Take Our Test for Your Success Path

“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Do you have the mindset of living a life filled with promise and purpose or have you been lead down a path that looks unhappy and hopeless? I’ve know a few folks (fortunately, they’re in the minority) who view life through a film of gloom, an unwillingness to relinquish this mindset, and without work habits that will help them to change.

Song lyrics from the musical South Pacific say “You’ve got to have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?” Do you have a dream? Do you know what you want to achieve in your lifetime?

Let’s take a look at a test that can help you to realize if you’ve got a workable plan for your life’s success or not:

Do I know where (or on what) to lend my attention? No Yes

Am I generally positive or negative minded? Positive Negative

Do I see my challenges as problems or opportunities? Problem Opportunity

Can I see at least one next step? No Yes

Do I know how to keep myself motivated? No Yes

If the majority of your answers were in the middle column, you don’t know how to create success, so let’s take a look at each of the questions and determine how to use it as a success tool.

Do I know where (or on what) to lend my attention? We live in a busy, hurry-scurry world and you are faced daily with looking at all these things tugging at you so that you can categorize them into Must Do Now and Save for Later categories. It’s called prioritization. One of the nice things about learning how to use this skill is that you learn those Save for Later items, always come up a second and third time courtesy of life’s wisdom, so you can know that at some later date, you can move them into the Must Do Now category and that you’ll recognize when the time is right.

There is a limit to what even Superman or Wonder Woman can accomplish in a given time frame, but being selective via categorizing puts you at the top of your game.

Am I generally positive or negative minded? Earl Nightingale said "You become what you think about all day long." Take a long, honest look to see if you’ve developed a habit of positivity or negativity. I don’t need to tell you that it’s positivity you need if you want to be a success.Begin right now. Take an inventory of the hundreds of small things in your life right now that inspire gratitude. Are you grateful for fresh air to breathe? For the warmth of the sun? For waking up one more day?

If you will make an effort to create a Gratitude Inventory, and then think about this throughout your day, you will be gathering together great amounts of energy you can use for your drive toward success.

We all encounter roadblocks, but don’t let them get you down. In fact, do they even deserve any of your attention at all? Why clutter up your mind with a negative inventory? If you’re focused on forward progress, swat them away as you would a pesky mosquito and keep on winning.

Do I see my challenges as problems or opportunities?Problems can be a game! See how many ways you can find around or over those roadblocks, instead of creating a negative inventory of “so many roadblocks!” As you get into the full practice of swatting away negative thinking, you’ll feel so fabulous for assuming this control over your life and it’s success plan.

When you have made a plan, and something intervenes like the business where you work got sold and your career path looks interrupted, do you slump down and quit, or do you tweak the plan and keep on going?

If someone says something to you, do you view it as “What should I learn from this?” or do you see it more as “How dare they?” You can train yourself toward the more positive question and get more positive results.

Negative challenges are character builders and that’s the main reason they are in your life. Don’t wish them away. Embrace them and use them to strengthen your character….and become more successful.

Every event can be a step forward if you steer it there.Can I see at least one next step?

Nothing happens until some action is taken. I’m confident you all know folks who talk a big story and never take one step forward, right? We can differentiate ourselves by taking those steps forward and not just talking about it.If you ask your inner self “What’s the next step I should take?” you will always get an answer, and one step is all you need, because after that one, you again ask the question, and you’ll be able to see the next step, and the one after that, and so on.

There is no such thing as a long-term plan that never requires tweaking for unforeseen happenings. Just make yourself a small plan, and take that one next step, and you’re well along the way.

It takes great willingness to lean in to yourself and trust those answers will come up. They always have for me. I’m confident they will for you too. Just trust. Then ask. Then act.

Do I know how to keep myself motivated? Back in the first step, we talked about where to focus our attention. How strongly to you want to succeed? How willing are you to work on your success? Growing successful takes a myriad of small steps, very little procrastination, and a great passion for what you are doing.

The word discipline comes to mind, and discipline takes strength of character plus a system to remind you what the steps are for the path you’ve chosen to walk. Do you use colored sticky notes in your office, your car, beside your bed, or in the bathroom to remind you about your path? Do you ask your Secretary to bring you daily task reminders?What can you use to stay motivated? Might a Vision Board work for you? If you are determined to stay on the path, what could you look at or listen to that would help you to stay motivated? Could you use a ten-minute walk outside to clear your mind?

One Last Idea. Is there a successful someone you so admire? Can you read about them to stay on track? If they are still alive, can you ask them to mentor you? Is there a accountability group or partner you can talk with that will help you toward your success. You so deserve it!

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard