A Key To Success

        One key to success is to find successful people to emulate. Be careful if you ask for advice, though. Here is a better plan.

Emulating successful people is one key to success. Be careful, though, if you ask them for advice. Often, people don't really know why they succeed, but they will give you as many explanations as you want anyhow. One night on the news, I saw a 100-year-old man explain that smoking a big cigar every day was one of the secrets of his longevity. It might be nice to know why he has lived so long, but I'm pretty sure we won't learn by asking him.

Key To Success - Study Successful People

One key, then, isn't in doing what successful people say, but rather doing what they do. This is how to learn success. Naturally you have to look closely and apply a little brainpower to see what they are really doing that is causing their success.

A successful real estate investor told me he didn't believe in setting goals. However, watching him and listening to him, I came to realize that he knew just where he expected to be with his projects in six months. This, of course, is goal-setting - he just called the process something else.

Never stop listening to what successful people have to say, but read between the lines. Listen for insight into how they think about things, how they approach their challenges. Suppose the advice of a successful basketball player is just to practice more, but he casually mentions "I saw that going in," after a great shot. Isn't it time to start visualizing your shots going in?

Key To Success - Model Successful People

You won't always know what is causing a person's success. Internet marketers promote their websites by exchanging links, but when I first tried to exchange links with other websites, the owners didn't respond to my emails. Then I found a simple email letter used by a successful internet marketer to get links. It sounded silly to me, and I wanted to change it, but I tried it anyhow. It worked repeatedly.

It is more important to do the right things than to understand why they are right. To also understand is great, but at first, it may be best to just copy many of the actions, attitudes and approaches of someone who is succeeding. Try to model success, even before you understand it.

As you learn more, you can drop those parts that aren't contributing, and add elements of your own. If you model a successful parent, for example, and life with your children gets better, does it matter if you know right away which changes were the most effective? Of course not.

Is it better to understand why what you are doing is working? Certainly, but you may not ever understand why some things work, and this is okay too. It is better to have success than to explain it, so find successful people and do what they do, not what they say. It is an important key to success.

10 Steps to Christian Success

Discover 10 Steps to Christian Success

1)    Spend time with Jesus Christ every single day.  I cannot stress that enough for the success minded Christian.  So often we spend our time working on things that have no bearing on our future christian success (nor any current success value) because we haven’t taken the time to focus and understand what Jesus Christ wants for our lives and our success.

2)    Study the Word and discover what the top five (or six) christian success priorities in your life should be.  For example, for you it might be: Christ, spouse, children, work, retirement.  For another, it might be: Christ, a hobby, work, retirement, missions work.  And for yet another: Christ, spouse, work, a hobby, physical fitness.  For each of you, christian success priorities might be a little different in the number 4, 5, or (6) spots, but the first two or three are probably Christ and family.  Once you know your success priorities, you are ready for step 3)

3)    Develop a “progress plan” for each of your areas of top success priority.  When you look at your life six months from now, especially in these areas of success priority, you should be further along and better adapted in each of these areas than you are today.  Look back six months ago.  Have you improved in each of your success priority areas?  If not, you need to take action.  Now!

4)    Find a christian success mentor.  This success mentor should be someone who can be concerned primarily for your personal growth in these areas of success priority. This should not be someone who is an “equal” with you---someone who also confides in you.  This should be a “one-way” street.  They should be able to listen to your success priorities, help you develop a game plan for meeting them, and be able to criticize you when you aren’t following your game plan.  Because of that, they should probably not be someone with whom you are close emotionally, like a best friend or spouse.  They should be a more neutral party, perhaps someone from a small group class at church or someone recommended to you by your pastor.

5)    Break each of your success priorities down into individual goal steps.  These “steps” should be small enough that you can focus on that one step at a time and they shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish individually, and yet when you have completed all of the steps you have gained significant ground in your priority for the given period, e.g. six months.

6)    Write down all of your success priorities and your goal steps for accomplishing them.  Leave room next to each goal step to write the date you started the goal step and the date you finished it.  At the end of the six months (and during it too) you will be able to specifically track your progress.

7)    Eliminate unnecessary things in your life which do not help you accomplish your success priorities.  Try unplugging the TV three nights a week until your success priorities are accomplished.  Have an “email free” day of the week.  Take Sunday off from everything.  If the telephone is an incessant nuisance, turn it off two nights a week. 

8)    Evaluate your rest…are you getting enough sleep?  What can you do to get more sleep?  What about recreation (non-TV)?  Are you walking, hiking, reading, meeting with friends regularly?  Are you spending enough time with your family without interruptions by the phone or work?  Do what it takes to get rest and recreation and include the family in this step.

9)    Evaluate your success regularly.  There isn’t much that substitutes for assessing your progress last week and making goals for the coming week.  Sure, some weeks you will fall short, but in others you will easily meet your personal success expectations.  As you follow these 10 steps, setting success priorities, making goal steps, and following through on all of it will get easier.

10)    Just do it!  Start somewhere, start today!  Don’t just close this page and forget all this!  You took the time to read this; if you do nothing with it you will continue to fall short of your own personal expectations.

5 Keys to Success

Treating people with respect wins trust and develops lasting relationships. Here’s what to do.

1) Be on time. In fact, arrive early for appointments and meetings. Plan time milestones in your daily schedule that tell you when to begin transferring to an appointment. That is, note when you will stop working on a task, begin collecting resource materials, and start traveling. Allow time for delays in travel, especially if driving. Consider: The fastest way to destroy people’s trust in you is to waste their time.

