10 Essential Keys to Success in Life
Want to know the key to success in life?
Everyone wants to know what the secret to being successful is.
There many tips to be successful in life.
Countless videos and blog posts (yes like this one) telling you to do this and that.
Feel free to absorb as many tips and advice as you want but the main thing is putting it into action.
It’s the difference between learning how to be a success in life to actually being a success in life.
The truth is there is no sure-fire way to be successful.
What is certain is that it is all on you.
Your the one that needs to take action, get up and go, push on through the tough times, and hold yourself accountable.
No one else can do any of that for you.
Always keep this in mind when chasing your goals and dreams.
Now, let’s dive in on my top 10 keys to success in life tips.
1. Be obsessed with your goals
The key to success in life is you need to have goals.
You can’t start on your journey to success if you don’t know your destination.
When it does come to setting your goals remember to aim high and think big.
Orison Swett Marden author and writer who founded SUCCESS magazine said, “All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.”
Once you do set your goals become obsessed with them.
I’m not saying dedicate every second of your life to them when you have jobs, families other responsibilities but we can all relate to when our goals end up taking a back seat to everything else going on in our lives that eventually you completely forget about them.
Not to mention some struggle to find the energy to take on their goals.
After a long day or week, the temptation to just kick back and chill is strong.
Your goals should constantly be at the back of your mind so they don’t get lost in everything else you’ve got going on.
Be obsessed with your goals as much as possible.
Don’t let them get drowned out in all the noise of your life.
2. Give it your all — Be fearless and relentless and tell your brain to shut up
Other tips to be successful in life is to make sure you give it your all.
One of the many reasons people falter with their goals is that they tend to give up after the first setback or hurdle.
It’s understandable.
You’ve shown discipline, hard work, and sacrifice only to be met with failure or just not the outcome you wanted after all that work and effort.
The thing about the key to success in life is that many people will tell you (yes including me) to be fearless, relentless, hardworking.
They forget to mention about the moments where after you have suffered one too many setbacks or failures the option to give up and walk away becomes too overwhelming.
Your mind starts to tell you, ‘I’m exhausted.’
‘After all that this is all I get.’
‘What a waste of time!’
‘I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do it, what was I thinking!?’
‘Forget all this and go back to what we were doing, its way less stressful and a lot less hassle’
These are the moments that matter where you have to not listen to what your brain is telling you and just push on.
Tell your brain to shut up
Easier said than done, right?
Your brain is a pretty persuasive thing and it’s yours.
Surely it would never do anything bad to you it just wants you to be safe.
The thing is being safe means not taking risks, avoiding your fears and avoiding what makes you uncomfortable.
It wants you to maintain the status quo because that’s where it’s safe.
If that’s how you want to live then fine.
Just remember it is not what’s going to get you the success you’ve been wanting and have always dreamed about.
For all those success stories you hear they must have failed hundreds of times, made huge sacrifices, and had to keep working harder and harder only then to still fail.
During all this time they would have had to keep convincing themselves not to quit, push on and persevere especially during the moments where their brain was screaming at them, ‘give it up already!’
Whatever your goal, whatever your dream, whatever type of success you are aiming for give it your all, be fearless and relentless, and at times tell your brain to shut up when you need to.
‘The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.’ — Vince Lombardi Jr.
3. Another key to success in life is having a willingness to sacrifice
The other key to success in life is a willingness to sacrifice.
This means you are going to have to say no when you get invited out to parties, your going to have to say no to Netflix and chill after an already long day, you are even going to have to cut the amount of time you spend with loved ones.
The path to success can sometimes be hard and lonely.
It’s going to take sacrifice of you not getting early nights, some days of barely any sleep, or being able to spend time with friends or family.
But if you truly believe that at the other end of it it will all be worth it then what you are willing to sacrifice now will be rewarded in the future.
‘You can’t sleep. Broke people sleep. You got to be willing to sacrifice sleep, if you sleep you may miss the opportunity to be successful’. — P. J. Abdul Kalam
4. An important key to success in life is working hard…but not too hard
There are many tips to be successful in life.
Among all of them is having to work hard.
You can never have a key to success in life list without one that doesn’t have hard work on it.
I’m all for hard work.
Hard work can get you places.
However, whenever anyone talks of success, being able to achieve your goals and dreams, provides you with tips to be successful in life, or on how to make it to the top the advice seems to be to take hard work to the extreme.
Elon Musk says, ‘Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. This improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing you know that you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve’.
So, 80 to 100 hour work weeks.
Sounds simple.
Only for me if I was to adopt this approach it won’t be long before I’m sleep deprived, tired and exhausted, experiencing brain fog, moody, grumpy, and have neglected the important people in my life as well as my social life and hobbies, the things that make me sane and happy.
In fact, I’m pretty sure all this is going to do is make me miserable and extremely unproductive.
Know your limits
I’m not saying don’t work hard.
Of course, you are going to have to work hard.
You are going to have to work hard, persevere, be fearless and relentless, be willing to sacrifice, and all that other stuff.
However, remember everyone has limits.
Know yours.
This article was initially posted on my blog. To continue to read on click here.
