Everyone has their own definition of success.  My definition of success may vary greatly compared to yours.  Some, if not most people, equate success with money.  Money can be a result of success but it does not completely define success.

I have been successful in some areas of my life and I am still working on other areas.  I think any successful person will never be satisfied once they reach their goal.  They will want to strive to another higher level of success because that is part of what makes a successful person.   I want to show you a few not-so-secret tools that you can use to guide your toward your own personal success.

1. Dream/Imagine

The first step towards success is to have a vision of what you want.  The inspiration for your vision can come from anywhere.  You can be sleeping, daydreaming, walking the dog, eating pie, or whatever.  Inspiration can be triggered by anything!

This is exactly how J. Benjamin started.  I had a vision of what I wanted.  It became embedded in my heart and I could not stop thinking about it.  I would read a magazine, I would see a photograph, or I would be having a conversation with someone and a light bulb would go off in my head.  My mind would begin to go into overdrive that I would have to…

2. Plan/Organize

Planning and organizing is very crucial in taking steps towards success.  It is very important to get your ideas and goals on paper.  It will not only clear your mind but it will also give you the opportunity to organize your thoughts.  This way you can see a direction to go in and where your ideas and goals may be incomplete.

With my mind being overwhelmed with ideas and visions, I needed to put them somewhere.  Writing them on paper and getting my thoughts organized allowed me to physically see my vision.  Now I’ve said this before and obviously it’s 100% true: “A dream stays a dream unless you act on it.”  In order to make my dream a reality I must…

3. Create

Now, you can dream, imagine, and write ideas all day and all night long but if you don’t actually take action then your potential success will remain as a thought.  This one step will separate you from people who act on their thoughts and those who talk about their thoughts.  After your planning and setting of goals, you must implement the thoughts you wrote down and begin creating.

By creating, there is always a possible risk of failure.  Failing and making mistakes should not be viewed negatively as long as you grow and learn from them.  I decided to create my vision after I completed the above steps.  It was such a wonderful feeling seeing myself take action because I knew I was taking the necessary steps to becoming successful.  I continued to develop other ideas and kept on creating which leads me to my next important tool of success…

4. Persistence/Dedication

Persistence and dedication is the propeller of success.  It is the breath that keeps the dream alive.  This tool is what differentiates the winners from the losers or the successful from the quitters.  The person who keeps at their dream no matter what obstacles they may encounter is the person who will find their personal success more rewarding.  It is very easy to quit at whatever it is you want to achieve because your dream didn’t manifest overnight.  I don’t remember exactly how it goes but the quote, “The mighty oak tree was once an acorn” seems pretty fitting.

If you are really passionate about something like I am at creating a full clothing line then the dedication of working towards your goal will come easily.  You will be naturally fired up.  I can barely ever stop thinking about my passion.  I want so badly to see success for my company that I think constantly about ways to improve, drive traffic, connect with my customers, etc.  Having some sort of schedule will help you be more dedicated especially if you are working alone.  A schedule will give you deadlines and a goal.  It’s all about taking it one step at a time.  But what if all the dedication and persistence seems to lead to nowhere you make ask?  My fifth tool…

5. Beleive/Faith

Are you chasing success because you want to or are you doing it because you want to be like someone else?  Of course you could mimic someone else’s success but will you be happy?  Again, success is not just defined monetarily.  Many successful people are happy because they are doing what is in their heart.  Happiness can be included in the definition of success.  In order to have faith or to believe in what you are doing you should be staying true to yourself.  Only you can believe that what’s in your heart can come true.  You may have others who will want you to succeed but only you can have a strong enough desire to believe in what you can not yet see.

I said at the beginning of this post that I am still working on being successful in some areas of my life.  My full clothing line is obviously not out yet.  Can I imagine it?  Have I seen it in my mind to the point where I practically believe it’s real?  Yes I have.  There are still some obstacles that I must overcome before I can take on certain goals that I would like to achieve.  This again will take one step at a time.  Reaching each step will equal a piece of success to me.  I have many people who support my vision but only I can believe that it can be real.

6. Keep learning

It is important to always keep learning.  You should never consider yourself such an expert that you need not to learn anything new.  Everything changes and evolves and keeping up with the changes is vital to your success.  Plus, learning new things related to your passion or even outside your passion will make you a better expert at what you do.  It can even trigger new ideas on how to go forward with your goals.  You don’t even have to leave your computer anymore to learn something new.  The information is endless on the internet and you can almost always find what you are looking to learn for free.

I passionately enjoy learning about new things.  I look for tools to learn everywhere including the internet, books, mentors, television, experts, etc.  When you really enjoy doing something you will want to learn anything and everything in order to improve and become better at what you do.

For example, I am learning on how to better build this website with Kimberly Bohannon and Ben Cope of GFYD Member.  They are teaching me how to build my site on my own without the use of a pricey webmaster.  Knowing how to do this myself will keep my expenses down and will teach me much needed tools for web site design.

I believe by following these six steps will definitely gravitate you towards however you define success.  Have you used these tools in your life already?  What have you been successful at so far in your life where these tools helped guide you?  Please share your past and future successes with us in the comments below.  Maybe you will inspire others to act on their dream!

John for J. Benjamin Clothing Co.

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