Success is easy, and it’s available to all of us.  Although talent exists, it is almost irrelevant.  Could practice, drilling and rehearsing (and do it more than anybody) really be all that is needed to succeed?  To be the best?  What do you think?

If there is something you want out of life that you do not currently have, consider there is only one thing that’s standing in your way.  If you guessed “fear,” you’re probably right.  In fact, I would bet on it.  Your fear might be disguised as some other expression like “I can’t afford it” or “I don’t have the time” or “It won’t work” or “I don’t know how.”  Whatever label you’re putting on it, it is fear all the same.  Someone once defined F.E.A.R. as False Evidence Appearing Real.  I wish I knew who originally said it… brilliant!

Having said that, fear is a real emotion.  While your fears may be just appearing as real, your mind experiences extreme difficulty in differentiating what is real and what is perceived as such.  The fact that your mind registers the signal of fear is enough to incapacitate your response and prevent you from moving forward.

To demonstrate how silly we can actually be as humans, I posted a video below walking you through an exercise I use to break through my fears, and how I help my students to do the same.  I recorded it a couple of months ago for a different purpose, but it seems so fitting for this post I thought I would share it with you.  It will work for anything, I promise!  What would your life look like if you had no fear?

If you are prone to making excuses, it is something you will want to change… immediately.  Using excuses to explain away your failures will not only stifle your progress, but stifle your growth and drastically limit your results.  People use excuses to let themselves off the hook for not giving it their all.  Taking responsibility for your actions, results and experiences is one of the most powerful disciplines a human can take on.  It is a discipline, an inherent character trait, of successful people.  By taking responsibility for your life, nothing or no one can get in your way.  Every person at some point comes to the epiphany that if I want to be successful, nobody is going to do it for me.  Certainly, friends, family, associates and your environment may contribute to your success, but if it is to be… it will be up to you – 100%.

I invite you to think back to your last failure, and think back to a big one.  Think back to one where there was something really important at stake.  Who, or what, do you blame for that failure?  Was it your age, health, gender, education, environment, race, friend, spouse, government, the economy… what was it?  Is it true?  Was it really to blame?  Or, was there something else you could’ve done before accepting failure?  Were there multiple things you could’ve done before accepting failure?  What did that excuse cost you?

Take responsibility for your actions, your results and your experiences and watch a new level of personal performance suddenly emerge.  Notice how your communication improves.  Notice how your relationships improve.  Notice how you will begin to receive assistance from people that had never moved a muscle for you before.  Notice how life actually becomes easier, because it will.  Even if it seems a little counter-intuitive at first, trust it.  Clarity around the power of responsibility will be created before you know it, and you will be able to use it as a tool to accomplish whatever you set your sights on.

Best practices:

1. Trust your abilities. We are all born for greatness and engineered for success.  Believe it.  You must have confidence in this belief before others will have confidence in you.
2. Look for the bright-side in every challenge you experience. Get in the habit of asking yourself in the face of adversity, “Is this really as bad as I’m making it mean?”
3. Focus on solutions instead of excuses. Specifically, always focus on what you want to have happen as opposed to what’s happening.  What else could I do to produce my desired result?
4. Be Lucky. Luck exists in the moment when preparedness meets opportunity.  Always be preparing.  Always be learning.  Always be practicing skills and improving your knowledge.

“In times of change learners will inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” –Eric Hoffer

Here’s my favorite resource to stay prepared and equipped for whatever future challenge or opportunity I may meet.  Perhaps it will become yours, as well?