10 Crucial Principles for Achieving Success in Anything

Success by definition is ‘the accomplishment of an aim or purpose’, but to most of us, it’s something so much more. It’s the self-confidence that comes with achieving something hard. It’s the satisfaction of seeing a dream come to pass.

So, how do you become successful? By following these ten principles:

Principle #1 – Know What You Want

In order to be successful, you have to know what success is. Not what it is to other people, but what it is to you. Think beyond the goal you want to achieve and figure out why you want to achieve it.

The best way to do this is to imagine yourself once you’ve reached your goal. How do you feel? How are you different than you are now? It’s those differences that are specifically what you’re trying to achieve. The goal is just the means to get them.

Principle #2 – Work Hard

No one gets success handed to them. Sure, they may have money or fame because of the family they’re born into, but not success. Success has to be earned.

Ask anyone who has achieved great things and they will tell you it didn’t come easily. It involved long days and short nights. It meant going without so that they could have more later. It was sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears.

Principle #3 – Keep Learning

If you think you know everything there is to know about whatever you’re trying to achieve, then you’re not paying attention. You’ll never know everything, because even if you do, it will change.

Nothing is static. As times change, people change, theories change, everything changes. So, keep on learning. Continue to advance your knowledge and pick up new skills. You never know when some information will come in handy.

So, read books about those who have tried before you and succeeded. Watch documentaries. Do research on the internet. Find out everything you can about whatever it is you’re trying to achieve.

Principle #4 – Always Move Forward

You won’t achieve anything if you don’t take action. You have to always progress toward your goal, even if it’s one little step at a time.

Commit to doing one thing every day that will move you in the right direction. It doesn’t have to be something big. It can be something rather small. All that matters is that you’re moving forward. Remember, the walk of 1,000 miles begins with one simple step.

Principle #5 – Stay Focused

Don’t lose sight of where you’re going. Keep your focus on what you need to do to get where you want to be. Shut all of the non-important stuff out.

Because it’s easy to be derailed, it may help to create a visual board to remind you of your goal. Cut out pictures that signify what you’re after and pin them up. Look at them every morning and every night to give you the motivation and inspiration you need to keep your focus.

Principle #6 – Stay Positive

If you always focus on the negatives instead of the positives, you will likely never see your goal come to pass. Why? If you let the doubts, worry, stress and anxiety build up, they will steal your ability to keep moving forward in pursuit of your dreams. But, if you stay positive, you will likely keep pushing forward.

Not only does being positive help you reach your goal, but it also makes the process much more pleasurable. Who wants to wake up every day dreading what’s ahead of them? But, if you get out of bed with excitement in anticipation of all the great things that you expect to see, the day gets off to a great start and will likely stay that way all day long.

Principle #7 – Keep the Faith

It’s normal to doubt yourself from time to time. You wonder if you’re doing the right things and question whether you will succeed.

When these ideas pop into your head, it’s important to answer your fears by pronouncing your faith. Be firm in the notion that you are walking the right path. Will you make some wrong turns? Probably. But, with faith, you’ll always find your way back to the path that you’re supposed to be on.

Remember, you are exactly where you are meant to be at this moment in time. So, if it’s a struggle that you’re feeling, it’s okay. It just means that there’s something you have to learn before you can advance to the next level.

Principle #8 – Be Thankful

When you’re reaching for success, essentially, you’re reaching for something you feel you don’t have. So, while it’s great that you want to do better, don’t forget to be thankful for all the blessings already in your life.

Are you healthy? Are your kids healthy? Do you have food in your stomach and clothes on your back? Do you have a decent job? Are you able to pay the bills? Look at all of the great people you have in your life and all of the wonderful things you have going for you and never lose sight of them.

Like the old saying goes, you don’t always know what you have until it’s gone. Don’t be the person who finds that out.

Principle #9 – Help Others

Being successful isn’t just about helping yourself up. It’s also about helping others up too. The more you give, the more you receive.

And, as the Dalai Lama teaches, if you can’t help others up, at least don’t push them down. If there’s nothing you can do to help someone else out, that’s okay. Just don’t step on them on the way up.

Principle #10 – Never Quit

This may be the most important principle of them all. Whatever you do, never ever quit trying to reach your dream. It took Edison one-thousand tries before he got the light bulb to work. Where would we be today had he given up on try number 999? Probably in the dark in more ways than one.

Your dream is inside you for a reason. It is there for you to find a way to figure out how to make it come to pass. So, when you hit a wall, go for a door. When that closes, find a window. Do what you have to do, but just keep going.

Success in anything is attainable with the right attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Now that you know what they are, go find yours.