To be successful, you must first become a success.
Becoming a success is about making progress toward goals you set for yourself.
Prepare to be successful
Successes are born away from the spotlight.
They are shaped long before the millions are earned, before the TED talk, before the C-suite promotion.
You walk into the meeting room a success. Your analysis is a success before it’s even requested.
Why?
Because your preparation has made it so.
You have set a goal for yourself that is far beyond the expectations of others.
You have held yourself to a standard that is higher than anyone expects of you. And you have worked hard to reach those standards.
Once you have become a success by your own standards, being labeled as successful by others will happen more often, yet feel less important.
Own your own success
Striving to be deemed successful by others puts your career in their hands.
Making a success of yourself puts you in control of your career and makes every change (e.g., new manager, project, team, company, country) a productive one.
Over time, your path takes you away from those who had plans for you and toward people with goals similar to your own.
These are the people who can push you to new heights.
Are you willing to let go of the path set for you by others and craft your own definition of success?
More importantly–what can you do to take that first step today?
