Three Keys To Success in Business & In Life

In the last post we covered three keys I learned while re-connecting with a childhood classmate who now coaches leaders in business, healthcare, the arts, and more.

Those first 3 keys highlight ways to be more effective working with people.

These next 3 are key to further success in business and in life.

So let’s dive in — three more keys I learned while talking with my friend for greater success:

An Overarching Vision

1) Behind her actions and her success, I discovered my friend has an overarching belief and vision that fuels her passion to coach and contribute to the lives and work of influential leaders in business and in the world.

Her vision is that if there are more leaders doing good in the world, then there will be more peace.

What’s yours?

How can you cultivate an overarching vision and belief that fuels your work or business, so that your day-to-day tasks, goals, and activities are connected to something larger that fuels and inspires you?

Positive Expectation

2) How many times have you found yourself hesitant to do something because it was new, unfamiliar, or beyond your comfort zone? Or perhaps you did it — you called that person, made that “ask” — but even as you did it, you expected to be turned down?

What I noticed in my friend is that she has cultivated a sense of positive expectation. Even if it takes months or years to engage someone as a client, she’s already determined that it is worth it to pursue a relationship with someone who stands out to her, and she is patient enough to let the relationship unfold over time if needed without letting initial disinterest affect her own sense of confidence, mission, and purpose.

Two of the best ways I’ve found to cultivate this sense of positive expectation are:

a) practice
b) internalizing the mindset and stories of people like my friend, so you have a broader perspective
and internal “database” to draw from than just what you’ve personally experienced so far.

A sense of ease

3) The final thing I noticed in my friend is her sense of ease. And this sense comes across not just as a personality trait, but with a deeper basis in a sense of trust, of confidence, of loving people as they are and knowing she’s loved by God.

With this deeper foundation, I sensed in speaking with her that she is enjoying her clients, her life, and even the process of discovering new people and cultivating new relationships with both confidence and ease.

imageHow can you cultivate this sense of ease in your own life and work?

It comes from not being wholly dependent on how others see and react to you, or on your current circumstances, but rather having that deeper sense of loving people, loving life, and knowing you are loved.

In a sense, it means becoming “unconditional.”

This takes time and daily practice, too.

So there you have it — 3 more keys to cultivate:

1) An overarching vision
2) Positive expectation
3) A sense of ease based on loving people and knowing you are loved

Quick action step:

Write these three keys on a 3×5 card, post-it note, or with a dry-erase marker on your mirror, and practice reminding yourself and “laying the tracks” for these three keys in yourself this week.

Comments, questions? Have your own key to share?

Feel free to post below!

Here’s to your ongoing journey of creating a life you love!

Ben

How To Create Your Future — “Future Letter” Exercise

Are you seeking to create another level of excellence, achievement, business growth, or other “results” in the coming year?

Here’s an intriguing exercise I discovered in the Zanders’ book The Art of Possibility that I applied to the business arena — and the experience was very profound and personal. It’s a whole new way to look at goal-setting for the coming year, and can complement the more “traditional” methods, bringing your whole being, and who you want to become, into play.

Those I’ve shared this “future letter” exercise with have found it inspired them to write their own letter. So now I’m sharing this intriguing exercise with you.

Enjoy creating your own future, and who you’re choosing to become this year, and feel free to share your own experiences, results, or a link to your own video in the comments below.

I look forward to hearing from you!

P.S.  Looking to build your own future with a business you can begin part-time from home? Hop on over to Work With Ben

Creating beyond what you can see right now…

Many of us experience areas of our life where the changes and
results we want to see aren’t showing yet…

Here’s some thoughts I video’d out on the back deck yesterday
afternoon – the camera is a little jittery – but I believe you’ll
benefit from the content.

Enjoy!

And for those of you who like to read, here’s a couple thoughts
I shared in an email with someone I’m mentoring last week that
reflect lessons that I’ve been walking out as well:

Are you familiar with some of the Old Testament stories of the
Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness? Moments when
there seemed to be no water or food, and the next moment when
God brought them water from the rock or manna to feed them?

One of the “tests” of this life is learning to hold and affirm
what’s “true” and “there” even before we see it with our eyes…

The problem is we keep looking at what we can see, getting
discouraged and/or expecting more of the same…and so not much
changes…

but at any moment things can change as we shift our expectations,
starting with practicing different thoughts…and affirming and
giving thanks for every little seed and sign along the way – even
when it’s just an idea and a possibility and nothing visible yet –
so it can grow and expand into our actual experience.

Here’s a verse that reflects this profound spiritual principle in
a poetic way, regardless of your particular faith background –

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things
which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3)

Would love to hear your own stories of holding the vision and
belief of something “not yet seen”…and taking action toward it…
until it manifested in your own experience!

Here’s to your expansion into new possibilities and results this week!

Dr. Ben