How Do I "Become Successful"?

Last Updated: April 12, 2023

Hi Ladies and Gents,

It's a simple enough question, right?  I mean, last week I mentioned how everyone needs some kind of success in their life in order to truly be able to say they are getting the best they can out of life, so, of course, that naturally leads to the question of: "How do I become successful?" right?  The answer, which may or may not surprise you, is relatively easy, too: set your mind to it and achieve what you want to achieve!  Now, while the question and its answer may seem straightforward enough, the process of getting there may not always be as straightforward as it seems it should be...but then again, it might be.  There are a lot of variables in this one!  Let's look at some of the things that can help to determine whether a person is going to be successful or not.  Keep in mind, these are just some of the more major factors that tend to affect success.

I'm sure you've read all over the Internet "the listicles" featuring "The Top 10 Habits of the World's Most Successful People" and all that jazz...and those are not bad things to read.  It can be helpful to know what other people are doing to help achieve their success.  Many of those articles have probably offered advice like: "Invest in real estate; exercise regularly; create systems that work for you while you sleep; work smarter, not harder;  wake up at 4:00 o'clock in the morning every single day for the rest of your life and drink stout with a smashed up raw egg in it for breakfast."  All-in-all, not bad advice, really - except I can live without the 4AM wake-up call and the stout with raw egg for breakfast (yuck!); also, investing in real estate is not really my thing...and that is my point right there exactly!

While the world's highly successful people may share some commonalities in terms of broad personality traits and habits, the specifics do differ!  And why is that?  The answer is, again, simple: because YOUR success is NOT THEIR success and THEIR success is NOT YOUR success.  You are not them and they are not you.  I am not Bill Gates, Robert Kiyosaki, Andrew Rockafeller, Oprah Winfrey, or Miley Cyrus - I am Andreas Gross!  And the same is true with you.  You are not me, nor anyone else but yourself.  Your success is going to be different and unique in comparison to anyone else's success.  It doesn't matter if you "follow their 'proven' system" and replicate them exactly to the letter, there are still going to be differences, however large or small - you will put your own seal on your own success.  Your own success will belong to YOU and no one else!

But that just leads us back to the original question again: "How do I become successful?"  My first question to you is: "What do you want to be successful at?"  Robert Kiyosaki advocated investing in real estate, and that worked out VERY WELL for both him and Donald Trump...but maybe you are not a real estate investor type.  Maybe that's not your "thing," if you will.  So before you go chasing the "proven methods" of others, ask yourself what EXACTLY it is that YOU want to be successful at before you go any further.  Really be honest with yourself and really be specific.

Ok, let's say you answer that with the old tried-and-true response: "I want to be successful at making lots of money."  Ok, fair enough - mind you, this is just ONE possible example, though - but fair enough.  So  you want to be successful at making lots of money.  Now your next step is to go after that goal with razor-sharp focus.

Well, how do I do that?  "Making lots of money" is a big, broad goal!  Yes, it is, so you are going to have to be more specific than that!  How much is "lots of" money?  No, really, slap an exact figure on it - let's turn this 'dream' into a real, achievable, tangible goal.

Do you have a preference for how you make this money?  You most likely do.  Let's start out with the biggest umbrella category first: do you have a preference for whether or not you make this money legally or illegally?  Let's say you DO have a preference in this regard and you would prefer to make this money legally.

Keep breaking your dream down into smaller and smaller actionable steps, creating a step ladder towards an end result.  This is how real, achievable goals are developed.

Then, climb that ladder.

What's that you say?  Now it seems harder than you first thought?!  No one said success would come easily!  If that were the case - if success was easy to come by - everyone would be wildly successful at anything and everything they ever tried the very first time, all the time (ok, ok, or at least more times than not for all you wise cracks out there!).

Oh, no, that's not what you said - you said now it actually seems easier to achieve than you first thought it sounded!  That might be the case, too!  Sometimes when you see the dream start to take form and solidify itself into a concrete action plan, it may start to look much easier than it did in the first place.

Keep going!  Don't be afraid to get back up when you fall down - and you WILL fall down!  This is YOUR journey to success, not someone else's.  The road before you is YOURS - travel it in your own vehicle, at your own speed, on your own terms.

Before signing off, I think it would be valuable to at least mention an often overlooked part of any "discussion on success."  Articles on "success" and "being successful" often end just like the paragraph directly before this one.  There is build up - you need to hone your goals, accomplish them...and then the promise of the fact that you will get knocked down, but you must get up again and keep going!  After you have dug a mile through the mountain and hit nothing, don't give up when you are a mere three feet away from hitting that famous Mother Lode of gold, right?!  That's all well and good, and not to be mocked.  Certainly, these are fair and true steps towards finding success.

I want to say this, to add a touch of practicality and realism to this picture: that finding success and being successful do not necessarily mean that you will find success and be successful in ALL things that you do forever and ever after.  This is not intended to be a word of caution, but, just like I said, as a word or practicality and real-world advice.

Of course, for those who are able to hone the "formula for success" in their lives down to a finely tuned science, those people may indeed go on to achieve success, after success, after success, after success; however, this isn't always the case, and that isn't necessarily bad.  Success in certain, specific areas and at specific tasks doesn't always mean success in all things, and that doesn't have to be a bad thing!  But this is a topic for another day - a post of its own, perhaps.  Until next time.....

Better life, better business, better you,
​
-Andreas

Andreas Philip Gross Enterprises LLC
Ideas, Inspiration, Opportunity
 
Washington State Certified K-8 Educator, K-12 International Education Consultant, Professional Coach, Proofreader/Editor, Affiliate Marketer, Popsicle Stick Crafter, Print-on-Demand Products Designer, and Webmaster

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