Look forward to starting a new year with these concentrated brief tips for success. Collected wisdoms from mindful entrepreneurs, experts in positivity and research: Paula Dezzutti Hewlette, CEO and founder of Local Choice Inc.; Alexander Loyd, author of Beyond Willpower; Marriane Williamson, spiritual teacher, best selling author and key speaker on Super Soul Sunday; and Brian Greenberg, CEO of True Blue Life Insurance and Greenberg Enterprise Inc., with added insights from research compose these 10 keys for lasting success.
To give yourself a new beginning into an even better experience of prosperity focus on one key each day for 10 days and repeat. Let these wisdoms from others unfold your own.
1. Accept yourself for who you are
Accepting and embracing our unique qualities, characteristics and choices is the solid footing we stand on to reach our goals, like knowing where we are so that the GPS can direct us. "The most important thing I have come to accept is that there is not another person in this world who would be willing to do what I am doing ... or they would be doing it!" Paula Dezzutti Hewlette tells me in an interview.
When you take accurate perspective to see that your uniqueness is important, you get a solid sense of who you are. "Significance and security are so important because they directly relate to issues of identity," writes Alexander Loyd in his book, Beyond Willpower. Loyd explains that we see ourselves as worthy to feel our significance; as others recognize our contributions, we feel the security of their acceptance.
"Self-love is knowing that myself is more than my 'self' with the little 's'. It's my 'Self' with the big 'S' ... because I am no better than anyone else, but no less than anyone else. I am an instrument of God. I am a lamp through which this light is meant to shine," Marianne Williamson shares in a Super Soul Sunday talk on relationships.
2. Have a vision
Vision drives us forward with direction. "Great movements have happened in our world because some individuals have the capacity to stay true to themselves, inspired by their passions and fueled by their purpose," Hewlette highlights.
Brian Greenberg uses the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) approach explaining in our interview, "At the beginning of every quarter we meet with each employee and agree on 2-5 Personal Objectives to complete by the end of the quarter."
3. Learn from the downs
The course from dream to manifestation takes us through unknown territory -- sometimes seeming dark and hopeless; sometimes seeing bright and victorious. "In business and in life, things will go up and things will go down. It is the rhythm of life. As long as you learn from the downs, the ups will be that much better." Greenberg reflects.
4. Take a new perspective
Often we see our interpretation of situations as reality instead of taking a multi-perspective objective view. "So often we are discouraged by appearances of stagnation or defeat," Hewlette clarifies and confesses "My greatest challenge is waking up with passion each day and not succumbing to the illusion that anything outside of me is real."
5. Practice gratitude
Gratitude is the key that unlocks happiness. Studies show that using gratitude and other self-transcendent emotions create wellbeing and counter negative emotions (Cappellan, Toth-Gauthier, Saroglou & Fredrickson, 2014). Choosing appreciation in every situation works like an antidote to sadness and hopelessness. Don't just accept research; try it out!
6. Let go of the unwanted
"You won't get anywhere that you really want to be by resisting the unwanted, as all of your attention is on the thing that you DO NOT want. The problem is most people are thinking about what they don't want, and they're wondering why it shows up over and over again," Hewlette explains.
7. Be sincere
"I revere transparency, honesty, and quality in everything I purchase and demand that my own businesses exceed my own personal expectations." Greenberg illuminates.
Sincerity relates to being genuine and trustable. "With clear understanding of my purpose comes accountability, and with accountability comes contribution to mankind," Hewlette elucidates.
8. Serve others
"Much of my success has been because we believe in serving people and having fun doing it. " Greenberg states.
9. Be patient
"The biggest challenge for companies who are devoted to building trust is patience," Greenberg emphasizes.
"People want to know how much you care before they care how much you know," Hewlette concurs.
10. Notice how you impact others
"[We] will have ingratiated ourselves into the heart and souls of people who really care about us because we took the time initially to share our true selves" Hewlette wisely states.
"Anytime I define myself, anytime I see myself as separate from others, you are by definition not talking about the level of your ultimate reality and your ultimate reality is the level where you are already one with other people" Marianne Williamson enlightens.
*Van Cappellan, P., Toth-Gauthier, M., Saroglou, V. & Fredrickson, B. L. (2014), Religion and Well-being: the mediating role of positive emotions, Springer Netherlands, 2015