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In the journey of life, we all come across certain challenges that in one way or another attempt to derail our success. Sometimes these challenges are of our making while other times they creep up on us when we least expect them.
Here are five enemies of success you need to avoid at all costs:
1. The Villainy of Complacency
Complacency is one of the biggest enemies of success we must avoid at all costs. Believing you have “arrived” is a very costly mistake. One never arrives at success. Success is a journey, not a destination. While you may achieve your goals and objectives, you must never forget that there are always bigger mountains to climb and tougher obstacles to face.
Unfortunately, many people do not realize early enough that there’s always more to do and that the competition is rapidly gaining on them in the race. They assume that the initial achievement of material benefits, i.e., money, power, and status is enough to sustain them on for the rest of their lives.
There’s always someone coming behind you who is hungrier than you, and willing to work a lot harder for less pay until they achieve what you have and more. As someone once said, “Complacency will get you killed.” You need to maintain your fire if you are going to stay the course and achieve lasting success.
“The right time is always right now.” – Casey Neistat
2. Lack of Resources
If you study successful people, you will observe that an overwhelming majority of them succeed in spite of their obstacles. On the other hand, failures always complain and give excuses that their failures are as a result of lack of resources i.e. money, connections, and access.
The presence or absence of resources is not the primary determinant of success. Resourcefulness is the essential ingredient that separates the winners from the losers. The ability to make the best out of what you have, and manipulate situations and circumstances in your favor is a critical success factor. Resourcefulness is a learned skill.
You can improve your resourcefulness by training yourself to collect seemingly disparate and unrelated resources. Casual information you stumble upon today could be the missing link to someone else’s success story. You need to become a collector and connector of resources and people if you want to achieve lasting success.
3. Ego
Your ego is another powerful enemy that can hinder your progress and success in life. Believing that you are infallible or invincible after achieving some prior success is a trap that ensnares many people.
The problem with a growing ego is that by the time you realize it is a problem, it is already too late. Ryan Holiday’s book “Ego Is The Enemy” discusses how the “Ego” has led to the failure and destruction of many great men and women throughout history. I would suggest that you grab a copy and read the section on how to manage your Ego during times of success. It is a compelling chapter with many valuable lessons that cannot be summarized in a few short sentences.
The main thing with your ego is that it does not let you see beyond your immediate circumstances. Ego blocks you from seeing the full picture and therefore increases the chances of failure. By not letting your ego get in the way, you can look at things from different perspectives and come up with solutions that are pragmatic.
4. Loss of Focus
When most people reach the top of their game, they become the envy of their peers. It is at that point many decide to branch out and diversify their interests and activities. As a result of increasing their capacity and activities, many people are unable to make any meaningful impact on any one task. This is a major problem for a lot of successful people.
To guard against this, you need to stay focused and dedicated to tasks that are the highest and best use of your time. If the project or task you are taking on next is not suited to your strengths and does not provide a high ROI, you need to seek help.
Learn to practice the art of strategic delegation. Delegation helps you create high leverage opportunities for yourself and provides an avenue for your team to learn and grow.
“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.” – Brian Tracy
5. Fear of The Unknown
After achieving some success, many people shy away from taking bigger risks. They get accustomed to their new situation and create a comfort zone where they do not take risks. The truth is, everyone gets scared and everyone doubts themselves from time to time. It is a part of life. Everyone you look up to has at one point or another had to cause to question themselves.
A small voice in their head tells them “you have gone far enough, don’t rock the boat or you could lose everything.” That is the voice of Fear. Fear plants little suggestions that cause you to doubt and second guess yourself. Everyone has heard that voice at one point or another. The people you look up to hear that voice routinely. The only reason they appear heroic to you is that despite the self-doubt and overwhelming fear of the unknown they still make a conscious decision to take action.
Action breeds confidence and kills fear. The only way to silence the voice of fear and doubt in your life is to act confidently and trust your instincts. When you approach new challenges and larger obstacles, you must believe that you already have what it takes to succeed. Once you can do that, you will become unstoppable, and your future success is guaranteed.
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Financial challenges are a consistent and somewhat predictable occurrence. At one point or another we all struggle to keep up with our bills despite having a so-called “good job,” or barely have enough money to survive. Even a celebrity like Mike Tyson, who earned close to $300 million in his prime lost everything because he ignored and disrespected the rules of money.
The rich people we look up to seem to have mastered the rules of money because they took the time to study and educate themselves.
If you want to get your money game right you need to learn these critical principles below and apply them religiously:
1. Assess your current situation
Many people are under the illusion that their financial situation is in great shape. That’s because they never take the time to assess their current situation. To achieve financial freedom, you need to know where you are before planning where you’re going.
