STRIVE FOR SUCCESS ALWAYS!

What's the difference between the average person and the most successful people in our society? The answer to this question has really intrigued me but it has also inspired me to look deeper at the attributes of the most successful people and the key difference between those who just watch from a distance. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that fame, in no way equates to you being a successful human being, neither does having obscene amounts of money or power. These are the perks of successful behavior but those things on their own are not the blue print for success.

Truly successful people are those that are wealthy and can openly and freely bless other people with what they have because their wealth does not own them. Successful people are those who have incredible relationships, in family, in work and amongst their peer groups. Successful people are those who can win the admiration of people without striving to be liked. But most of all successful people are those who live extraordinary lives that are so profound that the rest of world benefits significantly from them being alive!

So how does a person become successful in this way? This only happens when you are operating at your absolute best, at your peak performance! So how do you operate at this level? If you look at any of the top athletes and sports men/women in the world they all have coaches and trainers to push them past their level of good in to the realms of great and beyond into the zone of exceptional performance. Coaches look at the link between training the body and the outcome of their athlete's performance. In the same way to become your best you have to do the same but within your own personal circumstances. The catalyst for everything we do starts in the mind, "what the mind conceives it can achieve!" In the same way that you are what you eat, I would suggest you are what you think and what you believe for your life will come true, because your mind produces what you continually think about.

So what are the top performers doing that the average person does not?

Here is just a very brief example of a few core actions.

 1. Top performers have a plan and a vision for their life and what they want to accomplish years before they achieve what they want. Successful people make up the 3% of the world who plan and write a personal mission statement for their life, with strategic milestone points of what they want to achieve and by which time they will accomplish their goals. In contrast studies have shown that the rest of the world who make up the other 97% do not properly plan their future. This means that even if they think about what they would like to achieve by what stages of their life these thoughts don't go any further. The key difference here is that the plans of the successful people are written down and used to refine and focus the person.

2. Successful people create powerful habits, which lead to success. Habits are actions, things we always do without consciously thinking about doing them. Successful people explore their daily actions, making themselves conscious and aware of the habits they display. They identify those habits, which will help them achieve or get closer to the things they want in the fastest amount of time. Successful people learn quickly what works and what doesn't work and begin to ruthlessly cut out unprofitable and negative behavior from their lifestyle and their daily routine. The key is that for every negative habit they stop, they put a success forming habit in its place; the key here is to never leave an empty space.

 3. Successful people never go it alone. One thing that I've noticed in life is that there is no such thing as the term self-made millionaire; this type of person simply doesn't exist! Every person who is successful has had the privilege of mentors and coaches who can guide and direct them in the direction they need to go and help to sharpen their resources and talents as they improve. This works in two ways, it works to highlight and enhance our strengths and abilities, which we may not be able to give ourselves credit for but in the same way it's an insight into the areas, which we need to build up and improve!

 4. The top performers recognise their uniqueness as their greatest strength. Depending on your outlook in life, you can either see yourself as the outsider, the odd one out or even the freak! But successful people see their individual and unique character and personality as their greatest advantage and No.1 selling point! So many times we can look at our flaws and compare ourselves to others whishing we could be like them, look like them, have their abilities, live their lives! However if the most successful people had thought that way we would never have the societies, the history and the incredible legacy of those who stood out from the crowd and refused to think and be like everyone else! What if Martin Luther King, Lance Armstrong, Steve Jobs and Mother Teresa had just decided to blend in and ignore their unique perspective and their personal contribution in life, how would our world now be?

 ACTION POINTS

 Have a vision for your life – Write down what you want, really explore all the options that you need to achieve your plan. Who will you need to help you, what resources, by what time and where?

Form successful habits and break negative ones – Habits are actions that we practice, so for every fruitless habit practice forming a new habit in its place. For example if you are forgetful, start writing structured lists to remind yourself, put alarms on your mobile phone, put lists on your fridge, in the bathroom, by the bed, in your car! If the habits you want to break are extreme you need to go to extreme lengths to break them!

GET a mentor or a coach – I have an incredible mentor, who has been with me for years, with his help I have achieved the seemingly impossible for my life, remember what appears hopeless to you alone is always achievable when someone else can take some of the weight of the issue, two heads are better than one! So get yourself a good mentor!

You are your greatest and most valuable resource – This is huge! The most successful people are no smarter or any more talented or gifted than anyone else. In fact quite often on paper they are actually less likely to be successful. Richard Branson, struggled all the way through school and is very dyslexic, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both dropped out of college and have both had tough times in business along the way. No one can discredit the phenomenal accomplishments each man has made!

 What unique qualities can you and should you be sharing with the world today?

 What would happen if you stopped beating yourself up over what you can't do and what you do wrong and started enhancing the areas of your life, which you are good at?

I hope this starts to fuel your thinking on what you can achieve with discipline, a forward thinking positive perspective and the right people in your life! I am aware that I am only just scrapping the surface of what contributes to people operating at their peak performance and achieving their absolute best. Are YOU fed up with being held back by fear, self-doubt, struggling with a lack of direction or just need more confidence to be your authentic self and fully enjoy your life? How is your business doing, is it on the mountaintop or in the valley?

- By Luke Havard Coaching