The Truth About Success and 3 Tips For Achieving It

'Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.'  -Napoleon Hill

I've been reading and listening to a lot of business related podcasts of late and have come to realise that success really doesn't come overnight. On my StartUp Creative journey, I have spent a lot of time reading biographies of the true masters of business and listening to the success stories of people I admire. For some reason these stories never sound as hard what it feels to run a startup.

I’ve had this vision that everything will fall into place and one day I will wake up with the success I dream of for myself and my business, but I have come to realise that the world doesn't work that way. Instead what I’ve learnt is that true success comes from hard freaking work; putting your head down and getting the job done. A daily habit of getting up, staying focused, and taking small steps everyday towards your goal. It takes refusing to be distracted or swayed by the temptations to give up or take the easy way out. No doubt the road to success is tough, that is why so many people live their lives unhappy, it’s just too painful to go after. It will test you in the most unexpected way and challenge you beyond belief, but if you can withstand it all, one day you will raise your head to find yourself living the life of your dreams.Here are 3 of my tips for achieving success (whatever success means to you) Start your day with something you love; walking, coffee, breakfast out. Take time to enjoy it and be grateful for the opportunity you have to do what you love. I find this helps set the tone for your day and no matter how hard you have/want to work you feel empowered knowing that you made time to do something that makes you smileKeep a written ‘to-do’ list. Spend 10 minutes at the start of the day getting everything out of your head onto paper. When I say everything, I mean everything! From paying bills, to making phone calls, doing the groceries or writing a proposal. If you free your mind from having to remember it all, you make more room for clarity and presence throughout your day. I also think there is something in physically crossing stuff off your list that gives you a sense of achievement. I always title my ‘to do’ lists something positive e.g ‘My Amazing Profitable To-Do List.’ It means that every time I look at it I feed myself a positive affirmation and feel inspired to get to work.Take regular breaks. There is no use in working yourself into the ground trying to get everything done in one day. Things can wait and nothing really is that urgent, is it? What’s the worst that could happen? You might like to rewrite your ‘to-do’ list in order of importance to help you put things first and prioritise your day to alleviate last minute stress. Make sure you get up from your work space, eat proper meals, drink lots of water, go on an afternoon coffee date with your lover or a dusk walk along the beach. Whatever it is, break up your day and learn to take time out from work…t will only benefit your health, relationships and quality of work, trust me on this one.