Think BIG

“You become what you envision yourself being.” Angel Martinez “You are what you think.” Unknown

Mindset is key. Your thoughts shape your actions and your actions are what brings you to your goals. Without having a goal and without thinking that you can achieve that goal, your chances of achieving sth. are pretty dam low. But thinking that you can be the next (insert your idol here) wont happen unless you take action on your thoughts. But your thoughts will be the foundation for your actions.

Mindset and Willpower

“You are more powerful than you think you are. Act accordingly.” Seth Godin “Goals without routines are wishes. Routines without goals are aimless.” Verne Harnish The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will. Vince Lombardi Jr.

These quote takes the previous idea to the next level. They include the action. Ideas are just thoughts in your head. To bring them to life you have to act on them. Everything depends on how you execute your ideas. If you want to get a sixpack, you have to eat and train accordingly. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less. If you want to get promoted, you must be a more productive worker. But how…? Transform your goal (its a thought in your head) into milestones and then break these milestones into specific actions you can do today (a real thing that will transform your life). Execution is key.

Control in Life

“Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us.” Epictetus

We only have a certain amount of control over the things that happen in life. However we have complete control over how we react and handle these things. You are the only one how decides how to think, feel and behave in specific situations. That means that you are entirely capable of choosing your thoughts that will lead to positive emotions and the right actions that bring you closer to your goals.

Work Hard

“Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone wants to be healthy, happy, thin, and rich. But most people are not willing to pay the price.” Brian Tracy

The difference of whats possible and whats common is quite gigantic. Is it possible for everyone to be in really good shape? Definitely. Is it possible to be happy all the time? Sure. But only very few people will achieve that, because you have to work for it. That brings us to the next point.

Value

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Warren Buffett

You can apply that quote to more then stuff that you buy. You have to pay a price to achieve your goals. Most often you trade your time and energy (= price) for insight and new skills (= value). These new skills bring you new opportunities, fun, more money, new friends, better health, stronger personality… Always keep in mind that value you get of sth differs from person to person. Always try hard to make sure that in everything you do the price is lower then the value.

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” Albert Einstein

This challenges the definition of success. In todays world most people think of money and fame when they hear the word successful. But this does not reflect at all how you feel, if you are happy or sad, are depressed or bored. So I researched how successful people define success. It differs a lot from being focused on money and power.

Progress and Learn

“Everything is hard before it’s easy.” Goethe “We gather strength as we go on.” Virgil “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” African Proverb “The elevator to success is out of order, but the stairs are always open.” Zig Ziglar

Learning takes time. Getting better can be hard and challenging. So don’t be unhappy and depressed if you can’t do a handstand at your first try. I struggle with that a lot. For me it’s especially true with training and sport. Nowadays you see thousands of videos of people doing crazy cool shit on the internet. But everybody has to go through a phase of struggle and hard work. So I try to look at it rationally and tell me that if I quit I will NEVER be able to do it. But if I continue I will get better and better and then “BAM” I somehow can do it. And it feels good to look back and think: “Wuut, I could not do xyz one year ago!?!?” That not only true for sports but for everything you have to learn and for achievements in general. Focus on progress not on your current level of being. Improving is getting better than your past yourself not to starting with the hardest stuff first. Everything takes time. The more time you invest a certain activity it the better you get. But how should you take on sth to get the most out of it in the shortest period of time?

10x Your Life

“If you have a 10-year plan of how to get somewhere, you should ask: Why can’t you do this in 6 month?” Peter Thiel

Improving by 10x instead of 10%. This forces you to think “out of the box” and helps you to set your goals high. Try to find or create more efficient methods and routines. Try to imagine what you would do if you have to accomplish your goal in 1/10th of the time you would have assigned to do it. Else the Joker would come and kill your family. Okay, thats a bit overly dramatic, but you might come up with some crazy ideas that might help you.

Act on Your Goals

“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” Jim Rohn “Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.” Abraham Hicks

Go on with your day and have a plan in mind what you can do to be productive and useful. I like to plan on Sunday what I want to to in the following week. This weekly planning helped me a lot to kill the feeling of not being productive. If I don’t know what I should do or feel uncertain about if I should do X or Y, I have a look at my to-do’s and start with the most important one first. That helps me to focus on important stuff rather then urgent or random things that happen to occur on a day (-> Eisenhauers Decision Matrix). After all it is effectivity that is really important rather then doing the wrong stuff efficiently.

The Influence of Luck

“You are not a lottery ticket.” Peter Thiel “It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand.”

Randy Pausch

How much are we affected by luck? Humans tend to think about luck when others are more successful. But do we make that up to feel better? There are certain things that are affected by “luck”, but how do some people manage to be “luckier” though there whole life? Watch Peter Thiel’s speach about luck on youtube. Overall it’s more important what we do with the opportunities that we get in live then what kind of opportunities we get. You are the one that is responsible for your life. Own your life.

