6 Success Principles Which Will Help You Achieve Anything You Want

I recently wrote a piece about the two Circles Of Life and how which one is chosen will really dictate the level of success you see in life. I got a lot of AWESOME comments on that post. I read every single one and I’m really glad the post resonated with so many of you.

Today, I want to eleborate on the six points that I stated briefly at the end of that post. These are six principles which, I believe, stand as common traits of the successful. When you talk to successful people or read auto-biograhies from well known entrepreneurs and CEOs, you very often see these 6 things in play.

Let’s address them one by one.

ByDavid Risley Posted on
38 Comments

I recently wrote a piece about the two Circles Of Life and how which one is chosen will really dictate the level of success you see in life. I got a lot of AWESOME comments on that post. I read every single one and I’m really glad the post resonated with so many of you.

Today, I want to eleborate on the six points that I stated briefly at the end of that post. These are six principles which, I believe, stand as common traits of the successful. When you talk to successful people or read auto-biograhies from well known entrepreneurs and CEOs, you very often see these 6 things in play.

Let’s address them one by one.

#1 – See yourself achieving your goal.

This isn’t exactly a new concept. You’ve likely heard about the importance of visualizing what you’re going for. And we get pictures of sitting in bed, eyes snapped shut, and picturing ourselves doing something groovy. Others use things like “mind movies” which are another route to the same thing.

I would like to take it up a notch because I believe simply imagining your goal being accomplished might seem a little too “new age” for some people. And, for me at least, a “mind movie” seems like a weird roundabout way to trick yourself into doing what is really just a natural ability. We need to make this more real.

A technique I’ve addressed before is to take out a sheet of paper and write out your ideal day. I’ve heard this one from a number of people. What you want to do is SEE yourself living out your ideal day. This has to be a day which you could live over and over again and be completely happy. Where will you live? What will you do? How do you feel? What is the food you’re eating? Who do you wake up next to? What’s your house look like? What’s it smell like?

Sit down and do this on paper in as much detail as you can possibly come up with. It might even take you a few hours to complete. Here’s what you’re doing…

By getting VERY exact and thorough, you are more completely immersing yourself in this new reality. And all of us have a deep-down, spiritual ability to make the real world match the reality which WE created. Most of us just forgot we have that ability, but it is there in all of us. The exterior world is just the lowest common denominator of all of our illusions put together. Individually, we can create our own worlds. And, through this exercise, you are creating this world and doing it thoroughly.

You will begin to THINK in this reality. It will become a part of you. And one day, you are very likely to pull out that sheet of paper, read what you wrote, and be simply floored at how much of it came to fruition. But, don’t be suprised. It wasn’t luck. You created the world around you. You just did it according to a design spec which you made.

#2 – Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare to who you could be.

It is natural to look at people who have accomplished more than you or who have more than you, and feel a bit down. You wonder what’s wrong with you. Why haven’t you accomplished that?

Look at what you’re doing when you think these thoughts. You are invalidating yourself. You are making less of yourself. And you should have no better friend on the face of this planet than yourself.

Such questions also rely on the assumption that there is some element of success that you don’t have and they do. What?! Everything you need to build your empire in life is right between your ears. You need nothing more. All that’s left to do is (a) stop getting in your own way, and (b) start using what you have.

Also, keep this in mind: You get what you flow power to. You, as a spiritual being, are a source of immense power. You have the power to create new realities by simply VALIDATING THEM. If you validate your incompetences, you’ll get them. If you validate your shortcomings, you’ll further them. On the other hand, validate the SUCCESS of others, you’ll see more success. Validate your strengths, you further them.

#3 – Associate with like-minded, success-minded people.

Emotion and energy is contagious. In my post about minimalism, I broke it down to energy flows and, at least for me, when I look at it that way it explains so well why emotion is contagious.

On that note, it just makes sense to surround yourself with people who support you and aspire to achieve the thing you, too, want. This is why mastermind groups are so powerful. Even if the people in the group are in different businesses, they all aspire to success. Being in that sphere of people is a supportive atmosphere for helping you foster your own inner success.

On the flip side, this means you need to control or get rid of people in your environment bent on getting you down. If you have a family member or “friend” who belittles you when you talk about your goals or makes fun of you when you blog, you need to exert some control over that. Do you ever get around a particular person and just feel a bit disturbed or down? You need to make a decision: handle it or part ways. In most cases, you can handle it by simply talking with them and getting their agreement not to do that. Many times, by simply confronting them on it, they’ll stop. On the outside chance that there is nothing you can do, then you might need to make the decision to part ways.

You have the right to control your own environment. You have the right to control what goes in and out of your own head. Exercise that right if you must.

