Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know (21 page)

In my opinion too much has been written about how to be successful, so instead I’m going to show you how to set things up in your brain so it’s impossible for you to fail. Here’s how:

If you don’t believe your goal is achievable, you won’t take action to achieve it. Therefore, any goal that you set must be within the realm of possibility and tied to actions that you can actually take.

A goal must also be inspirational enough to motivate you to take action. For example, “Lose some weight” is achievable but not particularly inspirational. “Reach and maintain my ideal weight of 170 pounds” is both achievable and motivating.

As a general rule, big goals are more inspirational than small ones, provided they’re not so big that (in your heart of hearts) you don’t believe you can achieve them. That being said, most people are far more capable of success than they suspect.

Talk is cheap and goals aren’t real unless they’re written down. And by “written down,” I don’t mean typed on a computer or tablet. I
mean written by you using your hand to move a pen (not a pencil) around on a piece of paper.

Taking time to actually form the letters (rather than just tapping a piece of plastic) subliminally tells your mind that these goals are important and different and not a text e-mail that you’re sending to yourself, soon composed and soon forgotten.

Also, write your goals down more than once. In fact, write them down as many times as you can manage.

To give extra oomph to your efforts, make a formal public commitment to your goals. For example, you might want to sign up for a charity race that you couldn’t possibly run without first getting yourself in tip-top shape.

Once you’ve gotten your goals set in your mind, it’s time to take action. The important thing here is to approach each action with confidence that you’ll eventually succeed. To do this you must harness your internal dialogue.

When you approach a task that leads toward your goal, never start out by saying, “I’ll try…” When you use that phrase, you’re giving yourself permission to fail. Instead, phrase your action in terms of “I will…!” or “I must…!” No wiggle room allowed.

It’s only through being 100 percent committed to taking action that you’ll achieve an ambitious goal. So if you truly want to succeed, banish all thoughts of giving up. You
will
get there eventually because you
must
.

Big goals are easier to achieve if you break them up into smaller chunks or milestones. Achieving milestones gives you more confidence, strengthens your motivation, and helps you build momentum.

The word
milestone
comes from a marker that measures distance
on a road. The term has stood the test of time because the concept—measuring something quantifiable—is essential.

A milestone should always be something specific so you know, without any doubt, whether you’ve achieved it.

Revisit your goals every day to remind yourself what’s important to you. Post them on your bathroom mirror, on the background of your computer screen, and on the dashboard of your car.

Set reminders in your e-mail and calendar programs to keep you focused on achieving your goals rather than just performing activities that pop up throughout your daily life. Harness technology to focus your efforts rather than distract you.

Keep a record of what you’ve already accomplished. Review this when you’re feeling discouraged or unsure—it’s an instant confidence builder and helps you focus on the positive.

A setback is something that blocks you from achieving a goal. Most people treat setbacks as mini-failures, and often use them as an excuse to give up… and therefore fail.

Every successful person has encountered setbacks, but learning what doesn’t work is an essential part of learning what does! Setbacks are a sign that you’re making progress.

Treat setbacks as signals that you might need to change your
approach to achieve the goal. If an action consistently results in a setback, consider taking a different action. Repeat as necessary.

This is the most important part. Indeed, the previous steps were only laying the groundwork for this one. Consider: regardless of your goals and milestones, you don’t have control over anything except your own behavior.

Redefining failure as “failing to take action” puts failure (and therefore success) within your control. When the only
true
failure is inactivity, you cannot fail… as long as you continue to take action.

So what’s the worst-case scenario when you think this way? It’s this: you might die before you achieve your goal. But you’ll still be successful because
if failure is failing to take action, you were successful the moment you took action to achieve your goal
!

If you truly want to be successful, it’s in your best interest to create and maintain a positive attitude. When you’ve got an attitude of optimism, expectancy, and enthusiasm, opportunities grow and problems shrink. Here’s how it’s done:

Your experience at work and in life generally lives up (or down) to your expectations. Therefore, when you rise from bed, make your first thought be “Something wonderful is going to happen today.”

There’s a big lesson here, which is that your attitude isn’t controlled by events. While truly sad things do happen, most of the time your attitude is the result of how you’re viewing the world, rather than what’s happening in it.

It’s absolutely true that the day’s events might not proceed in the manner you’d prefer. Even so, if you keep looking for something positive to happen, your mind will find something that fulfills that expectation.

It’s impossible to really know the “why” behind the “what” that people do. Attributing other people’s weird behaviors to evil motives
adds extra misery to life, while assuming good intentions leaves you open to reconciliation.

You can’t read minds and you don’t have everyone wired to a lie detector. Truly you have no idea what anyone is really thinking or why people do what they do. In most cases people are doing the best they can with the resources they’ve got.

Before you tell a story about somebody else (or listen to one), ask yourself four questions: (1) is it true? (2) is it kind? (3) is it necessary? and (4) would I want somebody telling a similar story about me? Treat others as you’d like to be treated.

Stop complaining about the economy, your company, or your customers. Same thing with your personal problems and illnesses. What does it do, other than depress you and everyone else around you?

Similarly, it’s wasting your breath to argue about things, such as religion and politics, that get people all riled up. When such topics surface, bow out. Say something like, “Whether I agree or not, it’s not a useful discussion for us to have right now.”

Some battles aren’t worth fighting, and many people are easier to handle when they think they’ve won the argument. What’s important isn’t “winning,” but what you, and the other people involved, plan to do next.

The big enemy of happiness is worry, which comes from focusing on events that are outside your control. Once you’ve taken action, there’s usually nothing more you can do. Focus on the job at hand rather than some fantasy of what might happen.

The nature of the physical universe is change. Nothing remains the same; everything is, as the gurus say, transitory. Whether you’re celebrating or mourning or something in between, this too will pass.

Remember that while some work environments are inherently difficult, if you’re consistently miserable, it’s your fault. You owe it to yourself and your coworkers to either find a job that makes you happy or make the best of the job you’ve got.

Sometimes we can’t avoid scarfing something quickly to keep us up and running. Even so, at least once a day, try to eat something really delicious, such as a small chunk of fine cheese or an imported chocolate. Focus on it; taste it; savor it.

In addition, many households leave their TVs on as background noise while they’re doing other things. The entire point of broadcast TV is to make you dissatisfied with your life. If you want some background noise, play an audiobook.

Finally, go through your home and office and throw out
everything
that isn’t useful or beautiful. Why would you want to pollute your life and your environment with objects that are useless and ugly?

The small and large successes and accomplishments in your life deserve recognition. It’s a mistake to move on to the next task or goal without celebrating, even if only by patting yourself on the back.

Similarly, give a verbal gift to everyone you meet—a smile, a word of encouragement, a gesture of politeness, or even a friendly nod. Always say, “Thank you,” even for the smallest of services.

Finally, just before you go to bed, write down at least one wonderful thing that happened. It might be something as small as a making a child laugh or as huge as landing a million-dollar deal. Be grateful for the day, because it will never come again.

Focusing on past mistakes or wrongs inflicted on you is like driving a car while looking in the rearview mirror. You’ll keep heading in the same direction until you collide with something solid.

While you can and should learn from the past, keep your thoughts on the future. Daydream about how things might be better. It’s when you let your thoughts wander that you’re more likely to have the insights that create your future.

Above all, believe that the best is yet to come. When my grandmother was in her seventies, she returned to college, traveled across Europe in youth hostels, and learned Japanese painting. The last thing she told me was, “You know, Geoffers, life begins at ninety.”