or whatever personal development books, courses and gurus teach, the following rules are the ones that you will find in all those « methods » since the beginning of mankind. Not that you can ditch all those books, methods or gurus – actually you can if you want – because they provide some interesting insights, particularly the ones written based on genuine scientific studies, but because they all can be summarized to the following rules. Let’s go:
- No action, no reward. Taking action is the number one step of any success. Decide and act. You are scared to act? Good, this indicates this is important to you! Fear is a great indicator. The greatest the fear, the more important the action has to be.
- Big ambitious vision. The bigger, the better. You want to have a worldwide impact? Great! You want a local impact and feel it’s sufficient? Does this stand the mirror test? Fine! The ultimate point is when you reach your goal is to have no regret. No regret you should have thought bigger, better, wider. And if you have, it’s never too late to build bigger (and please do not tell me you’re too old…).
- Ask, share, and fail. The worst you can do is seek advice from people who will try to undermine you! Yes, you should find people who succeeded and who can help you, but never ever take their advice too seriously, particularly if they tell you it will never work. Actually, if they tell you this, then go for it!
- Consistency, persistency, and resiliency. You all heard about the thousands tests that Edison did before inventing the light bulb. Think about it every time you « fail ». You did not fail, you learned a way that does not work. Learn, and continue walking. How do you run a marathon? One step at a time. You « just » need to make something like 42,195 steps and you’ve done it. Believe it, I did it multiple times, and it’s « just » that simple.
- Celebrate and move on. When you reached the goal, objective, success you wished, celebrate! Throw a party, open a bottle of Champagne, go for a walk in the countryside! In does not need to cost you something, it needs to be meaningful to you!
- F*ck the world. Hey, this is not rude (I used a * just to ensure you are not shocked), it’s the reality. If you try to comply, you’ll never be successful, you’ll be average, mediocre, just another cog in the machine. Do not F. for the sake of it, F. because you can contribute something different, odd, and meaningful. The purple cow of Seth Godin (if you do not know Seth Godin, you should, he’s my anti-guru).
There should be tons of other rules, these are the ones I follow. Am I successful? To my standards, yes in some aspect of my life, in others no, or not yet, but working on it. Because at the end of the day, what matters is not what others believe, it’s what you believe and what stands the mirror test. You can now come back to whatever you were doing before reading that blog post and burn it! Good luck and I raise my glass of water to your success!
