What Is Your Purpose?

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The 3 Personal Development Goals Successful People Pursue Habitually

If you Google “daily habits of successful people” you’ll find almost every business-focused media outlet represented in the results. But if you’re looking for a guaranteed roadmap to success, don’t get excited just yet. If you read all of those articles, or even a few of them, you'll soon realize that successful people have a wide range of daily habits.

Some say you have to rise early, some sleep until noon then work from their bed for another hour. Some say to get the toughest thing out of the way first, some start their day in an easy flow of reading over coffee and don’t “eat the frog” until later. Some plan out their day the night before, some start their day by devising a plan. Some hit the jogging trail first thing, some barely take time for a stretch before hitting social media and email.

So how are any of us supposed to figure out which daily habits are critical to success, and which are personal preference and idiosyncrasy?

If you take a look at all the different lists of habits, routines, principles and priorities among successful entrepreneurs from Ben Franklin to Mark Cuban you’ll find these three universal success factors.

They spend time getting to know themselves.

If you know who they are, chances are they devote a lot of their daily practice to knowing themselves better than you can even imagine. Successful people are self-aware on multiple levels.

They know their energy patterns, so they know how much sleep is optimal. They know when they get their best rest they are at their best when they are awake. They know what fuel their body needs, and what kind of exercise it takes to feel the way they want to feel. They know what environments they need to be creative and productive, and they know the difference between those two states.

They know their priorities, too, and they know that all of their decisions must start with the highest level of their vision, mission or purpose. Benjamin Franklin’s documented daily schedule starts each day with a question; “What good shall I do this day?” Steve Jobs said in his commencement address at Stanford in 2005 that he spent 33 years asking the same question every morning; “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”

Bottom line, no matter how many articles, interviews or opinions you read, you’ll find that successful people are always tuned in to the one most critical success factor in their business -- themselves.

They spend time improving themselves.

Speaking of being tuned in to themselves, successful people know that to increase their net worth they must increase their personal worth. They’ve mastered the personal SWOTT analysis and they consistently invest in themselves.

It’s no secret that successful people read. They read story books, they read how-to books, they read news, they read industry articles. They read to improve their knowledge, their mind-set, even their mood.

But they do more than read. Successful people study. They study trends in their industry and outside of their industry, they study things that interest them and, most of all, they study people.

They spend time sharing themselves.

Many super successful people are generous with their money and time. I personally believe that trait builds both financial success and personal satisfaction, but it isn’t what I’m referencing here and I didn’t find it to be 100 percent consistent in all of the “daily habits” lists I read.

What I did find to be consistent is that every person referenced or interviewed had a personal message and a method for sharing it. Their audience might be primarily internal, but it’s not just, “Here’s what the company has to do to achieve success,” or it might be aimed at the general public, but it’s not just, “Here’s why you should buy what I’m selling.”

Successful people have a personal philosophy that permeates everything they say and do. They write, they speak, they mentor, they give interviews and in all of those circumstances they show up fully and completely, sharing not only their message, but the very essence of themselves.

If you want to be successful, I suggest you read those “daily habits” lists the way you’d look at a blueprint for a house you will live in. Make change orders where necessary. Your daily habits need to support your life and your success, don’t try to live by someone else’s blueprint. Just be sure you’re dedicating significant quality time to getting to truly know yourself, improving yourself and sharing yourself.  Because you are the single most important factor in your success, and the only one you can control.

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Lessons From a Country Music Duo to Make Your Business 'Big & Rich'

Every entrepreneur starts their business with dreams of becoming big and rich. This column is about what you can learn from a different kind of Big & Rich, as in the country music duo. On Thursday night I attended their concert in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine.

What I got wasn't just a concert, it was an experience filled with some great lessons for entrepreneurs. The questions I’m about to ask you are the same questions I asked myself about my brand as I reflected on my experience at the concert.

Their performance actually began the night before the concert. When Big Kenny and John Rich arrived in Maine, their first stop was at a popular club in town where they unexpectedly showed up and bought the entire bar a double round of Crown Royal shots. Not simply a nice gesture, but also built-in guerilla marketing that’s congruent with their brand. This move was straight out of the lyrics from their song "Save a Horse." 

I buy the bar a double round of Crown and everybody's getting down.

They don’t just sing about it, they do it. Their generosity reinforced their brand message, won them some new fans and got people on social media talking about the upcoming show.

As an entrepreneur, you’re also in the marketing business first and then you’re performing your job. Is your marketing creating a buzz in a way that reinforces exactly what your brand is about? What is something unconventional and thought-provoking you can do to harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing?

The week before their Maine show I went online and watched Big & Rich perform at Comerica Theatre in Phoenix live via Yahoo Screen. Suffice it to say, Comerica was a significantly larger venue with a much bigger audience, which clearly made it a bigger (and richer) payday for the duo.

