How To Be Successful In Life

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

Some people think success is:

hard work
luck

But I have good news for you:

Success leaves more hints than that.

If we look carefully, we can see specific things successful people do daily.

That’s why I’ve boiled down How To Be Successful In Life, In 7 Simple Tips.

Let’s get started!

1. Be healthy (your success foundation)

The first thing you need to be successful in life is health.

You need mental health and physical health.

Without both, you have no chance to be at the top of your field.

They are the foundation of the skyscraper you want to build.

Now,

how can you improve your mental health and physical health?

Exercise at least 20 minutes, 3 times per week
Lift weights at least 1-2 times each week
Go outside daily (early in the morning is ideal)
Sleep at least 7 hours each night
Eat mostly fruits and vegetables (50% of your plate)
Eat quality proteins and fats
Meditate daily
Connect with people you love
Simplify your life: Ignore things that drain your time and energy

Also, avoid things that don’t serve you:

Too much screen time
Too much social media
Too much sugar, alcohol
Too many processed foods

If you apply these tips, you’ll have a solid base from which you can stand.

He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything. Arabian proverb

Health, love, and your mission, in that order. Nothing else matters. Naval Ravikant

The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results. Tony Robbins

2. Know yourself (and what you want)

Knowing yourself is vital.

How can you become successful if you don’t know who you are, what you stand for, and what you want?

Of course, knowing yourself is a lifelong process.

And it’s hard to define your desires with complete certainty.

But the more you experience, fail, reflect, learn, and grow, the more solid you become.

You tackle greater challenges and develop the confidence to reach success.

In sum,

knowing yourself helps you build your house on rock, not sand.

Existence wants you to be you. Osho

You must not be afraid of your uniqueness and you must care less and less what people think of you. Robert Greene

We are the ones we have been waiting for. Alice Walker

Related: Know Yourself? 6 Specific Ways to Know Who You Are (psychologytoday.com)

3. Be focused (choose one thing)

Step 1: You’re healthy.

Step 2: You know yourself and what you want.

Step 3: It’s now time to focus on one thing.

Yes! You read that right.

ONE.

To be successful in something, you need to put all your energy and time into one goal.

The more you focus, the faster your progress. (Bill Gates and Warren Buffett love to focus too)

What are the strategies to focus on?

You need to dedicate at least 2-3 hours of training daily. (Or even more, if you’re like Kobe Bryant)
You need to ask yourself “What’s the most impactful task I should be doing right now?”
You need to sacrifice other aspects of your life (Friday nights with friends for example)
You need to ignore distractions and say no, a lot.
You need to take massive action, daily.
You need to learn about deep work.

BE SPECIFIC

Finally, the more specific your goal, the higher your chances of reaching it.

For example, “Being fit” is vague.

“I will work out each weekday at the gym, from 16h30 to 17h30”.

This is clear.

The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus. Bruce Lee

You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks. Winston Churchill

Take up one idea, make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. Swami Vivekananda

4. Be calm (to perform better)

A champion doesn’t control:

The outcomes
What other people say

But he controls:

His efforts
His attitude

A champion decides how he handles himself when things get tough.

He decides to stay calm because he knows he’ll perform better this way.

He decides to focus on his ultimate goal: to progress and be the best.

He remembers obstacles are inevitable and if a path is easy, it leads nowhere.

WAYS TO BECOME CALMER

Breathe properly
Take the long-term view
Meditate 20 minutes daily
Keep repeating the mantra “just keep going” in your head
Don’t take it all seriously (learn to be indifferent to discomfort)

Success is not only the peaks you reach — it’s the valleys you conquer. Adam Grant

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. Leonardo da Vinci

A happy, calm, and peaceful person will make better decisions. So if you want to operate at peak performance, you have to learn how to tame your mind. Naval Ravikant

Related: 7 Ways Successful People Stay Calm At Work (stress.org)

5. Be connected and well surrounded (you can’t do it alone)

No successful people can do it alone.

They need help, support, and guidance.

That’s why you must surround yourself with the right people.

WHO ARE THE RIGHT PEOPLE?

People who believe in you
People who encourage you
People who understand you
People who are “better” than you

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE TO AVOID?

People who are toxic
People who complain
People who drain you
People who are the “victim”
People who manipulate you

Indeed, success is easier if you’re surrounded by people who raise your standards.

They help when you can’t find your way out.

Moreover, Harvard researchers found close connections lead to happiness.

And we all know happy people tend to be more successful than others.

You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Jim Rohn

Eliminate time spent with people who would rather drone on about their misery than hear about your successes. Taylor Burrowes

Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future. Dan Pena

6. Be relentless, be disciplined (consistency > intensity)

The most successful people are the ones who:

love hard work
love progressing each day

Being at the top of your field will take massive work.

Besides, success requires the humility to always keep learning.

There must be no end to your growth.

You need to forget about “limits” and believe being the best is possible.

You need to have a long-term vision.

You need to get used to discomfort, daily.

But here’s the kicker:

The difference between the first and the second is NOT their goal.

They have the same goal of “being the best.”

The difference is what they do daily, their habits, their consistency, and their willingness to work even when they are not at their best.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill

The successful among us delay gratification. The successful among us bargain with the future. Jordan Peterson

Discipline is choosing between what you want now, and what you want most. Abraham Lincoln

Keep in mind:

if you truly want something, you’ll find a way to make it happen.

Otherwise, you’ll find a reason it won’t work.

7. Be a role model, be kind (be a good human being)

Ultimately, a successful person is NOT one with lots of material stuff.

It’s not the millionaire.

It’s not the one who breaks records.

A successful person is one who inspires others because of who he is.

He’s kind, generous, and loving.

He makes the world better for others.

In truth,

it’s useless to be “successful” if nobody’s around you.

Success is not in what you have, but who you are. Bo Bennett

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity. Thomas Wolfe

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Conclusion

So, how to be successful in life?

Choose one thing and keep going until you become the best.

Then, keep going even more.

But remember: success is a marathon, not a sprint.

It means:

You’ll need to take care of yourself
You’ll need to be well surrounded
You’ll need to be stubborn

Extreme people get extreme results. Sam Altman

And the bottom line is this:

It’s not what you do for yourself that will make you “successful”. It’s what you do for others.

Successful people are the ones who give back.

The ones who are role models.

Who you become as a human being determines if you’re “successful”, or not.

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. Albert Einstein

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ Martin Luther King Jr

The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life. Rabindranath Tagore

How To Be Successful In Life – 7 Simple Tips

1. Be healthy (your success foundation)

2. Know yourself (and what you want)

3. Be focused (choose one thing)

4. Be calm (to perform better)

5. Be connected and well surrounded (you can’t do it alone)

6. Be relentless, be disciplined (consistency > intensity)

7. Be a role model, be kind (be a good human being)

Conclusion

Further Readings

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