Work Life Balance

“If we are serious all the time, we will wear out before we get the truly serious stuff done.” Tim Ferris

Work-live balance is important. Just working hard all day will get you overworked and exhausted. It’s important to do stuff that is fun and is sometimes not productive in itself. For the people who find that hard because they constantly want to work to feel productive: Think of it as regeneration. Even the best powerlifter and bodybuilders take some rest days. And you have to take rest days from work also. In most cases you will become even more productive and focused when you take some time off.

Be Curios

“Stay Hungry, stay foolish!” Steve Jobs “Grow old, but don’t grow up.” Unknown

Curiosity keeps your mind alive and young. If you are curios you are interested in everything and go through life learning about lot’s of things you would miss if you would accept everything. Do not feel ashamed when you do not know anything about a topic. Keep asking questions and keep learning. Sometimes it’s good to ask ‘Why?’. Kids do and they are not stupid at all. They just want to learn everything. Somehow a lot of adults loose that trait. But being curios is interesting. It’s important and will help you to keep on learning for your whole life.

Be Futuristic

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.” Robert Greene

Have an open mindset. Challenge your thinking and learn as much as possible. Invest time to develop a growth mindset, acquire new knowledge, learn new skills and change your perception. Who you are today, is not who you have to be tomorrow.

Ideas

“If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” Albert Einstein “An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” Oscar Wilde

Consider Uber, they took the idea of a taxi to the next level. At first glance it seemed really useless as we had a well functioning taxi system in place. Everything that leaped humanity forward was a once really strange idea. Nobody believed in computers when they where invented. Ideas that are a bit strange challenge the norm and may provide much more value than ideas that make sense.

“All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.” Napoleon Hill “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” Lee Iacocca

Execution of an idea is everything that matters. Do not be afraid to tell everybody about your idea. You can get extremely valuable feedback. The chance that someone else will steal your idea and executes it is quite small, as it takes the right interests and mixture of personality. It’s much more likely that you will gain sth. when you share your thoughts.

Mistakes and Failure

“If I fail more than you, I win.” Seth Godin

Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try. If you do not try you never know if it would work our. The more mistakes you make the better you get in crafting a success story.

“Admitting mistakes, taking ownership and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team.” Jocko Willink

Admit your mistakes and be fully responsible for the, Listen at his TEDx talk. Btw, I have collected more interesting talks and resources to learn from.

Learn The Smart Way

“A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise one learns from the mistakes of others.” Unknown

Learning the hard way or the smart way? For most people there is already somebody who has achieved what they want to do. Seek their advice. If possible reach out to him/her and offer to work for free if they teach you and become your mentor. Read all books about your topic of interest. Learn of them and then act accordingly. Find out what the most common mistakes were.

“Always to seek out challenges as opposed to avoiding them.” Josh Waitzkin

Have the mental strength to place oneself in an uncomfortable environment. This mental resilience is crucial to perform on the highest level. A lot of things have a high mental barrier but once this barrier is overcome it is not that hard at all. Be confident

Options and Power

“The person who has more options has more power. Don’t wait until you need options to search for them.” Derek Sivers

The best plan is the one that lets you change your plans. Being flexible and adaptive is superior to inflexible and static. Situations can change. Your feelings can change. Then it’s always good to “be an absolute opportunist, doing whatever is best for the future in the current situation, unbound by the past.” (Derek Sivers). So if you are interested by these ideas check out Derek Sivers “Do This” directives.

Be Tenacious

“Life’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Phillip C. McGraw “Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better” Émile Coué

Don’t quit when you just have started. Success does usually not come overnight. It’s a progress that may take years. Keep on going and going. Small improvements accumulated over years is the way to go. Focus on your goals and give up to say “YES” to things that don’t support your goals.

Be Simple

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Albert Einstein “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci

Strive for simplicity in every aspect of your life. People tend to make even the simplest thing complicated. Find a way to return to the essence.

Surround Yourself With Awesome People

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Jim Rohn

Choose your friends wisely. It is good to sometimes be the dumbest person in the room. Else you limit your growth.

Be true to yourself

“The only way to avoid pissing people off is to do nothing important.” Oliver Emberton

There is no need to justify oneself for anyone but yourself. Be you and stay authentic. Improve and provide value every day. Do not let your life to be directed because you want to satisfy everybody.

Thoughts on Success

“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.” John Wooden

Keep learning, keep growing, keep struggling toward the YOU that YOU want to become. Do not let yourself influence by whats ‘common’ or what other people think you should do. Everybody is different and so is the way how you become happy and fulfilled (to get rid of the word ‘successful’) in your life.

Conclusion

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Mae West

Acquire healthy habits, focus your actions on your goals an do not give up to easily. Plan big and think big. Believe in yourself