The Secret To Success

Today I’m going to let you in on a secret, but this secret is different because it’s important that everyone knows about it! In the years I’ve spent reading personal development books, listening to podcasts, having conversations with industry leaders, and experimenting on myself, I believe I’ve learned the secret to success. The #1, fundamental, most important thing you need to do to be successful… is to define success for yourself.

You will fail to be successful until you know what success means uniquely to you. And I’m guilty of being on the wrong side of this. I looked around me to see what others were doing, comparing myself and my path to theirs, molding my interests and habits around those of others in pursuit of being successful. I know I’m not alone in this, but what that does is it forces you to start living by the expectations of other people, and judging yourself when you fail to meet them.

You don’t need to wake up at 6am, meditate, exercise, and journal in your first hour every day if that’s not right for you. You don’t need to make a lot of money, drive a fancy car or have a lot of Instagram followers to live a life that’s meaningful. Attaining all of those things and being "that" person has consequences, and perhaps you’re sacrificing things that are more important to you in order to feel better about doing the things you think others are expecting of you. Living that way actually pushes you further from being successful because you’re not living in alignment with your values, interests, dreams and desires.

Only you can define what’s meaningful to you, only you can define what success is for yourself, and that’s why the secret to success, that most people don’t know, is simply knowing what you authentically want. It’s not an easy task, but it's one of the most important you're ever going to do, and at least now you have the next thing to figure out to start being more successful.