Take some time to calculate your total debt and the cash value of all your assets. If your assets exceed your debts, you are in good shape. However, if your debts exceed your assets, that means you are broke. You need to think of ways to pay off your debts by either earning cash from a second job or creating and selling products.
This is not an easy task, but it can be done once you have a plan and are willing to do whatever it takes to work your plan.
“The first step towards change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden
2. Measure and manage everything
Peter Drucker once said, “what gets measured, gets managed.” Having a budget is the cornerstone to building a financial fortress. There are several ways to create a workable budget. You can use a tool like an excel spreadsheet or a fantastic piece of software like You Need A Budget “YNAB” to track your income and expenses.
Once you have gathered some data, periodically go over your expenses, to ensure that you catch any fraudulent charges and unauthorized transactions that might have slipped past you.
3. Be logical when making expenditures
The worst time to go shopping for groceries is when you are hungry. That is because you are driven by the need to satisfy your appetite at that moment. Meeting your current emotional needs clouds your ability to make rational decisions.
Nobody earns their money because of emotions. Emotions are the leading cause of expenditures. Logic is the driving force of income. The universal principle is we engage in logical activities that create value, and then trade the value created for money.
Simply put, when it comes to affairs of money, emotions cannot always be trusted if you are trying to preserve or increase your wealth. Always look for ways to save money on expenses but be courageous, daring and decisive when making investments. Make it a game and enjoy it. Remember money earners rely on logic, money spenders rely on emotions.
4. Diversify your source of income
There are very few millionaires and billionaires in the world that rely on one source of revenue. This advice is very common in the business/finance community but is often overlooked. Many people believe that the money they make from their jobs plus their retirement contributions is enough to sustain them for the rest of their lives. News Flash! Your current income or retirement plan will never be sufficient to support you.
No matter how busy you are or how challenging it may be, you need to start thinking of ways to earn some alternative source of income. You can either freelance online with your current skills online, launch a gig economy business like driving for Uber during your off time or renting out your free space on Airbnb.
No matter what you do, the goal is to start getting something extra coming in when you don’t need it because sooner or later you will have no choice. This principle is especially important during periods of systemic market upheavals like recessions.
“Never depend on a single income.” – Warren Buffet
5. Focus on the future
Achieving financial freedom requires a massive dose of discipline and responsibility towards managing your cash. You cannot fall for every hot stock tip or buy into every new get rich quick program. Success leaves clues. There’s always a trail of how people make money.
For every Elon Musk that creates a Paypal, there are a few dozen others who will create a Dwolla, Square or Stripe. To become independently wealthy you need to study long-term trends, human nature, and cultural and geopolitical dynamics. I have found that the best way people get rich and stay rich is to provide a solution to one of the seven needs in Maslow’s hierarchy.
6. Be antisocial for some time
Getting your financial house in order requires you to make some tough decisions which will have an adverse impact on your social life. That means learning to say a big fat “NO” to socializing with friends and family. I am not saying your friends and family are the cause of your problems, but they are the unwitting enablers that will help you stay in your problem.
Use your reclaimed time to upgrade your abilities by learning new tools, skills, and languages. The sweet spot for financial freedom is usually at the intersection of your passions, skills, and opportunity.
7. Be obsessed with achieving results
Your initial financial freedom plan is going to fail. I am 97.75% certain of that. In spite of the guaranteed failure, I believe something in this article will resonate with you, and push you to act with purpose.
Once you start moving with purpose, you need to be obsessed with achieving results. If something works for you, keep it. If it does not work, cut it out and try something else. It is your plan. You are the secret sauce. Tweak it, Twerk it, Remix it, Work it. Do whatever you need to do to make the plan work for you.
“Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.” – Les Brown
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In life, one of the major goals for many people is to be financially successful so they can live life without worrying how they’re going to pay their next bill. Financial independence isn’t created overnight.
You’ll find, those who are financially successful, are those who have worked hard a majority of their lives to get to where they are now. If you’re tired of living pay cheque to pay cheque, this expert guide will give you the powerful methods to reach financial success in life without worrying about money.
Here are 4 ways to become financially successful in life:
1. Ignore The Status Of Others
You may have heard the saying ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. It’s important that when you want to reach financial success that you ignore the status of others. You don’t need to keep up with what others are doing.
Your friends may be spending large amounts of money on insignificant things, this doesn’t mean you have to do the same. Many people fall into the trap of keeping up with others who are living the high life. The problem with this is that it can drain your funds quickly. You need to remember that although their lifestyle and income may be a lot different than yours, when it all comes down to it, no one cares about what you drive, where you live, or how you dress.
They care more about how you treat them. When you stop comparing yourself to others and focus on your own financial well being instead, you’re on the right path to becoming more successfully free in life.
“The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth in what seems to be an instant.”
