The Real Secret of Success
Consider owning your awesome as a marathon of sorts. It is a rare occasion when anyone running the race closes the finish line without first having committed to running the race. When I am interviewed in the media, a favorite question from journalists everywhere is “what is the real secret of success?”
I have never hesitated to respond with this answer:
“Your actions must match your words. If they do, there is nothing that can stop you.”
When you are ready to step forward and claim a life of owning your awesome, the commitment you make to the process of getting there is critical. Commitment is the foundation from which you will set your goals and measure every activity. It is a crucial component of your personal leadership development that allows you to build a new disciplined approach to living and working with excellence.
When you are truly committed, even when things are difficult you will stay on track and follow through to the end. You will always do the right actions at the right times aligned with the right focus to stay on track with your goal. Your dedication will be both emotional and intellectual. When you are dedicated to something and have a direct stake in the outcome, you are far more likely to be committed to doing what needs to be done to get there.
In the Star Wars movie, “Return of the Jedi,” the character Yoda explains life to the young Jedi, Luke Skywalker. He says: “Do or do not. There is no try.” The same can be said to living your life with bold courage. You will either be committed or not. There is no gray area.
You can’t be a little committed and stay on track; you need to be all in.
Being committed takes personal discipline and a stick-to-it-ness attitude that will be challenged many times as your progress naturally through plenty of doubts. Before making your commitment, it is a good idea to be crystal clear on the desired outcome and what the path to get where you are going looks like. Too many people live life with no clear goal of where they want to get to, and they end up feeling that their life is just one long process of going to work and paying bills.
As a leadership expert and business strategist, it has always amazed me that people take so much time and energy to envision and create a results oriented business plan but take no time to consider their life plan and what their offering to the world could be. If we approached life planning like a business plan, we would do things a lot differently.
For example, we would highlight our best offering (our strengths), identify our ideal market of people most likely to love spending time with us and also identify those we most likely want to spend time with. We would figure out how much money we need for our lives and the best roads to take in order to achieve that.
Like a business plan, we would also market ourselves and be confident to share and celebrate our success along the journey, thus inspiring and leading others as well. As the visionary behind our plans, we would always measure the success of our big vision so we would know we were always on the right track.
It is important for all of us to be clear on our destination in life, to know where we want to go so we can make the decisions that are aligned with actions that make sense. When you commit to owning your awesome, it is a solemn promise to yourself to create the life you desire. Do or do not. If you do, you will succeed.
Paula Morand, CSP is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold expert brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and bold impact. 23 years, 25,000 clients, 19 countries, 11 books, former radio personality, 10x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.
To check out Paula’s newest book, “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything” go to Amazon http://ow.ly/i8yW307ix67
To book Paula to speak email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317.