2) Communicate with others. Answer your phone and return phone calls. Listen carefully and completely when people talk to you. Show an interest in others before telling about yourself. When making phone calls devote all of your attention to what the other person is saying (instead of time sharing with other tasks, such as checking e-mail or playing computer games). Phone others only when you can devote full attention to what the other person is saying. Consider: ignoring people is rude and unprofessional.

3) Plan projects. For example, always prepare an agenda for meetings. Contact key participants before the meeting to hear their views, solicit suggestions for agenda items, and coach them on how to prepare for the meeting. Send agendas far enough before the meeting so that people have time to prepare. Consider: Bad meetings demonstrate an inability to provide leadership.

4) Be courteous. Find the good in everyone. Compliment others. Avoid starting or listening to gossip. Never ridicule, insult, or make fun of other people. Use positive words, always speaking about what you want and how you want things to be. Avoid suggesting motives or assigning judgments for other people’s actions and views. Consider: Discourtesy damages all relationships.

5) Help others. Be a mentor for newcomers. Share ideas. Teach people skills that will help them excel. Work with a spirit of abundance. Seek win/win results. Let others speak first, even on issues where you are an expert. Give first without attaching a receipt for return favors. Consider: Selfish people end up working harder.

11 Great Reasons why Smiling makes us More Successful!

      When you realise the true benefits that everyone gains from a smile it is surprising that more people don’t spend more of their time sharing them!

First: Our smile shows others people that we are friendly.
If a stranger approached you and gained eye contact with you and then treated you to a broad smile you will have a fairly good idea that they are being friendly and certainly mean you no harm.

By contrast we would find it far more difficult to offer trust to the stranger that wears a scowl or unfriendly face features.

Second: A smile can make people happy.
When someone treats you to a smile, even a stranger, you usually smile back.  For that moment you enjoy a flash of positive communication without saying a word. As you walk through a crowed area such as a main street you can do this hundreds times in a very short period of time. 

When you smile at someone who is not already smiling and they smile back you have brought a moment of happiness into their lives which, who knows, could last all day.

Third: Smiling is infectious.
When you spend a lot in the company of someone who smiles a lot you will soon discover that their smile starts to wear off on you.  It is hard not to return a smile; most of us do it at a subliminal level without thinking.

Fourth: Smiling can make you popular.
Which type of people do you prefer? A person that has a tired and listless face. An expression that may reflect their inner thoughts of boredom and worry? Or, would you prefer someone who is always smiling and shows that they have an enthusiastic passion for life.

I think for the majority of us the choice would be obvious!

Fifth: Smiling can help you to make new friends
In the same way few of us would choice a miserable person for a friend. Lets face it we all want someone who is going to be bubbly and a happy and positive. 

Sixth: A smile is usually returned
When someone smiles back at you it make you feel good inside. You have just made a short but very positive communication and possibly the first step in the process of getting to know or making friends with someone new.

Seventh: Smiling makes you positive and happy inside.
When you smile it is hard to feel unhappy, negative or sad in anyway. Smiling gives you enthusiasm and drive, it is also habit forming.

Eight: A smile makes you look far more attractive.
You don’t see many celebrities or media personalities that are not smiling because if you did it is fairly certain that their popularity would quickly start to drop!

Ninth: Smiling also helps make you memorable to others!
Have you noticed that smiling people are usually far more memorable than those that are not? It is fact that you are 3 time more likely to remember the person that is smiling over the one that is wearing a negative or neutral features.

Tenth: Most importantly, smiling is good for your health!!!
When you are smiling you find whatever you are doing far easier. It releases stress, worry and tension that you may have built up throughout the day. Long term, developing the smiling habit will be one of the smartest things that you can do to improve most aspects of your life.

Eleventh: The effects of smiling can last for hours
Whatever problems and challenges you have in your life, smiling temporary puts them and hold.  For a while you forget the problems and become positive, and while you are in a positive state you have far more potential and power to advance and improve your life.

Lastly: Smiling is FREE!
You are never going to run short of smiles and will always have enough to go around.  When you weigh up the positive points of smiling it is a no brainer decision to do far more smiling and share them with as many people as possible.

Keep smiling.

You should practise this golden rule.

You must do unto others, as you would wish them to do unto you, that means you must think of others as you wish them to think of you. People who do not practice this rule remains in misery, poverty throughout their lives.

You must have the habit of doing more than you are paid for.

You will definitely be successful and rich, if you render more and better service for the salary you are paid.

You must have tolerance.

       You can't be an accurate thinker without practising tolerance. Tolerance opens the door of knowledge and it makes friends in your career and in the society. Intolerance fills the mind with doubts, mistrust and prejudice. All these cheap qualities, obstruct your success.

You must be profited by your failures

       You past and present failures, mistakes are great experience for your success. your day to day failures are temporary. Never repent on them. Every time you fail be courageous thinking that you have added another experience or a lesson to your life.

You must know to co-operate with others.

        You must know as to how you should co-ordinate your thoughts and your efforts with those of others, so that friction, jealousy, strife and cupidity can be prevented to a certain extent. You must learn as to how you should make use of other people's knowledge to enrich your knowledge and try hard to make use of all that other people have learned about the work in which you are engaged.