We’ve all got Visions and We've all got Dreams of something Big. More money in the bank, better salary, more time, more energy, better health and physics, making your company increase and grow tremendously or maybe you just wish to find that special person to share your life with.
And how many of us actually follow through with those dreams? Many times they just end up with excuses for our lack of success, saying things like, “Well, It was not meant to be” or “I should maybe just not try too hard.”, "Maybe life should have It's way, and I should just follow...".
But not you! You’re on the fast-track to fame and success. Or are you?
Think you’ve got what it takes to make it Big? Here are some signs you’re right:
1. You’re Extremely Curious
You need to have an innate fascination with whatever it is you’re working toward. You've got to learn as much as you can about the industry, the people, the culture, yourself and so on. You need to want to be consumed by it. You've got to understand the problems and be excited about finding solutions. You’ve got to be passionate, excited, and curious about all areas of the biz.
When Larry King made his debut in radio, he made a point to become consumed in the biz. In addition to doing his own show, he did the weather reports, the sports updates, and the news broadcasts. He even volunteered to fill in in for people who were out sick, and took on double shifts.
Why? He wanted to learn all there was to know about the biz. He wanted to practice. He wanted to be good at what he did. The only way to do that was to explore and go above and beyond what was asked of him. He called it "taking extra batting practice."
Purpose-driven activities are still worth doing. Known outcomes are useful for your finances, relationships and health. But in a complicated world with infinite choice and variety, curiosity becomes a more powerful long-term tool for achievement.
And some ways you can reignite your curiosity...
Curiosity has become more valuable, but most people still avoid it.
- Work on projects with no defined results. Write a novel when you’ve never written a short story before. Train for a marathon when you aren’t athletic. Find something you’re bad at and make a project out of it, because chances are if you’re bad at something it’s because you know very little about it. Ignorance is the starting point for curiosity.
- Read books about a topic you don’t normally read about. The point of a book isn’t knowledge, it’s wisdom. Your most important decisions aren’t going to come in the form of a citation, they’re going to be divulged from the background ideas you’ve been exposed to. Reading a huge variety, and taking advantage of curiosity, gives you new ideas.
- Waste time on something creative. Try learning how to use a tool you’ve never practiced before. Curiously exploring new tools can often have unintended benefits. The programming skills I built on completely unrelated projects have helped me in running a website. The artistic skills I built allowed me to do much of my own design work for products.
2. You know the difference between Planting Seeds and Watering Trees
Purpose-driven action is like watering a tree. You are putting inputs into a known system with a known result. For the most part, the watering the tree will encourage it to grow. Curiosity-driven actions are like planting new seeds. Only a small fraction will sprout, but if you plant enough, some may become healthy trees.
If you only water existing trees, you’re in a risky position. A bolt of lighting or disease could kill off a big tree and you’d be left with nothing. There is also the risk that you might water a stunted tree, and by planting no more seeds, you have no opportunities to find a bigger, healthier tree to put your energies into.
A lot of people I talk to have sickly trees. They aren’t happy with their lives and can’t seem to find a way out. One strategy is simply to water the trees more. If you aren’t taking care of your health, finances or relationships, then you shouldn’t be surprised when they’re withered and shrunken.
But often the problem isn’t in your effort, it’s in the trees. Working harder at a job you hate won’t help. In these cases, curiosity, planting more seeds, is the solution. Even if your current situation seems grim, planting more seeds can give eventual opportunities.
3. You're using The 20% Rule
Twenty percent of your energy, time and money should be devoted to experimental and curiosity-driven pursuits. I’m borrowing from the successful strategy used in Google where employees must devote 20% of their time towards self-directed projects. Twenty percent is an arbitrary figure, the actual optimal result may be 50% or 75%, depending on your situation, but for most people I’d say 20% is a good start.
See how you could free up one day per week to invest into projects or activities where you can’t predict the material outcome. Even if you need to free up eight hours on a Saturday for this activity, it is worth the expense. First, novelty makes life more interesting, remember: boredom is the enemy. Second, the unintended benefits of seed projects can have huge repercussions in only a short period of time. I started this website without any definite expectations, now it can support me through University.
One day, once per week, do one thing new. Either add up all the time and invest it into an experimental project, or devote it separately to something completely different each time. Whatever the case, be curious and enjoy planting new seeds.
4. You’re A Little Cocky (Just A Little)
If you really want to make it, you’ve got to have confidence in yourself and your abilities. Without confidence, you can so easily get crushed by negativity and criticism – things you will have to deal with once you hit the spotlight.
You have to be confident. You have to trust yourself. And you have to have a deep understanding that you’re going to make it.
Build your self confidence.Poor self confidence is what usually makes it hard for us to believe in ourselves. If you want to believe in yourself and the things you do, you'll need to build your self confidence.
- The most basic way to build your self confidence is by changing how you think and talk about yourself. Stop beating yourself up. Every time you catch yourself thinking or saying something bad about yourself, stop. Say a few good things about yourself and then think about healthy ways to work towards fixing things that you want to improve about yourself.
- Another way to build your self confidence is by proving to yourself that you can take on any challenge and giving yourself things to be proud of. Good ways to do this include traveling or volunteering.
Love yourself for who you are. Don't try to be someone you're not or be upset with yourself for the things that you think are wrong with you. You are you and you can't really be anyone else. You can try to change certain things about yourself, improve yourself in ways that really matter to you, but you won't be happy if you force yourself to be someone or something that you are not. Try to love yourself for what you ARE and you'll find yourself living a much easier life.
