1. Return to what hasn’t worked. Whether a job, or a broken relationship that was ended for a good reason, we should never go back to the same thing, expecting different results, without something being different.
2. Do anything
that requires them to be someone they are not. In everything we do, we have to
ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this? Am I suited for it? Does it fit me? Is it
sustainable?” If the answer is no to any of these questions, you better have a
very good reason to proceed.
3. Try to
change another person. When you realize that you cannot force someone into
doing something, you give him or her freedom and allow them to experience the
consequences. In doing so, you find your own freedom as well.
4. Believe
they can please everyone. Once you get that it truly is impossible to please everyone,
you begin to live purposefully, trying to please the right people.
5. Choose
short-term comfort over long-term benefit. Once successful people know they
want something that requires a painful, time-limited step, they do not mind the
painful step because it gets them to a long-term benefit. Living out this
principle is one of the most fundamental differences between successful and
unsuccessful people, both personally and professionally.
6. Trust
someone or something that appears flawless. It’s natural for us to be drawn to
things and people that appear "incredible." We love excellence and
should always be looking for it. We should pursue people who are great at what
they do, employees who are high performers, dates who are exceptional people,
friends who have stellar character, and companies that excel. But when someone
or something looks too good to be true, he, she, or it is. The world is
imperfect. Period. No one and no thing is without flaw, and if they appear that
way, hit pause.
7. Take their
eyes off the big picture. We function better emotionally and perform better in
our lives when we can see the big picture. For successful people, no one event
is ever the whole story. Winners remember that – each and every day.
8. Neglect to
do due diligence. No matter how good something looks on the outside, it is only
by taking a deeper, diligent, and honest look that we will find out what we
truly need to know: the reality that we owe ourselves.
9. Fail to ask
why they are where they find themselves. One of the biggest differences between
successful people and others is that in love and in life, in relationships and
in business, successful people always ask themselves, what part am I playing in
this situation? Said another way, they do not see themselves only as victims,
even when they are.
10. Forget
that their inner life determines their outer success. The good life sometimes
has little to do with outside circumstances. We are happy and fulfilled mostly
by who we are on the inside. Research validates that. And our internal lives
largely contribute to producing many of our external circumstances.