? Robert T. Kiyosaki
2. Only Spend What You Need To
Another area where many people fall short is spending more money on things they want, rather than things they need. Many people use their money on items that aren’t really needed. If you focus on spending only what you need and use the rest of your money to pay down debt, or placing it in savings, you’ll find that over time you’ll be in a much better financial state.
A good way to work out how much you can afford to save is by:
- Tracking your income and what you make every month.
- Deducting your important expenses such as water, electricity, food and house rates etc.
- Keep a small amount for spending on yourself otherwise you will become stale. Spending $20 a week or fortnight is much better than spending $70.
- Place any additional funds, even if it’s $10, into a savings account.
Before making your next purchase, ask yourself, do you really need this or do you merely just want it?
3. Avoid Unnecessary Debt
Many people fall into the trap of taking out a loan in order to upgrade something that really doesn’t need to be upgraded at that time. Examples of this include upgrading a car, buying a new boat, or renovating the home. The key here is to decide whether or not you can wait and save the money first.
Think positively about money and debt . The process of becoming financially secure is all about thinking positively about money and how you will get out of debt. It’s a good idea to sit down and really analyze your income and debts to see where your money is coming from and where it is going.
Consider what we call good debt and bad debt. Good debt is where you may have a loan on an investment property and, depending on your circumstances, may be eligible to access some taxation concessions. Bad debt on the other hand, is a high interest debt that simply eats away at your income such as credit card debt or purchases made on a store card. Focus on paying down bad debt first.
4. Rewrite Your Life Goals and Create A Strategy
Last but not least, it’s important to set major financial life goals that you want to work towards. When you write down your goals you’ll begin to understand what’s required to make them become a reality.
Some things to ask yourself when you’re thinking about your goals:
- Where do you want to be in 5 years/10 years/retirement?
- Are there any foreseeable expenses that will emerge that may affect your ability to reach your goals? Such as children’s education or caring for elderly parents.
- Do you have any debts that will need to be paid off before you reach your goals?
- How much income will you need to achieve your goals?
- Do you have any family or other dependents that rely on you?
- What would happen to your family and dependents should you lose your source of income?
- Are your goals realistic given your financial resources?
“Obstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. Only you can stop you.” — Jeffrey Gitomer
Becoming financially successful is all about the road you take to get there. Even just making some small changes such as reining in credit card spending, paying off credit card debt and starting a savings plan can make a significant difference to your financial well being.
To achieve larger goals such as planning for a comfortable retirement, it’s worthwhile speaking to a qualified financial adviser. A financial adviser can help you to define your goals and work with you on a financial strategy that’s designed to make your goals become a reality.
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Here it comes…push, HARDER, push yourself. If you don’t push harder it’s going to pass you by. LET’S GO! Stand up! Do you feel that? You’re riding the momentum wave. For any start-up, new business owner or leader, creating and maintaining momentum is crucial to the success and future success of their companies.
Many have asked, “How do I create momentum?” and equally as important, “How do I keep momentum going?” in order to ‘ride the momentum wave’.
Here are 4 ways to create and keep momentum going with your team:
1. Celebrate the small victories
Recognize when team members are doing the right things. Whether its consistently showing up to the office 15 minutes before everybody else, dressing exceedingly sharp or just demonstrating great follow-through. Anything that they are doing, big or small, make a point to let them know personally that you notice. This could be done with a simple gesture like a high five or a great job. This will reinforce the positive actions and build their level of confidence.
“Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something big.” – Kara Goucher
2. Give public recognition
When giving recognition, find a time to do so publicly. It is typically very easy to do this with your top performers, but it is equally as important, if not more, to do this with your fresh, new team members. This will create a company culture of winning and high performance. Especially if your team sees that even the newest guy is exceeding expectations.
A winning team culture will subconsciously push each person to take their performance to the next level. Consider this, if you have 20 team members, and each person gets just 5% better, then your team just got 100% better.
3. Challenge when confidence is high
It is important to constantly challenge your team. It will keep them fresh and committed to performing. If you want to build off the momentum that you will create within your team, then it is important to recognize when you have people with high levels of confidence and to challenge them at that moment.
Give them a task that is slightly more challenging than what they have been doing on a regular basis. Their high level of confidence will push them through and allow them to complete a task that they may have been able to complete at any other moment. By completing these more challenging tasks, their level of confidence in their abilities to succeed will be at an all-time high.
“Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.” – Sonia Gandhi
4. Develop goals as a team
Take some time out of your normal routine to sit down with your team to develop goals. By having your team create these goals with you, it will create “buy-in” from your team. As you and your team get closer to hitting these goals, vocalize and ensure that everyone is aware of the progress.
No one wants to let down the team, so this will create a level of personal commitment to the team from each individual person which in turn drives your business toward accomplishing the goals.
