1. Get a support team. Whether it’s a group of friends or a success coach, commit to surrounding yourself with people supportive and concerned about your success.
2. Set goals. Yes, on paper, with deadlines, with specifics. Having goals isn’t the key. Committing them to paper, with a deadline and regular review is. Set yearly goals. Break those down into monthly goals. And break each month into weekly goals. Obsessive? Success doesn’t happen by chance.
3. Refresh your inspiration daily. Buy motivational tapes at the used book store. Sign up for a motivational newsletter. Buy and read a success book a month. Make it a daily habit to read and post on the Total Life Success Forums. But do something every day to “deposit” motivation to your motivation “bank account.”
4. Stop tolerating mediocrity and things that don’t work. If your bank account is not enabling you to do what you’d like to do in life, get pissed, and then fix it. If your home electronics keep breaking down, fix them. If your car is not dependable, get mad enough to do something about it. No matter what it is in your life, if it is mediocre or not working, get mad – mad enough that you’ll do what you need to do to fix it.
5. Hire a coach or get a mentor. Yes, coaches can be expensive as hell. Yes, it sound’s “new-agey.” But it works, and if you get the right one, they’ll guarantee it’ll work. What have you got to lose? Stop learning by trial and error. Stop looking for advice from friends that have less success than you do. Get someone who’s done it and knows how to do it and – most of all – can teach you how to do it.
6. Develop your relationships. Make it a priority to expand your social circle. Start asking people their names and interests. Smile. Learn to remember names. Initiate contact and initiate getting back in touch with them within weeks of first meeting them. I’ve learned something from watching natural extroverts: it takes several minutes of you carrying the conversation and establishing and reestablishing interest in another person before they commit to opening the conversation. Give yourself five minutes. Ask about them, then start talking and keep returning to them for five minutes. They’ll open up.
7. Identify your values and start living from them. Life suddenly becomes easier when you start living from your values. Your decisions are made. Your life flows more freely. You’re better able to be yourself rather than acting like you think you’re “supposed to.” Spend some time identifying what it is you value and how to live from those values. Then do it.
8. Orient your life around your talents. No matter how hard that might be. Some people spend their entire lives running away from what it is they do best. “I can’t make a living doing that!” “What’ll the rest of the family say!” “That’s nice, but don’t you think it’s a little strange?” God made you for a reason – the “you” with all those quirks and likes and dislikes and habits. Stop running away from it and stop denying it and start living from it. What do you do best? Do it.
9. Choose peace. Do you want to be right? Or do you want peace? Choose peace over posture; people over results. Relax and let go of the need to be in control, the need to “look good” and the need for things to go the way you think they should go. Just let go. It doesn’t mean that you can’t still have goals. It doesn’t mean that you’ve given up hope. It does mean that you’ve stopped pretending that you have the last say so in what happens in life. There are two billion people in this world. You’re not going to always get your way and you’re not always going to be right. And maybe, just maybe you’re not even the most important person around. Let go of it and start enjoying it. There are some amazing things that can happen when you stop forcing and start living. Let it come.
10. Understand and use momentum. Newton’s First Law of Motion states that a body in motion tends to stay in motion; a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Start the motion and keep the momentum. Reinforce action – reorient passivity. Turn off the telly. Get outside. Approach people instead of remaining alone. Give. Volunteer. Do. Don’t talk success, expect it, then act on it.
11. Your success is directly connected to your ability to help others get what they want. Start helping others succeed. They’ll return the favor. ’nuff said.
12. Get a (spiritual) life. There’s more here than meets the eye. No, you won’t “find” it, that’s what spirituality and depth is all about – something deeper than is obvious. Find something to have faith in, and then start growing roots to hold it fast. You (and those in your life) will be better for it.
13. Read. Read biographies to learn from the great. Read text books to learn new knowledge. Read best sellers for their wisdom. Make it a habit to refresh your mind and learn something new every day.

Copyright © 2002, Mark Farmer, Right to reprint automatically granted as long as accompanied by this notice and live Web link to http://LifeSuccessEngine.com