19 Keys to Becoming Successful

SUCCESS in life is always the result of a series of (mostly) correct choices. Investor Bryan Cressey has distilled choices he has made and the lessons he has learned from them into the book, Be a Winner: Life’s Handbook for Joy and Success. He covers everything from life lessons, entrepreneurship, connecting with others, to investing and traps to avoid.

He notes this important understanding he came to realize as he started out in life: “Sometimes in life, you must be satisfied, and happy, with your accomplishments all alone—without praise from others—and learn to be motivated by your personal praise for yourself.”

An important series of questions he asked himself at age thirty-eight, and we should all ask ourselves at any age, is, “What primary attribute would define me? How did I want to be? What would be noticeably different about me?”

Below are nineteen keys or choices that he has learned throughout his life journey, with a selection of his comments on each.

1. Plan Backward

   Why does planning backward work? We can only climb that hill one step at a time. But for big dreams, we usually cannot see a clear path to the top—we may try one step, encounter difficulty or frustration, and give up—because we don’t see the way forward! Planning backward gives us the steps.

2. Aim High

   You will probably be positively surprised by what you can accomplish.

3. Learn from Your Mistakes

   My greatest education has not come from school but from my mistakes. Life and success are trial and error. Life is more fun and much easier, when you admit mistakes and learn from them.

4. Be Humble

   We have a human instinct to think we’re smart, which can backfire if we don’t transcend it. Humility allows learning and learning drives success in all you do.

5. Be Creative

   Devise some creative ways to help your firm break some new ground in your first couple of years. Don’t accept the way things are done as the optimal way; mentally question everything significant.

6. Carefully Figure Out What Your Goals and Values Are

   Before deciding the next job you want, carefully figure out what your goals and values are, i.e., what you live to do. If it’s what you love and enjoy, you will succeed.

7. Associate with Great People

   Choose to work with an outstanding mentor who will teach you how to succeed in your chosen endeavor.

8. Pick the Right Industry to Participate In

   This key to success is the least recognized. Pick the right industry, or profession, to participate in. The secret is to get in an area with enough growth, profitability, possibilities to create great opportunities for you.

9. Choose Your Direction, and Timing, Thoughtfully

   Years ago, many of my friends headed into the then-popular business or real estate development and banking. These businesses are highly cyclical. Entering at the peak of the cycle, those friends had an eventful twelve months: graduation, first job, recession, termination.

10. Impose Your Judgement on the World

    Don’t let others tell you what you should do with your life. Decide for yourself. This will enable you to create your world more as you want it to be—not as others hand it to you.

11. Have Fun in Your Work

    The world is not a priori serious. Some people make it that way. Some people think they must act seriously to be thought learned and capable.

12. Act with Integrity Always

    Good things will come to you when people trust you. Keeping the bar higher force you to learn to be better, and you will. If it’s in the gray zone, don’t go there. To maintain a great reputation, you need to avoid even the appearance of possible impropriety. Perception becomes reality.

13. Don’t Be in a Hurry to Succeed

    I’ve seen many individuals that are so compelled to succeed fast that they fail. How? Because they jump from thing to thing, believing each one will propel them to the top—they never do anything long enough to become truly good at it. Don’t be in a hurry; take time to become great at what you enjoy.
    
    And don’t be in such a hurry to evaluate your own wins and losses. The unexpected will sometimes happen.

14. Money Does Not Buy Happiness

    I’ve been without money and had lots of it, and I guarantee you it doesn’t correlate much with happiness. Figure out what you want to do with your life that you’ll find satisfying, gratifying, and do it.

15. Specialize in Something

    Even a narrow specialty is a big market in our world’s economy. Winners are those who become the best at something.

16. Impress Every Person, Every Time You Meet

    It will enhance your reputation, and you’ll quickly gain more responsibility.

17. Figure Out How Your Firm’s Success Is Measured

    And contribute more to that success than is expected of you.

18. Never Fall into A Rut

    Examine constantly whether you are doing what you want. What we regularly do becomes a routine, and a routine can become a rut we may remain in unless we exercise a little paranoia and assertively assess whether we are letting parts of our life travel in a rut. We must proactively change and grow rather than passively letting life happen to us.

19. Prioritize

    Success goes not to the person who works the longest hours but to the person who gets their most important things done.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:08 AM
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