#4 – Build a Success Library.

Most successful people read a lot. They build a library. And we’ll call it a success library if that material serves to improve our lives.

If we look at most people, they don’t have a success library. Hell, most don’t have a library at all because they hardly read anything. Their libraries consist of the latest copy of Cosmo or the daily newspaper, complete with its headlines of death and controversy. There is nothing redeeming about reading about a plane crash, learning about the latest bout of insanity from Washington, or reading about the asinine ramblings of celebrities.

Instead, a success library would be about things which further your knowledge or expand your viewpoints of the world around you. And, this leads me into my next point…

#5 – Fill your head with good stuff.

We’ve all heard the phrase “You are what you eat.”. Well, it applies mentally, too.

If we look at the first circle of life, it self-perpetuates because of the crap those people choose to let into their heads (and, hence, validate). Let’s look at television, for instance. The 24-hour news channels are full of nothing but controversy. It is mostly people yelling at each other. Look at Fox News Channel (not that they are special, but just because the last time I used to watch the news, it was usually FNC). You’ve got Glenn Beck talking about how we’re all going to die and the world is ending (buy your canned goods now). O’Reilly yelling at people. Hannity engaging in yelling fits EVERY DAMN NIGHT. Rinse, repeat. CNN? Same story.

Why would I let that into my head? If my reaction to watching that stuff is to get angry, WHY DO I WATCH IT?!?! Me getting angry at the TV solves NOTHING. But, it sure as hell means I’m accomplishing nothing useful in my life.

Today’s news is a cancer on our society. These people outright ignore good news and instead zoom their cameras into every bad thing in our world and make it seem as if that IS the world. They twist stories to make them more controversial. If today’s “news” was a person I knew, I would straight-up kick their ass.

Only you can control what goes into your head. If you let it in and think about it, you’re validating it. You’re giving it energy. You might as well just wrap your lips around the tailpipe of your car, because mentally, that’s exactly what you’re doing to yourself when you watch today’s news media and most TV shows.

All I watch on TV is the occasional talent show (like So You Think You Can Dance, which I actually like) or educational shows on Discovery. My kids watch Nickelodeon (I kinda dig Spongebob). But, my TV does not tune into the news – ever. And it won’t. I’d rather get rid of it. And its a nice TV, so that would suck. 🙂

#6 – Draw success from other like-minded people. Draw strength.

You might notice a common theme here. 🙂

In thinking about this, I would actually rephrase this slightly. Because I don’t believe we “draw” success from others. Instead, I think we validate success in others, and hence validate success in ourselves.

When you go to a conference, you go to network with people. For example, one of the reasons I recommend Blogworld to every blogger is because it allows them to network with others who have the same ambitions. These are like-minded people. They have varying levels of success at it, but all the vectors point more or less the same direction.

It is contagious. And it furthers you along.

So, What Do You Think?

I hope you dig posts like this. I think it is about time to broaden the focus a bit. I’ll continue to blog about blogging and talk about how you can build a successful online business. I am a firm believer, though, in the idea that all that success has to be built on a foundation. And if I don’t talk about my views of what I think goes into that foundation, I will have done a disservice in my eyes.

I view my role as a blogger differently than some others. Sure, I like to make money. I love talking about all that stuff and learning about it. But, this whole thing is about a lot more than money. This is a communications platform. My role is to help make the world a better place. If I give back, it will come back to me. There are enough people putting negativity into the world. I’m going to do my part to spread positivity.

I hope I’ve done my job today. 🙂

38 Comments

  1. I used to surrounded only by people who made fun of every single passion in my life but mostly about my biggest passion which is technology and the things I was experimenting with regarding that and I can honestly tell you it brought me down a lot and I started adapting to their habbits, their way of life just to be accepted when I should have just left. Now 95% of the time if there is somebody making fun of what I do or what I like I just ignore them and I am glad I have that strenght but I am sad that I lost a couple of years trying to fit in.

  2. I think it's really important to talk about motivation, empowerment and how we stay in a positive, productive zone. There is so much challenge and difficulty out there today for so many. Sometimes just a kind word, action or gesture can make all the difference to someone. Being kind to ourselves is something we all have to figure out.Thanks for sharing this part of what you believe and think.

  4. “The Secret” is a load of hyped up crap that isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

    Want to know the REAL secret to getting rich? Read “The Richest Man In Babylon”. It is number one in my success library.

    That book cuts out all the positive thinking mumbo jumbo BS and gives you a couple very practical and instantly applicable sets of rules to follow and techniques to use to start your path to becoming wealthy.

