7 Tips for Success

A Recipe for Success

Before we get into these 7 tips for success, it's important to have an idea of how you want to achieve successful results. Have you tried out my recipe for success? If you have, then you know that it's pretty simple, right? Not always easy, but simple. You can use these seven tips to enhance that 4 step formula.

Let's review the recipe very quickly so that we know what we're doing. It's four simple steps...

1. Determine your outcome and know what you want.
2. Take action and make a decision to make a change.
3. Notice what is working and adjust your actions until you get the results you want.
4. Choose a role model and copy their methods.

This simple formula above is a recipe for success that has served me well ever since I first learned it from Anthony Robbins Personal Power II home audio course. I highly recommend you use it and have it become part of your problem solving and goal setting habits.

I also suggest that you enhance that process by using the following 7 tips for success. Many of these tips have been suggested in various ways by a number of self help authors, but in this particular case, I'm using step number four above and taking the advice of one particular individual.

Talane Miedaner, a successful coach and founder of Talane Coaching Company is a great role model. She walks her talk, as Tony Robbins would say, and she outlines 101 tips in her book... Coach Yourself to Success.

It's a great book, and I've chosen 7 of the 101 tips to share with you here.

Here are 7 Tips for Success

1. Take care of things right away.

   "The trick is to step over nothing. Get in the habit of addressing everything that bothers you on the spot or as soon as is possible and appropriate afterward."
   -Talane Miedaner

   Talane goes on to say...

   "Don't ignore the little stuff. If you do, it will build up and you'll blow up."

   "Take care of small problems before they become big problems."
   -Dr. Wayne Dyer

2. Perfect the present.

   Talane explains that "life is a master teacher" and if you have "not enough" syndrome, then that means that there is something you need to learn. If you feel something is lacking, for example, you're saying to yourself, "I don't have enough money, enough time, etc., then there is "something imperfect about your present situation."

   One of the principles in coaching is that the present is perfect, so what happens is that you have to adapt to that and in the process, learn whatever it is you need to learn. Whether it's time management, prioritizing, or learning how to handle money, there is a lesson to be had when you feel your present isn't perfect.

   This is similar to what Wayne Dyer talks about when he says that "... Thomas Edison didn't contemplate the darkness of things. In order to float an idea into your reality, you must be willing to do a somersault into the inconceivable and land on your feet, contemplating what you want instead of what you don't have."

3. Eliminate the "Shoulds."

   What are the "shoulds." The "shoulds" are those things that we say we should do, but don't really want to do. I should eat better, I should lose weight, I should make more money, and so on.

   This tip involves taking all those things you think you "should" do and writing them down on a list. Then wad them up into a ball and and burn them! Talane says that if it's been on your list for a year but you haven't done it, then either do it, or get rid of it!

4. Eliminate annoyances.

   This is a big one for me, and I need to get better at it. Of all of the 7 tips for success listed here, this one and number one, taking care of things right away, are perhaps the hardest, and maybe the most important.

   Many of us were taught to be polite, and accept what our circumstances were without complaining. While there is wisdom in that teaching, especially when you're a child, there comes a point as an adult when you should no longer accept less than the best for yourself. Unfortunately, that conditioning from youth sometimes takes over, and politeness wins out at our expense.

   It's similar to the take care small problems before they become big problems idea in that if you allow something to go on, you're giving permission to others to treat you in a way that you don't deserve. Unfortunately, this applies to yourself too in that if you are tolerating your own bad habits (a messy desk, a messy house, nail biting, and so on), you're treating yourself badly.

   In her coaching practice, Talane finds that most people are tolerating anywhere from 60 to 100 things!

   "Everything you are tolerating drains your energy, makes you irritable, and wears you down."
   -Talane Miedaner

5. Create 10 Daily Habits.

   Choose 10 things to do daily that you can create habits around. The idea here is to pick things that inspire you, not things you "should" do. Choose things that juice you up and replace any old bad habits with these instead.

6. Get your work done in half the time.

   Ever notice how you can manage to wait until just hours before a deadline to get something done, and then bam, it's finished in time? This tip involves trying to use that same principle to "beat the clock" and get your work done in half the time. But, instead of waiting until the last minute, start right away. Then, use the remaining time to treat yourself to something pleasurable, or work on personal goals or your part-time business.

7. Stop chasing success.

   Of all of the 7 tips for success I've listed here, this one is probably the hardest to get a handle on. Talane has an interesting take on goal setting and life planning. Most experts tell you to write down your goals. Instead, she says to throw away your to-do list, and even throw away your goals.

   "It is impossible to go with the flow if you are run by your list of goals."
   -Talane Miedaner

   The less you chase success, the more likely it is to come your way.

8. Just do it... now!

   This tip is very obviously number 8! I couldn't help but throw this in there since I was on a roll. This is the anti-procrastination mantra... do it now. Don't put things off. I have a hard time with this one too, and I'm sure you know others who do as well. As Talane reminds us, anything you put off today is just something you'll have to take care of later. It's much more efficient to take care of it now.