Yes, there may be many “keys” to being happy and feeling a sense of success or accomplishment, but these are the two that have helped me the most. I hope they are already familiar to you, and that this is just a reminder, but I find that reminding myself over and over about critical ways of thinking and living my life is incredibly helpful.
1. Relieve everyone else in your life, and whoever has been in your life, of any responsibility for your success…personally, professionally, and financially.
2. Do not expect any opportunities to be opened up to you by others until you’ve created value for others.
Let’s dive into the first one. This equates to taking 100% ownership in all that you have (or don’t have) in your life. Nobody else is responsible. No excuses. If it’s to be, it’s up to me.
If you don’t have the job that you wish, don’t blame your boss, or the marketplace. Look inside, at yourself. Ask yourself how much time you’re putting into increasing your capabilities at the job you want? Are you frustrated you aren’t making more money? How are you making yourself irreplaceable? What are you doing to become so incredibly valuable that your company would do nearly anything to keep you?
What happens if you don’t adopt this mindset? If you allow yourself to think others are responsible for your success, then they have control over you and your future, not you.
Let’s move onto number two. We all know someone or possibly many people, who walk around with a sense of entitlement. They act like they are owed something by others around them. Most people don’t think kindly of those with an attitude of entitlement.
Rather, we should focus on how we can create incredible value in the lives of others. This can be very simple actually if you just spend more time being interested and less time trying so hard to be interesting.
If you run a business, or have business associates you enjoy referrals from, how are you constantly trying to create value for them before asking for more business?
By: Trevor Hammond
I’m sure you can think of a lot of examples beyond what I’ve shared that tie to these two keys to lifelong happiness and success. We all define happiness and success in our own way, but however you define it, I bet following these two keys will enhance both. They have for me.