  7. I agree that David has a wonderful blog. Gotta love the way he cares and pays forward by giving back.

    Affirmations, though, are capable of doing harm as well as good. If the affirmation is something you don't already TOTALLY, completely believe, your subconscious will attempt to set you straight. Oops.

    If you're going to use affirmations to reprogram your subconscious, do it in small baby steps. Don't say “I am rich” when you don't believe it. Learn to believe it by appreciating everything in your life (appreciation speeds things up) and seeing the wealth in the richness of your life. Then you can affirm something like “Every day brings my financial wealth closer” and your subconscious won't try to trip you up.

    Better yet, go from where you are now to KNOWING you are already your successful self by imagining and feeling and believing, you'll begin to see things manifesting and morphing to fit your new perceptions.

  8. David, you need to add a couple more books to your library.

    To simply write off the subconscious as a little dude is way off base. He's a REALLY BIG DUDE. In fact, your subconscious is key to your outcome, your success or your failure.

    The subconscious Dude is the part of your brain which creates your reality. Your conscious mind only perceives (processes) 2,000 bits of information a second. At the same time, the subconscious is processing 400,000,000,000 – four hundred BILLION – bits of info. That's per second. That's a BIG DUDE.

    This Sub Dude is the reason someone can't loose that last 10 pounds, no matter how hard they diet. And it's the Sub Dude who, in the end, will make sure your customers succeed – or not. You, David, can give them the best training and advice the world has to offer, but if the Sub Dude in their heads isn't going along with it, they will fail.

    Sorry to break the news.

  9. That's a fable. The “hard things, hard work” part, that is. When you are completely in alignment with the successful version of yourself, nothing will seem hard.

  11. I am completely agree with you. “Successful people do hard things”, Without hardwork, time and dedication success never comes, BE CONSISTENT AND HONEST WITH YOUR WORK THERE IS NOT MATTER THAT YOU WILL NOT GET SUCCESS IN YOUR LIFE.

  12. 6 great principals. I especially like #6 “Draw success from other like-minded people”. I think one of the reasons that I enjoy your posts and follow you on Twitter is because you do see your role in helping others to succeed. My most recent blog post links to your “Six Figure Blogger Blueprint” report. I've got so much out of that report and I hope others will check it out and benefit from reading it too.

  14. Awesome post David!

    Like you, I stopped watching the news quite a few years ago as I found it too upsetting. As you say the media tend to focus on the negative things in the world and it does leave one feeling that the world is an evil place which I don't think is true at all. Instead I try to focus on the positive things in life and have chosen to be happy because I believe one can choose happiness over misery, its a perspective.

    I agree with all your points and I especially like this 'And all of us have a deep-down, spiritual ability to make the real world match the reality which WE created'. What a fabulous quote.

    Thank you!

    Sarah

  16. Success looks different for everybody.

    Over in the tech niche, I remember talking to some of the players in that market many years ago. One of them went on to create one of the biggest, most notable hardware review sites on the Internet. Yet, back in the day, I was chatting with him on instant messenger. My tech site, while doing fine, is much smaller. But, I'm doing fine. I don't compare myself to him at all. Honestly, I wouldn't really want what he has. I'm not the uber-nerd he is anyway. 🙂

  17. Personally, I'm not a big believer in the idea of “programming my subconscious mind”. It is as if there is a little dude sitting in our heads and we need to convince him to let us succeed during the day. Personally, I think it is hogwash.

    We all have the ability to create reality and mold the world around us. The ability is innate, but most forget how to use it. If is US who create our success, not a separate subconscious mind.

  19. I'm sitting here giggling to myself because you just gave me permission (if any were even needed!!) to continue never watching the news. My other half checks the BBC news online every single day and teases me that I have no general knowledge as a result of not being absorbed in the news. I figure that if something that massive happened, I'm sure I'd hear about it on Twitter!

    Funnily enough, the whole idea of seeing life as you want it in lots of detail was something I was chatting about with a friend earlier this morning but I agree that it can feel a bit wishy washy to do it the traditional way. I'm going to spend some time describing my ideal day a little later when the children are in bed. Tell me though, is it allowed to include a mute button?

  20. I must say and must admit that this one is quite high level posts. This is not like other blogger who always do like talking about affiliates and all … but this is simply amazing.

    Let me save this post in my bookmark and would love to read at least 3 to 4 times.

  21. David,
    thank you so much for your post! About two years ago I left my job and started my own business: I was full of fear and doubts in the beginning, then I started reading books about leadership, strategic thinking and sales and my life changed completely. I would like to add one more suggestion to #4, Build a success library: reading is important and you should always find the time to do it, but if you are really busy and spend a lot of time driving or flying for business, listening to CDs and Audiobooks about Goal setting, Sales strategies and leadership can prove incredibly useful, as it lets you take advantage of long hours that would be wasted otherwise. Thank you, keep up the good work!

