I have interviewed many guests who had few opportunities for success. They grew up poor or underprivileged, they were not any brighter than the rest of us, and they were not even good looking, yet, they succeeded. They had wonderful careers and meaningful personal lives.
What was their secret? Consistency and determination to succeed.
Imagine that you have a low paying job, but you take one course per semester at the local college, or you take some online classes about the thing that will advance you in your career. Well, eventually, even if it takes you one year or five, you will be able to get out of that low paying job and go into a higher paying job.
In my latest interview, JeVon McCormick, started cleaning toilets and today is the CEO of a multi million dollar company is a multimillionaire.
In another episode, Ken Rusk, didn’t go to college, instead, he started digging ditches as an employee, and now he owns several construction companies and he’s a multimillionaire.
And the list goes on and on. Most of the interviews I have recorded are about people who have succeeded in spite of the unfavorable circumstances in their lives. The odds were not in their favor, yet, their lives became examples for us to follow.
Here are some tips on how to stay consistent
Know why you are doing it
Most people who have become leaders, successful in their field of expertise, had a strong reason. Whether it was fear of the status quo, or a dream to make something better out of their life, they had a strong reason.
When I left Colombia, I knew I wanted to have a better life. I was discontent with my past life and I was ready to do whatever it took to improve my life circumstances.
Complacency is perhaps the worse enemy of self improvement. If you have become complacent with the life you have, then it’s difficult to find reasons or the motivation to improve it.
Focus on one goal at a time
It’s easier to succeed of you focus on one goal at a time. Sometimes having too many things going on can be distracting and it becomes hard to succeed.
In my case, I was having too many side hustles at a time and although in most of them, the results were satisfactory (meaning I was having a profit), I wasn’t doing great at any one of them.
At one time, I focused all my attention to my dance school, and for a few years, my dance school was one of the most beloved and most profitable dance school in the city.
Now I am focusing on my podcast, and slowly, I am seeing the number of downloads increase.
Work through the discomfort
Change isn’t easy. Self improvement isn’t easy. In fact, your body and your brain will resist, but you have to work through the discomfort. Whether it’s studying, working long hours, or asking people to believe in you, It’s is going to be unconformable. You are going to want to give up. But if you work it through, you will be able to achieve your goals.
If you relapse, try it again
Success is never achieved in a straight line. Sometimes we fail. In those times, we have to get up and try it again.
Imagine that you are on a diet and that you are trying to stay away from sugar. But you decide to meet your friends at a casual restaurant. You don’t know how it happened but you ended up eating a huge slice of triple chocolate cake. You relapsed.
Just because you failed on one occasion, even on many occasions, it doesn’t mean you are a failure, just try it again. If you continue trying, eventually you will succeed.
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