But what we got was every bit as much of a performance. They brought the same level of energy and quality to their performance in small town Maine as they did in big city Phoenix. What a great lesson for entrepreneurs. We should be putting forth as much energy and effort into every interaction, big or small.

Today more than ever before, customers have an almost insatiable appetite for quality and service. Do you treat your smaller clients with the same level of service excellence as your key accounts? If not, someone else will.

I’ve attended hundreds of country concerts. Name the artist and I’ve probably seen them, twice. On Thursday I learned you don’t just attend a Big & Rich concert, you experience Big & Rich. They take audience engagement to a whole new level in three ways:

1. Personal connection

Between songs, they told jokes and shared personal stories about how they met, got their start and how Kenny’s inspiration for writing the song “Last Dollar” was literally being down to his last dollar in Vegas in 2002. Through these conversations they made the audience laugh, cry and think.

Sharing personal stories can help you connect with your audience too. Do your clients know why you do what you do or how you got started and some of your stumbling blocks? It will ratchet up the respect and admiration they have for your brand.

2. Sharing the spotlight

The duo literally shared the spotlight with everyone, taking turns complimenting each other and their band members, and frequently shining the spotlight on the crowd to sing along. At one point, they asked everyone in the audience who served in the military to rise for a standing ovation, then handed the mic to a U.S. Navy veteran in the front row and asked him to speak about his service.

They didn’t just paint the picture -- they painted the audience into the picture and let us help paint the picture that night. Your job is incredibly similar to theirs in that regard. Want to be a more compelling communicator? Share the spotlight by painting your prospects into the picture, then let them help paint the picture.

3. Details amplify

Lots of performers play the guitar, but how many have it outlined with rhinestones so the guy in the worst seat in the house can see it sparkle just as well as the girl in the front row? There are lots of distractions at a concert. The lights dancing off the rhinestones on the guitars keeps you focused on the artists.

How do you keep your clients' attention? How many artists use their guitars as cue cards to elicit a desired response from their audience? The only ones I’ve ever seen do it were on Thursday night. The duo used guitars with different messages in big letters on the blank space on the back of it. Instructions such as “Scream” and “Louder.” When they wanted the audience to scream louder they flipped over their guitars and held them up. Why? Because energy is contagious. They took something that was already going on and amplified it.

Energy is contagious in your business too. How do you accentuate your audience’s response? Details of any customer experience impact the emotional connection people have with your brand. The back of your business card, your apparel and your company vehicle are great blank spaces you can use to amplify your message and shine brighter.

The biggest lesson was gained from one simple question. They don’t ask you if you’re having a great time, they ask if you’re having a “Big & Rich time.” A Big & Rich time is a one-of-a-kind experience. It’s a feeling.

You’re not selling a product or service, you’re selling an experience. That’s your competitive advantage. Anyone can copy your product, but they can’t duplicate the value in the unique experience only you can provide. What experience does your brand provide? Compare your answer to that question to how your fans would actually describe it.

Instead of thinking of what you do as a job, think of it as a performance. Your business is just like performing music. It’s about connecting with your audience of customers and employees. Each of our performances leaves a mark on our respective markets. Is it strong or weak? Positive or negative?

Like great musicians, great entrepreneurs leave a powerful, positive mark on their market.

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The Difference Between Successful and Very Successful People

I recently met with a capable and driven executive and asked him, “How are you?” He gave me a rapid-fire answer of all of the things he was doing: travelling, business updates, career changes and his children’s innumerable activities. It sounded like an intense but satisfying life.

Then I asked him again, “How are you really?” And the moment I did, he became emotional and the reality of his life just flooded out of him: his stress, his frustration of trying to juggle it all, his sense that he had no time to really think, or play with his children or enjoy any of it. The (cute) summary is this: his schedule was always filled but his life wasn’t fulfilled. What is less cute is the idea that he, and many of us, have been sold a bill of goods.

We’ve been sold on a heroic ideal of the uber-man and super-women who kill themselves saying yes to everyone, sleeping four hours a night and straining to fit everything in. How often have you heard people say, “I am so busy right now!” But it almost seemed like a back-door brag.



But it’s a bogus badge of honor. It suffocates our ability to think and create. It holds otherwise hard working, capable people back from our highest contribution. Below are a few of the myths of success that hold us back from becoming very successful.

Myth 1: Successful people say, "If I can fit it in, I should fit it in."

Truth: Very successful people are absurdly selective.
As Warren Buffet is credited with having said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything."

As I wrote in a piece for Harvard Business Review, this means, "Not just haphazardly saying no, but purposefully, deliberately, and strategically eliminating the nonessentials. Not just once a year as part of a planning meeting, but constantly reducing, focusing and simplifying. Not just getting rid of the obvious time wasters, but being willing to cut out really terrific opportunities as well. Few appear to have the courage to live this principle, which may be why it differentiates successful people and organizations from the very successful ones."

