Helpful Tips for a Successful Life

One of my favorite thing to do in life is to work on myself. I have recognized that the only person that can stop me is me. I am more focused on changing me and becoming the best version of myself than changing anyone else.  One thing I have come to learn is that when you get busy working on yourself, you have no time to blame others or see the faults of other people. I have come to learn and live my life on goals. This has really helped shape my life. As a result of this, there are few things I have implemented in my life (and I am still working on) that has helped me and I will share it with you.

1. View your life as an institution or company. Have you ever seen an institution without clear goals and plans? A company or an institution without a clear goal for the year and plan will ultimately fail.

2. You have been mandated to lead that company. Take responsibility of your life. Stop blaming your parents, siblings and government for the present situation of your life. Today we talk about how incompetent some of our leaders are due to their lack of vision, goals and plan. Some of us do exactly the same with our lives. We have no sense of urgency with regards to our purpose.  We have no plans. We merely wish for things to happen without well laid down plans.

3. A goal without a plan is mere wish. Every goal has to be translated into a plan. A plan is an action step to follow which will ultimately lead to the accomplishment of your goals. For example, if your goal is to read 25 books by December 31, 2020, your plan should look like this: Read one book every two weeks.

4. Keep yourself in check using a planner or a task board. Plan ahead of the week and day. Don’t let the week or day meet you unprepared. Sit down and plan your week every sunday night/monday morning. Have a target for the day/week/month. Successful people don’t wake up wondering what the day will bring. They already know what the day will bring. They wake up and program their day to bring in what they want. Bishop Oyedepo said and I paraphrase, "I am not surprised at where we are today. I would be surprised if we are not where we are today". You can predict your success through planning and execution.

5. Be task oriented. Break down your goals into task. Allocate time to every activity in the day and stick to it. We are wired to function with task. Every time you complete a task, your brain releases a “feel good” hormone called endorphin. This reinforces that behavior and your brain will likely repeat any activity that gives you pleasure.

6. Set a precedence of  success or wining. You eventually fall back to what you normally do under pressure. Intentionally develop character.

7. I learned this principle of living from Oyedepo David (Jnr). It is the principle of counting your days. How many years do you want to live on earth? Subtract your current age from it. For example, If you are 25 today, subtract 25 from 120 and it will give you 95. So you have 95 years to go. Every day depletes that number. Counting your days gives you a sense of urgency. It helps you value your time.

8. Love HARD WORK. WORK WORK WORK!!!! The elevator to the top is always out of service, you must take the stairs to get to the top. Hate laziness. Don’t be sleeping away your time(life). Get your hands busy.

9. Don’t just be BUSY, be PRODUCTIVE. Activity does not equal productivity. Focus on high value task. Identify task that are of high priority and do them first.

 10. Don’t do what is required. Do more than what is required. Go an extra mile. Extraordinary people are ordinary people with an extra effort. They wake up early and go to bed late. They are the first to show up and they participate. They go above and beyond the target.

11. Learn Self-mastery. No one can achieve success without self-discipline. You are in charge, you must learn to give orders to yourself. Life comes easy to those who are hard on themselves. Life is hard to those who are easy on themselves. 

12 Persevere! Don’t easily give in to challenges. On the road to accomplishing your goals, you will meet obstacles. You have to expect them and resolve to overcome them. Maintain your stick-ability. Be focused on the vision. Don’t get sidetracked.

13 Pray!!! Learn the habit of prayer. It is one of the secrets to achieving your goals.

14 Be passionate about your vision and goals. Be determined to achieve them.

15  Fail Forward. Failures are springboard for success. Fail but don’t stop. Keep going! Everybody who is in the top 10% of their field started in the bottom 10%. Don’t write yourself off. No one is better or smarter than you.

Love N.