What are the secrets of success? What are the things that successful people do most days that contribute to their success? Aaron Potts from Today is That Day has just finished compiling a list of the 62 ‘top tips’ from the ‘simply successful secrets’ project. (You can read my contribution to the project here.)
There are lots of interesting and valuable ideas there and if you browse the list you might find a few tips and strategies that you could build into your daily routine. Two of my personal favourites were ‘state of mind’ switches: #13 becoming still/letting go and #6 finding joy and happiness:
Including the realization that we can create joy from our own state of mind, observations of the many things in our lives to be joyful about, having fun, smiling, laughing, appreciating life/nature, not taking life too seriously, enjoying the little things, doing what you want to do at any given moment, having a cheerful attitude, loving your work or your career, living/working with passion, celebrating your successes, living every day as if it is your last, and acting silly.
Of course the whole project begs another question: what do we mean by success? Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of ‘success’ not just because it seems distant but because it doesn’t fit with their value system. But there’s more than one way to tell the success story. It doesn’t need to mean high achieving, high earning, high impact, high consumption…
Here’s an alternative version from Ralph Waldo Emerson that I love:
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
I guess part of the secret of success is to define it on your own terms. What’s the definition of success that works for you?