Psychology of Success

The psychology of success is a big topic and, in a sense, everything discussed on this entire website falls under the psychology of success. So to get us started, I’ll touch on six important aspects in this article. You can then follow links to further information and check out my posts, etc.

Vision – goal setting

Goals are key. Highly successful people are intensely goal-oriented. Without a goal, you’ll dissipate your efforts and waste your days. With a goal, you’ll move inexorably in the direction of that goal, accumulating your efforts. Earl Nightingale likens it to a river running in a straight, smooth channel:

Earl Nightengale – A Goal Gives Life Direction

“You will become what you think about… that’s why having a goal toward which to work is so very important. It gives our minds a focus and our lives direction.

The most successful people are future-oriented and having goals allows them to make decisions about what to do today in terms of whether or not it will help them achieve their goals. That means they end up doing the “right things” more frequently than unsuccessful people and that leads to accomplishing their goals.

Before you go any further, I invite you to watch the video in the sidebar. It’s about goals and it offers you a chance to sign up for a free nine-step Goal Setting Workout.

Discipline – getting yourself to take action

Tony Robbins recorded an audio program called Personal Power some years ago. And can you guess what it’s about? Personal Power could mean charisma, or influence or maybe the ability to focus your thinking… but he actually coined that term to talk about the ability to get yourself to take action. Other people call that self-discipline.

Ah, but there are different forms of discipline. You can get people to listen to you with threats and fear… and you can turn that on yourself as well. You can engage in an internal shouting match between your lazy side and your “disciplined” side (and consequently use up a lot of the energy you might have applied to being productive.)

You can even get yourself to take action by appeal to a sense of duty or obligation.

But what’s the psychology of success in terms of discipline? It has to do with aligning your goals with your values (I call this congruency), and then building a healthy work ethic into your self image (seeing yourself as a producer).

  • More on the congruency thing in my Goal Setting Workout.
  • More on Motivation and Self Discipline in my other article on that subject.

Positive Mental Attitude

I read Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking when I was eight years old. (It was my grandfather’s copy. I also borrowed and read, at age eight, Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People. Those two classic books were an awesome introduction to the psychology of success for me! I’ve been an avid reader of personal development literature ever since.)

Successful entrepreneurs are optimistic, open minded people. You don’t make fast progress by dwelling on negativity.

Problems arise, for sure. Entrepreneurs face many more challenges than mere employees. But entrepreneurs FACE them. Their attitude is: that’s the problem, how do we solve it? They focus quickly on the solution. In fact, isn’t business about solving customers’ problems and bringing solutions to the market?

Look for future blog posts on this subject. For now, let me tell you one thing about W. Clement Stone (I might as well mention that he co-wrote Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude with Napoleon Hill.) Stone was a self made billionaire in the insurance business. I’ve heard that whenever his co-workers told Stone about a problem, he’d say, “That’s good,” and launch into finding a solution. Ordinary people worry and fret over problems; billionaire W. Clement Stone always said “That’s good.”

Is Life As a Top Business Coach For You

On the up side, you change lives for the better. Not just the life of the business leader you are coaching; you improve the lives of their staff too. In some cases your coaching will save 10,000s of jobs and create as many more. Imagine what that feels like!

You are privileged to work with many of the brightest and most talented people in the country, and they look to YOU to help them become even more successful. And you will. And when you do you will have the respect and admiration of the UK’s business elite.

On this programme you will learn the most effective business coaching techniques known to man. You’ll understand business better than you can currently imagine.

You’ll work in pleasant offices and top hotels. Earnings can be great, if, and only if you follow the proven techniques to secure clients. The knock-on effect in your personal life will be great. Your relationships will make you feel better because you will be a master at bringing out the best in the people around you.

Even your outlook on life will be improved. Police officers, psychiatrists and others who normally work with people at their worst often end up very depressed or suicidal. As a top business coach you work with people at the opposite end of the spectrum. You work with people at their best; who are trying to become even better. Imagine how that makes you feel long term.

On the down side, yes there is a considerable amount of travelling. You can limit that by setting geographical limits on your marketing. Yes, the buck stops with you. That also means that all achievements are down to you.

Yes, some clients can be unreasonable. Most want you to succeed for them and will do everything they can to help you help them. Some clients will be slow to pay. You’ll learn how to get paid on time every time.

Yes, you will have to be learning and improving on an ongoing basis. Year on year, the average standard of business leadership improves (partly because of your input) and that means that you have to be improving on an ongoing basis to stay ahead of the vast majority of your clients.

If you don’t like ongoing change and self-improvement you should think carefully before becoming a business coach. If you love progressive change and self-improvement (both personal and professional) you will thrive as a business coach and can expect to become a top player quickly.

Where, generally, can YOU succeed as a business coach?

Where you are most credible. It would help your credibility with future clients if you have business management experience. The more senior and successful your business experience the more credible you are with business clients.

If you want to work with entrepreneurs it will help if you have founded and run your own successful business (other than an advice based practice).

If you have a strong track record of achievement in the public/charity service sector you will be credible there. The public sector desperately needs top-level business coaches.

You will succeed as a business coach where you can add most value to your clients and where you are most credible.

Where, specifically, can YOU succeed as a business coach?

Your unique combination of skills, knowledge, personality, experience, talents, thinking patterns, career history, etc will determine the route you are best equipped to take to reach the highest levels of business coaching. Finding that route for you is part of the programme.

Leaping Into Entrepreneurship

Times have changed a lot since I entered the workforce. People used to get their education and go on to work for the same company 20 or 30 years and retire. That’s not the case anymore. Today it seems as though the loyalty with a lot of companies is not with their employees but with the dollar bill. It’s actually rare today to find someone that’s been with the same company for any length of time.

Companies are being more creative when it comes to employment and are constantly looking for ways to increase profits and decrease costs. More and more people are faced with trying to decide whether or not to go into business for themselves. There are a lot of advantages to starting your own business and in this article, I will be discussing some of them.

  1. When you have your own business you are the boss and can do things your way. Often times your input is not welcome when working for someone else, it just does what you’re told and go home.
  1. When you have your own business you get to keep all of the profits, but when you work for someone else you’re trading time for dollars and your income is capped.
  2. You control your time and can work whenever you want based on things that need to get done. This is especially true for an internet business which is open 24 hours a day. There are also some challenges you will face and should consider before going into business for yourself.
  3. Can you afford to be in business for yourself without a steady paycheck? It’s important that before you jump out there you pay down some bills and put back something for those ups and downs that are surely going to come when starting a new business.
  4. Knowing how to market your new business is something that really needs to be considered also because getting new customers is the life of your business and marketing a new business is not something most people know how to do. Having a good marketing strategy is crucial to your success so it’s important to do your homework and have a game plan before you get out there.
  5. Start up costs is another area that really needs to be considered when starting a new business. This is why the internet is so attractive because it eliminates a lot of the costs associated with running a business.
  6. Finally, you have to ask yourself are you the entrepreneurial type by nature. Are you a self-starter? When you go into business for yourself you’re the boss and will be wearing many hats. No one is going to tell you what to do. You have to be focused enough to get up out of the bed every day and go to work just like you would if you were working for someone else. If you’re not productive you don’t get paid. This is big and should not be taken lightly.