HILLIGraphy - Creating Your Own Life (Part 4)

This is Part 4 of the 6-part post by Chuck Hillig. You can read the previous parts grouped together here.

Creating Your Own Life (Part 4)

People usually lose more things (e.g. jobs, relationships, money, health, skills, etc.) through neglect than they do through misuse. By not paying attention to the basic details, many people start committing simple errors in judgment and then repeating those same errors, again and again, over an extended period of time.

For example, it's not going to destroy your business today if you don't make those few extra phone calls this afternoon. But, eventually, it will slow down its growth. Eating a second helping of pie today won't totally ruin your diet, but if you give yourself permission to do this every day, you're going to gain weight. Although it's very easy to write out your goals each and every day, it's also very easy not to. Once again, simple errors in judgment, repeated over time, will eventually have a cumulative negative effect on your future success.

Simply put, successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. They develop a totally committed mind-set that says, in effect, "I absolutely must succeed in this endeavor or something catastrophic will happen." Through their controlled obsession toward reaching their goal, winners give themselves absolutely no margin for failing. This is in direct opposite to the kind of wishy-washy thinking that says "Well, I think that I'll go after this goal for a while and see what happens." Since their initial commitment is weak and unfocused, there is little chance of them succeeding.

Unsuccessful people will often give you a lot of reasons why they aren't winning. In fact, some of them will enthusiastically defend the so-called "reality" of their own self-imposed limitations. "I'm unsuccessful" is very different than operating from a position that says "I just haven't succeeded yet." The first is a static condition while the second is an acknowledgment that the game isn't over yet, and that your life is still unfolding.

Successful people don't set limits for themselves. They keep their eyes on the summit and not on the valley below them. They're willing to live outside of their comfort zone and to play where the opportunities are. People who chronically fail are always looking at the "risk within the opportunity" while people who succeed are looking at the "opportunity within the risk." However, if you're not willing to build your own dream, then you'll probably end up building someone else's dream. Take your pick!

Above all, successful people pay careful attention to their personal associations. You'll likely develop into the combined averages (e.g. emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, financially) of the five people that you associate with the most. Make sure that your closest friends are fully supporting the kind of person that you want to become.

And never ever give up creating your dream. Successful people, quite literally, "fail their way to the top" because, no matter what happens, they just keep going for it. It's been wisely said that "Losers quit when they're tired while winners quit when they win."

Coming up in Part 5: How fear prevents us from achieving success