The Success Design

Almost every important lesson that I have learned in my life, I’ve had to learn for myself.  This is not because I was lacking sufficient parental guidance or advice from teachers and other mentors.  It was because I was so stubborn that I had to learn it for myself!

I remember being about six years old and walking through a clover patch.  My daddy had warned me about honey bees and walking through those patches without shoes.  But it wasn’t until I stepped down on one of those clovers and felt the worst pain that I had experienced in my six years that I understood what my daddy was talking about.  I certainly haven’t walked barefoot through a clover patch since that day.

The same thing happened when my mom warn me not to touch the outside of the oven while she was cooking.  I have a scar on my right ring finger just below my knuckle where I tested just how hot the stove was.

Why must we learn things the hard way?  Why must we experience the consequences that others have warned up about?  I think it could be stubborn pride.  Or maybe we just don’t trust others’ judgments about particular situations.  Perhaps, we think we know best.  Or maybe we just want to try things out for ourselves to see if we get the same result.

I started thinking about all the lessons learned in my life when I injured my knees recently.  I had read all the warnings about runners overdoing it when they first begin, but I loved my new sport and I didn’t want to slow down.  On New Year’s Day, after dancing for several hours on New Year’s Eve, I went out for my daily run.  Even though every step hurt my knees, I kept going.  After my run, I could barely walk and it took three weeks of recovery for me to run again.  Lesson learned.  I could’ve listened to my running coach, my husband, or the plethora of books and magazines that I’ve read which warned me not to run when I felt any pain.  But I didn’t listen. 

My new resolution is to start heeding other’s warnings.  I’m not only going to listen to other’s advice, I’m going to carefully consider it before I proceed. This is my new mantra:  Heed the advice of others who know more about a particular situation than I do.

Any day we wish, we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, “The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves.” We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life: If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life. And it all begins with your very own power of choice.

With the dawning of a new decade, many want to make resolution that results in “a whole new you”. I would like to offer a different challenge to this mindset.  What if you did more refining than changing?  This paradigm shift offers love and respect for who you are, yet it acknowledges that there is room for improvement.

I would like to introduce a concept that may revolutionize the way you think about yourself—what is your personal brand?  All successful companies have a tagline that is usually unforgettable. What is yours?  How do you want people to describe you and your brand? How do you define yourself?  Is it predominately personal or professional?

Personal branding is very import to your success.  You need to identify your core values and beliefs and let them be the driving force that shapes people’s recognition of you.  This will make you more competitive and more successful because you will most likely be doing what you love by defining what you want.

To create your personal brand, you need important two things:  a tagline and a mission statement.  While these aren’t the only things that make up a personal brand, they certainly represent what a person’s brand is all about.  Unlike an elevator speech which can be a bit boring, taglines and mission statements are descriptive, yet very succinct.

In formulating your own tagline, think of the various product taglines.  For example, BMW is “the ultimate driving machine” and Porsche’s tagline is “There is no substitute”.  What do you want your tagline to say about you?  Are you creative, ambitious, tenacious?  Make sure you include descriptive words in your tagline.  Once you have formulated a tagline that you feel properly represents you, put it  on your business card, your voicemail, your email.  Let everyone know what they can expect when they meet you.

Your mission statement should state your core values as succinctly as possible.  It can be a bit longer than the tagline, but it should still be to the point.  For example, your mission statement could be “to serve all my client’s needs with due diligence” or “to use my creativity to help expand another’s business outside the box”.  Your mission statement is deeply personal, so take some time to develop it.  My mission statement is constantly being revised.

I also encourage you to read about personal branding.  There are numerous books, many which can be found online which will aid you in your development of your personal brand.  Understanding yourself and what you have to offer will clearly convey these importance attributes to everyone you know.

To your success!

With the New Year upon us, many of us reflect on the past year’s successes and lament our perceived failures. I challenge you to view all of your experiences in 2009 as successes.  Consider your so-called “failures” as another opportunity to learn in your journey to success. Remember, it’s all about perspective.

Along with the New Year comes the ever-present resolution.  What do you resolve to accomplish in 2010?  Resolve means to find a purpose and see it through to completion.  In 2010, I challenge you to resolve to learn the discipline of goal setting.  Goal setting is quite different than the regular New Year’s resolutions.  Do you have a list of things that you would like to accomplish in 2010?  How about in five or ten years?  Did you know that you goal is only a wish until it is written down?  Once you write down your goals, they become tangible – you can see them!  The next step is to review your goals every day, preferable twice a day – once in the morning and once before you go to bed at night.  Repetition causes your mind to gravitate toward your goals.  Do you have a goal that you want more than anything else?  You should write it down and it somewhere you can see it throughout the day.  I have my top two goals written on an index card in my day planner.  Because this repetition causes your mind to become keenly aware of our goals, it begins to see opportunities to fulfill your goals in places you may not have thought to look.  You goals are now front and center in your mind.  They are not just a wish that you made on New Year’s Day.

This year, I challenge you to repeat the following affirmation:  I will commit to the discipline of goal setting by writing down my goals and reviewing them each day.

With this affirmation, I can promise you a prosperous 2010!