Boss Blog: Success….. What is it to you?
Lately, I have been reading a lot of posts about the world’s most successful people. It always amazes me how they people from all different backgrounds and different walks of life become super successful. I start to compare what I’m doing to what they do and then it gets depressing. What I’ve learned about success is that it comes in all shapes and sizes. Success to someone like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk is far different than someone like you or I. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful. My focus is always financial; it’s just what I do. I think everyone has the potential to be financially successful and it doesn’t mean you have to be a billionaire or even a millionaire. I have created a list of things successful people do and how you can relate them to your finances
1) Successful People Think Long Term – Unsuccessful People Think Short Term
I have numerous people asking me what they should do with their money. My answer is always: save it and invest it. It isn’t that sexy but it works. Why does it work? It works because over the long term your money will grow, always. It always grows because you are consistently saving it and consistently investing it. Unsuccessful people think short term. How do I make a quick buck? An easy way to make a quick buck is to play blackjack. Boom 30 seconds and you will double up…..or lose everything. Other than that there are no guarantees. Think about what you are doing at work, at home and with your money in long term perspectives. Short term mentality relies too much on luck. Long term thinking relies on sound decision making, hard work, and consistency. This leads me to my next point:
2) Successful People know that success take a lot of a Hard Work – Unsuccessful People think Success is only about Luck
I personally believe that when you work hard you become “luckier.” You put yourself in a position to get “lucky.” That doesn’t mean that people don’t get lucky. Winning the lottery is lucky, but you do have to buy the ticket. Landing the dream job is lucky, but you do need the qualifications. Getting that promotion is because you set yourself apart from your counterparts. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I find that the harder I work the more luck I seem to have.” It’s true, so bust your butt.
3) Successful People are Driven by Growth – Unsuccessful People are Driven by Money
Growth is a funny concept. Growth is often measured in terms of money but in my opinion, growth is a little more complicated. Growing as a person takes time. Developing habits that will help you in the long run often don’t equate to immediate dollars. Small steps all added together will snowball into a huge ripple effect that will include more money. Being more organized, spending less, saving more, investing properly, protecting yourself and planning ahead all add up to huge growth. Each one individually doesn’t stand out a lot and won’t make you rich. All of them together add up to great success. Take the little steps to grow as a person and the money will come believe me. “Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.”
4) Successful People Embrace Change – Unsuccessful People Avoid Change
Change can be scary sometimes. One of the things I often hear from people is that they aren’t ready to start saving yet, or planning for the future yet or even worse setting up a budget yet. When I hear that I feel like saying: Do you like being broke? Do you like not knowing what the future will look like for you? Do you like always being on the brink of financial ruin? People always fear change because they feel like it will hurt more than what they have gotten used to. I was the same way. I felt that if I just ignored my problems they would just go away. Well, what happened was that not only did they not go away, they got worse. Instead of making a sharp change in the way I went about my life, I slowly adapted to the failed system of ignoring my problems. That was until everything went completely sideways and change was necessary. I changed who I was when it came to money. I embraced giving a shit about my finances. The slow trend downwards into oblivion turned into a slow trend upwards into prosperity. The initial change was drastic and scary but that was the only tough part. It got easier and easier after that. Carol Burnett once said, “Only I can change my life, no one can do it for me.” She was right by the way, oh and she is very successful.
There is no magic formula for success. No one person holds the key that will unlock your success in life. You have to determine what your own success is and what you want out of life. The simple way to go about it is to change your mindset on what you think winning is. Winning at life isn’t like winning at the slot machines. You don’t put a quarter in and win. You plan for the long term, work hard at it, change when you need to and focus on growth. I find that people who focus on short-term wins get in the habit of pursuing those methods rather than building a foundation that can succeed over time. We all have to remember that success in life is just that, in your whole life. It’s not about winning each battle; it’s about winning the war.
“I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” – Micheal Jordan
“If you don’t pay the price for success, you will pay the price for failure.” – Zig Zagler
“Do the best you can, with what you can, while you can, and success is inevitable.” – Dr. Steve Maraboli
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Joseph James Francis is a Financial Advisor. You can find him on various social media platforms and at www.budgetboss.ca.