Myth 2: Successful people sleep four hours a night.

Truth: Very successful people rest well so they can be at peak performance.
In K. Anders Ericsson's famous study of violinists, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell as the "10,000 hour rule," Anders found that the best violinists spent more time practicing than the merely good students. What is less well known is that the second most important factor differentiating the best violinists from the good ones was actually sleep. The best violinists averaged 8.6 hours of sleep in every 24 hour period.

Myth 3: Successful people think play is a waste of time.

Truth: Very successful people see play as essential for creativity.
Just think of Sir Ken Robinson, who has made the study of creativity in schools his life's work. He has observed that instead of fueling creativity through play, schools actually kill it: "We have sold ourselves into a fast-food model of education, and it's impoverishing our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies. Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement."

Myth 4: Successful people are the first ones to jump in with an answer.

Truth: Very successful people are powerful listeners.
As the saying goes, the people who talk the most don't always have the most to say. Powerful listeners get to the real story. They find the signal in the sound. They listen to what is not being said.

Myth 5: Successful people focus on what the competition is doing.

Truth: Very successful people focus on what they can do better.
The "winningest coach in America" is Larry Gelwix, the former Head of the Highland High School rugby team. His team won 418 games with only 10 losses in over 36 years. One of the key questions he challenged his players to ask was “What’s important now?" He didn't want his players getting distracted with what the other team was doing. He wanted them to play their own game.
Last week I took a tour of the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts. One of the quotes there grabbed my attention. John F. Kennedy said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."

The myth here is celebrated in modern culture: it’s someone who is capable, driven and wants to win and be popular. They have been rewarded for their willingness to take it all on, fit it all in and just make it happen. They believe doing more is better than doing less. I call this type of person a Nonessentialist.
Still, there is a new hero in our story. She asks, “What is essential?” and is willing to eliminate everything else. He says no to the less important activities so they can give themselves fully to the few things that really matter. It is a path that takes courage. It may require making the tradeoff between short-term popularity and long-term respect. It leads to a greater sense of control and even joy. But as an added benefit it also seems to be the thing that distinguishes the successful from the very successful.

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If You Want to Succeed, Here Are 5 Things You Need to Do Differently

No matter what your individual definition of success may be, finding it can often be a challenge. Whether its career success, monetary success or something in between, most people have a certain level of accomplishment that they want to reach in their lives. However, many fail to reach that magical level of success and have no idea why. The good news is, there are a few things that every person can do differently to change their current course of action and find the success that they deserve.

Below are five:

1. Stop looking for a perfect strategy

For the many people who take their quest for success seriously, they can get caught up in looking for a “perfect” strategy in reaching their goals. The truth is, there is never a perfect time to do anything, and there is no such thing as a perfect strategy. Many people fail to start “doing” the things they need to do, because they spend so much time planning. The only way to start a strategy is to get out there and take the first step. You can tweak and improve along the way but getting out and doing will be much more beneficial than spending all of your time trying to find the ideal strategy.

2. Stop seeing problems, start seeing opportunities

If you start looking at hurdles that come up as problems, you can put yourself in a negative mindset that will prevent you from finding success. If you instead start looking at these obstacles as opportunities, you can start finding more success. Take the challenge of approaching every problem and instantly calling it an opportunity. It can be hard to find opportunities in some problems, but if you look hard enough, there are positives even in the most overwhelming of issues.

3. Stop the information overload

Some people unfortunately find they spend too much time gathering information on how to succeed. When people do this too much, they can struggle with what is known as information overload. When you have too much information, you can suffer from paralysis by analysis and all of the research you have done can actually hurt instead of help. Nothing is as powerful as taking action and getting started.

4. Stop focusing so much on entertainment

While all people love to be entertained in a certain manner, society spends far too much time focusing on entertainment, instead of education. While you should always have you personal time outside of your professional life, many people spend too much time watching television, gossiping, playing video games and reading celebrity news. Doing this too much can prevent you from staying focused on your goals and your success. Spend your personal time entertaining yourself by consuming educational materials for personal growth. It will pay off in the long run and help you enjoy your personal time in a way that is still beneficial to your overall success.

5. Stop looking at the short term

Focusing on short-term accomplishments can actually get in your way when it comes to finding the substantial success you seek in life. This is something that many people struggle with, as there is nothing wrong with fulfilling short-term accomplishments but this shouldn’t be your focus. You should always be focusing on laying down a strong foundation for long-term growth. You can do this in a number of ways. Start looking at everything you do as a long -erm investment. Invest in your education, the future and do your best to ignore the appeal of instant gratification. This can take practice, but you can condition yourself to no longer find the same appeal in instant gratification.

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