Of course I don’t have a secret formula for guaranteed success; if I did, I would be busy bottling it up and selling it. But I have seen some amazing success stories and recognize the common threads that knit them together.
The “secrets” contained here are not earth-shattering or even new, but they’re powerful in their own right and worthy of being a reminder to everyone who has goals, ambitions and dreams.
These Are NOT The Secrets
To start, let’s look at what doesn’t qualify as a secret to success. While any of these things may be useful and may help you achieve certain things, I would say that the items on the following list will not, on their own, help you reach success in 2011:
- Chasing the latest fad
- Watching “The Secret”
- Tweeting 50 times a day
- Having 5,000 friends on Facebook
- Getting 10 recommendations on LinkedIn
- Charging more than everyone else for your products or services
- Charging less than everyone else for your products or services
- Having an iPhone, Blackberry, Droid or any other smartphone
- Being gimmicky
- Following every move of your competition
- Achieving Inbox Zero
The Simple Success Secrets
OK, now that we got that out of the way, here are what I consider the simple secrets to success in 2011, or any year for that matter. You can take them individually, or combine them together for an even more powerful result.
- Writing down what you want to achieve, envisioning success and devising a plan to do it
- Forming real, genuine and honest relationships with clients, colleagues and your competition
- Working hard, working smart, and being able to see beyond tomorrow
- Recognizing that you still have a lot to learn and taking steps to chip away at the unknown everyday
- Stretching yourself for those hard to achieve goals
- Looking outside your company, niche and industry for the best ideas and incorporating them into your business
- Doing something instead of just talking about it, even if it’s not perfect
- Taking some risks, calculated and spontaneous
- Aligning yourself with an accountability partner to help keep you on track
A success secret can be anything … as long as it motivates you, inspires you, makes you act, gives you an incentive, and causes change.
Everyone has a different definition of success, but the beauty of this is that you can expand the items listed here into something that is meaningful and relevant to you, right now. In fact, there are thousands of secrets to success. What tops your list?
Image credit: spekulator
Alyssa GregoryAlyssa Gregory is a digital and content marketer, small business consultant, and the founder of the Small Business Bonfire — a social, educational and collaborative community for entrepreneurs.
