The 3 A’s Which Create Today’s Success

You want to have a great day today? Tony Robbins said, “Although we cannot always control the events in our lives, we can always control our response to them, and the actions we take as a result.” It is true we cannot control all of the obstacles around us, but we can take control of our day in regard to the three A’s: attitude, awareness, and action.

1. Attitude: Your attitude is 100% within your control. Don’t let outside influences define your attitude. It can be so easy to let yourself get depressed, frustrated, or even angry because of your circumstances. But don’t let it happen. The day will only be as good as your own attitude.

2. Awareness: Make today special. What is on your agenda? How can you make the most of it? Every day is unique. Every day has the opportunity to be very significant and very successful. Become aware of your opportunities every day.

3. Action: You don’t accomplish your goals without action. If you are waiting for something to happen, don’t. What is the best action you can take today that will help you achieve your goals? Do it. Make it a priority. Don’t let yourself be distracted from accomplishing your main goal today.

Do the three A’s seem too simple to be effective? Keeping things simple can help us be more consistent. Focus on the three A’s a during your day, every day, and you will enjoy a lot more great days!

The Crucial Steps in Taking Advantage of Opportunities

One of my mentors explained to me that being in the right place at the right time has nothing to do with success. Instead, it’s critical to be in the right place at the right time with the preparations and awareness required to take advantage of the situation.

How critical is it? Imagine being in a public place requiring medical attention because you have stopped breathing. Who will be able to help you? Will it be someone that just happens to be there? Probably not. It will be the person that is trained in CPR and aware that you need help.

Think of the opportunities you want. Are you prepared with the proper skills, abilities, and services? How will you recognize the need? Do you have what is necessary to allow you to take advantage of the situations that occur throughout your day?

1. Increase Your Awareness. Increased awareness will help you see an opportunity. Learn from others. Spend some time with people that have accomplished what you want to accomplish. Connect with a mentor or coach. Discuss your experiences, and learn from their experience. Develop the ability to recognize when you can add value to a situation. Sometimes you may even need to slow down to become aware of the people and events around you.

2. Be Prepared. To achieve the highest levels of success, you must continuously invest in yourself. The world changes, and your skills become outdated if you are not growing. This is not just a phenomenon in technology. You can observe this in terms of generational differences between people. The success you desire exists within a dynamic world. To embrace it, you must continue to transform also.

Awareness and preparation is the foundation for success, but it also requires that you follow through with action. It is the awareness and preparation that will give you the confidence to act. In most cases this means stepping out of your comfort zone, because that is where the highest levels of success are found.

When have you found yourself prepared and in the right place at the right time? When have you recognized an opportunity but realized you were not quite prepared?

5 Fundamental Lessons to Change Your Thinking About Risk

The more you risk failure, and actually fail, the greater your chances of success. It is rare that anything of value is created or accomplished during the first attempt. Failure, reflection, evaluation, adjustment, and persistence creates your path for success.

Most of us limit the risks we take. We work to avoid failure. We view failure as a negative, and become stuck in our comfort zone. We want more, but are unwilling to risk more.

Here are four lessons that may help you view risk from a different perspective.

1. Who cares if you look bad? Sometimes it is better to care less about looking good. Don’t let the fear of looking bad keep you from taking a risk. Would you rather look good, or find success? Step back and ask yourself this simple question, “Who cares if I look bad?” You normally don’t look good doing something the first time. So just do it.

2. Why are you waiting? Are you waiting for the perfect circumstances before taking action? If you find yourself continually evaluating your options, and gathering more data, stop analyzing. Stop thinking about why you need to wait, and think about why you need to act. You will never have all the data. The faster you move forward, the faster you reach success.

3. Do you have a budget? Create your own budget for risk and failure. Set a goal for your failures. The budget can be based on money, time, or effort. It could include all three. Plan on spending it every month. Make it a habit. This practice provides visibility to how much risk you are actually taking.

4. Where is your inspiration? Is your inspiration based on the value you place on your goal? This may seem obvious. But when your actions are driven by the wrong motives, this question may remind you to get back on track. Are you inspired and motivated by the right reasons? When your values and actions are aligned, you will find risks easier to accept. You are able to move forward faster.

You may read these questions, and think this does not apply to me. I take risks. I am action oriented. It may be true. However, my experience has shown, no matter what level of risk you are used to, everyone has the opportunity to grow in this area. We tend to overestimate the risks we actually take.

This week’s challenge is to evaluate where you are taking risk, and where you are risk adverse. Challenge yourself to find the opportunities that are waiting for you. You may discover something great that you have been avoiding.

6 Essential Strategies to Achieve Your Dream

I have been lucky enough to help many people define and pursue their dream. I have also taught from John C. Maxwell’s book, Put Your Dream to the Test. Through coaching I have discovered that people get stuck for many reasons. But if you have a dream, and you can answer these 6 questions positively, you have the potential to be successful if you choose to be.

 1. Do I see my dream clearly? Your dream needs to have clarity. You need to know the details of what you want to achieve. You are the only one that can define your goal. If you struggle with this question, then you may need to reflect on why it is your goal. What is it you really want?

2. Is it achievable? I am a strong believer that we can achieve anything that work towards. But this question is the reality check. I know at age 54, and being only 5’5″ tall, I will never play professional basketball. No matter how hard I try. This question is not meant to diminish your dream. In fact, I encourage the opposite, dream big.

3. Is it fed by my passion? Accomplishing a big dream requires time and energy. If you are not passionate about what you want to achieve, you will fall short. You will get distracted by other things, or you will lack the energy to follow through. If your dream supports your passion, you will be energized by the work.

4. Are there others I can count on to help me achieve this dream? Many of us think we can achieve our dream by ourselves. It is seldom the case. Achieving anything of value in this world requires other people. We need supporters, mentors, coaches, friends, and team members. If you want to put your journey on track, make sure you are connecting with the right people along the way. If you go on this journey alone, you are likely to be stopped by obstacles you encounter.

5. Am I committed to be persistent? Do you know someone that jumps from project to project, idea to idea, or from one activity to another, and struggles to finish anything? Successful people have learned that success is not a result, but an ongoing process. You must be able to accept the mistakes, obstacles, and failures that lead to success. There is no short cut. You have to overcome the barriers and not be distracted.

6. Does my dream serve the world? This question may take you by surprise. It is your dream after all. But your chance of success increases greatly if others see value in your dream. If your dream provides a positive impact on the world, your company, your team, your family, or your friends, finding support for success becomes easier. Giving is a far greater reward than receiving. When you achieve your dream, how will other people be impacted?

I have seen these 6 questions in action. My wife, Angelica Brown, inspires me as she pursues her dream. This year she launched a clothing company, AngeliCotton. I have seen her effort, dedication, and desire to provide product quality unsurpassed in this industry.

Her dream is clear, achievable, and fuels her passion. She has assembled an international team for support. She works from sunrise to sunset. And her dream serves others in many ways. The most visible is the donation of 10% of profit to charities which help women and girls in need.

It has been exciting to watch Angelica create, build, and launch this company. Please check out her current campaign on Kickstarter. Grab some inspiration, evaluate your dream, and ask yourself these 6 questions.

 

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