success

Jan

2008

Whose Fault Is It Anyway?

There’s a correlation between those people who take responsibility for their lives and those who are successful in all aspects.

There’s an equivalent match for those people who don’t achieve and those who point the finger at everything and everyone else for their condition.

Look, it’s like this. Once you take responsibility for the fact that where you are in your life right now is no-one’s fault but your own, is when you can take the next step and do something about it.

Are you with someone you don’t like any more? Got a job you hate? Feeling sorry for yourself because you don’t have any money and you’ve racked up huge credit card bills?

Whose fault is it?

Go look in the mirror.

And before you respond back and say “ah yes, but…”, well, that’s just an *excuse*. If you’re unhappy, that’s you that’s done that, sunshine, no-one else.

Don’t agree?

Okay, just tell me, who is the person that’s responsible for your life?

Is it me?

Is it your government?

Is it one of your parents?

Did one of the above make the decisions that got you to where you are today? Are the reasons you are where you are, because those things in the past just happened to you?

Or are you prepared to face the truth that your life is your life? And that you are all grown up, and that you are responsible for everything that happens to you?

You make decisions every day about your life, and you should know that you can make dramatic changes with the smallest of those decisions.

Like…

Today, I’m going to accept responsibility for my life. I don’t like my job, and I don’t much care for working for other people, so I’m going to do something about it.

I’m going to create a product, and I’m going to offer it for sale online.

While I’m working on the traffic for that, I’m going to create another related product, and put that one on sale too.

And another, and another…

Trust me. That’s all it takes. That’s all there is to it.

It’s not a secret. If it is, it’s the worst kept one ever.

Make a decision, NOW. Take control of your life.

Take some simple steps, and change things forever.

-Frank Haywood

Nov

2007

What to do with that good idea

What do you do if you come up with a really great idea?

Do you just sit there thinking “oh, if only…”, or do you start looking at how to make it happen?

Taking action is the only thing that separates people who succeed from those that don’t. The people that really succeed in life have something in common. They start doing things first, and then try to work out the details later. As one of my friends says, “ready, fire, aim”…

Woody Allen pointed this out when he said something like, “80% of success is showing up”. What he meant was, the people who can’t even be bothered to try will never succeed. Well, of course not, but sometimes even the most obvious things need to be stated for you to notice them.

And trying to do stuff isn’t so hard either. All you need to do is decide you’re going to do something and then try to do it!

You’ll have problems. You may even fail completely on your first few attempts. It doesn’t matter, every failure is one step closer to success.

I remember reading that Thomas Edison failed hundreds of times to make a light bulb that could be used domestically. (He didn’t invent the light bulb, he improved on it.) When asked about his failures, he claimed that each one was actually a success because he knew he was nearing his goal. Which is an interesting thing to say in itself. It expresses a positive and persistent attitude.

If you can get into that frame of mind and hold it, and just keep working towards your goal no matter what, you will succeed.

It won’t happen overnight. It will happen eventually. I’m living proof of that.

It’s been a struggle for me. Technically very competent, but for years lacking in oomph to make things happen. So it’s taken me a while, and there are certainly things I could improve on, but every time I try something and even though I might fail, it’s still a success.

Because next time, I know how to do it better.

Have you started doing things yet? Or are you still just dreaming about it?

Make a plan. Today. Try to stick to it. Change the plan. Do what you can. Take action.

Just do something.