A LIFE LIVED WELL

What can you do to become more successful? A vast body of literature has been written on this subject over the years, but here are fundamental elements which I regard as being the foundation of success in every aspect of your life.

Be Proactive

Between stimulus and response is a gap and within this gap lies all our freedom. Even as you were you are now, you should realize that you are responsible for your thoughts and actions to lunch you to freedom.

You should strive to be the creator of your own destiny. Everything starts in the mind and ripples out, so what happens around you is a reflection of you own inner world. Whether you allow your inner world to grow wild, or let weeds spring up and take hold or whether you cultivate a green and pleasant garden – it is all you choice: this is what it means to be proactive.

Take Responsibility

Since you have the power to choose your experience, you also need to accept responsibility for your action. What you attract into our life is, largely, a reflection of your thinking. Much of this occurs on a subconscious level, but the subconscious takes its lead from the thinking mind, so changing your thoughts will change your life and you are responsible for this.

Be a Good Leader

You cannot be effective in any area of your life unless you have good leadership skills. Primarily, you need to understand how to lead yourself and this means having a compass, a direction which guides all your actions. This compass often takes the form of a personal vision and mission statement, a document spelling out your aspiration.

Don’t Let Fear Stop You

Whenever we grow, there is fear. Whenever we do something new, there is fear. Whenever we push ourselves to new heights or expand our comfort zone, there is fear. This is the nature of life. Life is always moving – either we are moving forward, growing, or we are moving back, dying. We have a choice – we can either grow or we can die. Growth and fear go hand in hand. It’s part of a package, and if we fail to embrace the whole package, we will die.

Don’t fear failure – failure is inevitable and necessary. Look at the life of any successful person and you will see a litany of failure. This failure is the foundation of success, so long as we learn from it.

Don’t fear other people. They are as vulnerable and as beautiful as you are – only sometimes they lash out in various ways to protect themselves. Everyone is doing their best, so be gentle on other people and don’t be scared of them.

Never Stop Learning

It’s very important that you have to unlearn to be able to learn new things. I have come to the conclusion that learning is the fundamental activity in a successful and purposeful life. If you fail to learn, you fail to grow, and this means that you die. Life gives you endless opportunities to learn, and the more difficult the situation, the more you are likely to learn.

These activities, if they can become habits, will lead to success in all areas of life. They are not a quick fix, but are the foundation of a life lived well.