  24. Dave,

    Really Great Post man. You've made some awesome points.
    I really like the point “Fill your head with good stuff.” Great Point.

    Thanks for sharing this great Post. Great work Dave.

    Looking forward to reading more posts like this.

    ~Dev

  26. This is necessarily the steps to a successful life. If anyone can put this to practice always, he will not just be a six figure blogger but someone who has impact in people's life. Thanks Dave

  27. You're right, David. Affirmations will program my subsconscious mind to become and get want I want to be.

    This is a great guideline for me to become successful in my online ventures and in life.

  28. I loved all of those steps! I can honestly say that I have trouble with one of them – that's the comparing myself to others. Lets just say I have a friend who came from the same college I did at around the same time and instantly found success..now 4-5 years later he's one of the most notable young entrepreneurs on the internet. (We were even roommates). So it's hard not to compare and play catch up even when you are in two totally unrelated industries. I know for me and the success I plan to have with Financially Digital though I have to stop doing that because at the end of the day it's not fair to me and the work that I do (and do well for that matter!).

  29. One of my very favorite exercises was writing out my ideal day, just as you instructed, when I first started taking your Blog Master's Club course. And some of the things I wrote are now starting to happen!! I just need to open up that document again and add ALOT more detail, since I only have 3 or 4 paragraphs written out right now. But what better inspiration for completing the task than having some of the things I wrote start to happen!
    So thanks a bunch, just a whole, whole bunch, for giving that task to your BMC students. : )

  30. Great reading, I like what you say about writeing down how you want your day, life and everything to be not just thinking about. I have a 10 hour busride that I have to take in a few day. I know what I will be doing on that ride.
    Thanks David

  31. These are some really great tips David. I especially love the daily sheet idea. I'm gonna go work on my sheet. 😉

    I totally agree with the filtering bad news idea. I've done that since high school and it makes me so optimistic and happy about life. I hate watching negative stuff on tv.

    Thanks for this post

  32. I agree David, I was one to read the paper everyday however after a while I just could not bare to read it. Now I watch no news or read any papers and although at first you think “But I like to know what's going on” in truth you still know because we may listen to radio in ours etc…now anything I need to know will sufface on twitter and I find it is much more positive.

    Good work

    Renee xx

  33. I think a lot of people who teach others how to make money neglect to give this stuff enough emphasis. It is all about: Do steps 1-25 and you will be rich. But I believe that the biggest obstacle is right in front of us. Like you mention, it is the everyday habits and associations that prevent us from moving forward. I would be interested in hearing about some of your experiences and how you overcame them in future posts. Great post!

  34. True. But, also, look at the generality. “American is stunned”. Hhhmm…. the truth of the matter is most people don't care. That's one of the things about the news. They'll go seek out 2 upset people on some topic, give them airtime, then report “People upset at….”. Generalities.

    I remember a time that a tropical event came through the Tampa area. For regular people, it was just a rainy day with a nice breeze. For the news media, it was serious drama. I was driving across the Bay for something and I actually saw a cameraman sitting IN the water trying to make it look like he was getting splashed on by the storm. Right down the shoreline a bit, people were just hanging out having fun relaxing.

    The world is not what reporters focus on. I'm almost at a point where I think that, if you take the opposite of a news report, that's probably closest to the truth.

  35. One day is just a start. I think people, after disconnecting from it, will realize how horrible it is. Seriously, stop watching the news. Then, in about a week or two, turn it on. You'll be shocked at the level of negativity. I guarantee it will take less than a minute to talk about some controversy, somebody dying, or how we're all going to die or be broke.

    It is like a firehose of shit.

  36. Good tips here from your brief post before.

    I think everyone shoul pick one day of the week and not watch the news at all and see how much of an impact it has on their lives.

    I look forward to more posts like this Dave.

  37. Yes, good stuff. If you find yourself a bit depressed, give up newspapers, Newsweek and TV news for a couple of weeks.

    If we look for gossip and bad stuff, we'll find something — then some media reporter will claim, “America was stunned…” Codswallap.

    Who among us has committed acts for which we are at least a bit ashamed? You can bet your last dollar that is every one of us. Do those (usually unintentional or uneducated) acts define us? I think not.

  38. I really like the idea of a success library. I already have one going, do you have any required reading?

    On a side note, really like the thought process you and Robb Sutton have going on with your posts – more than just the technique, more about the mindset. Really helps me going in the right direction.

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