Take care of yourself. Take good care of your body and your spirit. The more you treat yourself badly by eating unhealthy foods or being really lazy, the more you'll think that you aren't worth caring about or putting effort in to.
Do things that are hard. If we only take the easy route, it can be easy to think that we aren't capable of doing things that are hard. Prove to yourself that you can take on challenges by doing just that: take on challenges. Do things that will be rewarding, even though they'll be hard work. You can do it!
Help others. In helping others, we can often get a better view of what we're capable of. It will also help you feel better about yourself, but remember to not give away all your Time.
Don't sweat your insecurities. Everyone is insecure. Absolutely everyone. If Jennifer Lawrence can do what she does, even though she's self-conscious about how she looks, then you can live with your insecurities too. They're inevitable but that doesn't mean you have to let them dictate your life.
Speak up for yourself. When things are happening around you and you have an opinion or know a better way to do something, speak up! Don't just let your life happen around you. Take active part and be in control of the situation. This shows you that you are capable of being in control and leading others.
Recognize your skills. Recognize the skills that you have and the good things about yourself. There are lots! You may not always recognize them but they are there.
Meet goals. Set goals for yourself and meet those goals. Actually go out and do things. Just thinking about what you want to do will only make you feel worse about yourself for not even starting them.
Learn from failure. Instead of viewing your failures as failures, view them as learning opportunities. You did something wrong so that you know for sure it's wrong and now you'll have an easier time knowing what's right. Everything that goes wrong in your life is an opportunity to learn, so embrace it.
Try, even when you feel like you can't or shouldn't. Sometimes we feel like we shouldn't do something new because we might do it wrong. This is a bad mindset.
Talk to people that love you. If you're really having trouble seeing all the wonderful things about yourself, you can always talk to someone who loves you.
Take breaks when you need them. If a situation or a task is just too overwhelming, feel free to take a quick break to catch your breath and remind yourself that you can do this. Even if the break is just inside your head, it's okay to stop and acknowledge that you need a minute to build back your determination.
Do something you believe in. Another thing you can do to help yourself believe in yourself is to do something that you believe in. Do something that you know is incredibly important and that you know needs to be done.
Have realistic expectations. Like we said above, having really unrealistic expectations for yourself and your abilities can really harm your view of yourself.
Recognize yourself in others. Recognize that just like you make mistakes, everyone else makes mistakes too. And just like everyone else does awesome stuff sometimes, you do awesome stuff too.
Stop putting yourself down. Everyone says bad things about themselves sometimes in their head, but if you let it become common, frequent, or really mean, you aren't doing yourself any favors. You really can become your own worst bully.
Focus on moving forward. Stop getting stuck in the past and focusing on when you "used to be good" or the mistakes you made back then. No matter if you think you were better then or worse, the only thing you should worry about is doing well in the future. You can't change the past but you can have a better future, so put all of your energy into that, instead of worrying about what you can't change.
Don't procrastinate. Procrastinating is setting yourself up for failure. When you have less time to do a task, you'll rush and miss things. Instead, do things on time so that you have the extra time to really do your best!
Use criticism wisely. Don't ignore all criticism that is given to you but also don't carry your entire view of yourself or a situation on the opinion of other people.
5. You’ve Got A Dream (A Big One!)
What’s your vision? What do you want to accomplish? What are your hopes and dreams? Having a dream – even if it’s a little vague – is crucial for success. Before you can start your journey, you need to have a goal in mind!
In the words of Walt Disney, "If you can dream it, you can do it." (And before you can do it, you've got to dream it!)
6. You’ve Got A Road Map, But You're Prepared To Take Detours
They say success is where preparation and opportunity meet. So, when opportunity comes ‘a knockin,’ you’re going to want to have your plan already in place. Think of it as your road map to making it big!
What steps do you need to take to get where you want to be? Who do you need to know? What skills do you need to have?
But, let's be real here, nothing EVER goes exactly according to plan. You need to be able to adapt to whatever life throws at you. Think of those things as detours. They're not a huge deal as long as you figure out how to get back on the main road!
7. You Realize Failure Is A Minor Setback, Not A Game Changer
If you’re even thinking about making it big one day, the word “quit” can’t be in your vocabulary. In the end, you don’t succeed because you don’t fail; you succeed because you don’t give up. The second you quit, you’ve lost.
Take Michael Jordan, for example. He has a famous quote, "I've failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed." The only reason he succeeded was because he didn't let those failures discourage him to the point of quitting. Why? Because he realized his failures were only minor setbacks - not game changers.
I guarantee you that everyone you look up to has failed at one point or another, but did that stop them from picking themselves back up and moving forward? No way, Jose. And that’s why they’re successful.
If you’ve got all of these qualities – congratulations. I’m sure we’ll be hearing your name sometime soon!
What are your secrets to success? What else do you think is necessary for making it big? Do you have a Great Vision you would like to share? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
One of my projects right now - I'm writing a book that will help you to reach your visions and goals and help you to take immediate control of your mental, emotional, physical and financial destiny. If you are interested to know when it's out - Follow Me On Twitter!
Add me to your LinkedIn Network (mireille.lundqvist@gmail.com or Follow me here or on Twitter @No1LadyL for more insights, predictions, and expertise.
Have A Fab Day Filled With Energy & Success!
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