You can’t do the same things you’ve always done and expect different results.

The way you’ve always done it won’t magically start working better. You have to start trying other approaches and start fine tuning what you’re currently doing.

You always have room for improvement. No matter how good you get at something you can get better.

If you want to take that next step in your career or business you have to do something different.

How do you do that?

Read how successful people have done it in the past. Talk to leaders in your company and pick their brains. Look up individuals who are where you want to be and reach out to them. Emulate what these individuals are doing. Study what they do in specific situations. Ask as many questions as you can.

They’ve been where you are. They understand they need to constantly fine tune their craft to stay on top.

If you think you’ve done everything you possibly can you’re wrong. There is always some area you can get better at.

Make a list of the areas you’re lacking in – list out your weaknesses. Then, make a list of the key factors, traits, skills, etc. that you see in the successful people you’ve read about or met with.

You have to make improvement a top priority if you want to take that next step. You won’t improve if you keep doing what you’ve always done.

“The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.” -Helmut Schmidt

Autobiographies and biographies are great ways to peer into someone else’s life.

We get to see how they operated. We see how they rose to the top. How they beat out everyone else despite the odds. What we also see are the struggles.

We see how long it took them to become successful. We see the countless number of failures. The barriers they had to climb. The losses the had to overcome.

It puts their work into perspective.

They didn’t suddenly accomplish building their business or winning the olympics overnight. The “overnight success” story always sounds better but it’s never true. You don’t build something great overnight.

Reading these types of books is reassuring. You see the doubts these great men and women had. You see the failures they’ve had. You see how hard it was for them. The countless number of times they could have failed or quit.

We typically only hear about the success. We hardly ever hear about the failures.

Hearing about failure is as important as hearing about success.

You start to realize that these individuals are like everyone else. They’re humans. They make mistakes. They have flaws. They have self doubt. These individuals aren’t perfect.

So why do we chastise ourselves for making mistakes? Why do we aim for perfection in our work? Why are we so critical of ourselves?

We shouldn’t be. No one is perfect. No one ever will be. Our work won’t ever be complete.

Seeing great leaders fail, worry, struggle, doubt their work, doubt themselves, lose their money, etc. should make us realize that it’s all part of the journey. It should give you confidence that the way you’re feeling is the same way many successful people have felt. Embrace the journey and the difficulties.

Great leaders and individuals are humans too. They have the same struggles and worries as the rest of us. Don’t beat yourself up over everything. It’s normal to struggle throughout the journey.

“Celebrate your successes. Find some humor in your failures.” -Sam Walton

“We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough.” -Helen Keller

How many times have you started a project or started learning a new skill, it starting getting difficult or boring, and you stopped?

I’m sure more times than you want to admit.

If you want something bad enough you’ll work on it until you achieve your goal.

The problem we have is that we start projects just to try something new. It’s fun to start something new. It’s exciting. It’s the honeymoon phase when you start again and again. Who doesn’t want that?

What happens when things start getting harder?

Once that early passion and hard work stops, you’re projects are dead in the water.

That’s why goals around projects are so crucial.

You have to come up with a reason for yourself to stick with it once it gets difficult. To stick with it when you don’t feel like working on it.

Starting a project and having a defined goal will help you to push through these lulls. You need to have a reason as to why you’re doing it or else once it gets hard you’ll stop.

Why do you want to start a business? If you want more freedom and control in your life, dig deeper. Why is freedom and control important to you? Could you do something different and still have freedom and control in your life? Are you sure control and freedom is what you want and not recognition from others?

Constantly question yourself when starting a new project.

Answer the difficult questions and set specific goals and concrete dates to make sure you’re on track with your projects.

Anything worth pursuing is difficult. Learn to ride the waves. If it means enough, you’ll figure out a way to complete it.

We all have areas of our lives we want to change.

Maybe we want to eat healthier. Maybe we want to lose 20 pounds. Maybe we want to read more often. Maybe we want to spend more time with our family.

Whatever it may be, for us to add a positive activity we must eliminate something else.

We all have the same amount of time in a day. If you’re conscious of where your time is being spent, you must eliminate the negative habits.

For you to focus on losing weight or creating your business you have to figure out what activities and actions you take most often on a daily basis.

Maybe you can watch TV for 30 minutes instead of 1 hour. Maybe you play video games once a week instead of every night. Maybe you order groceries online instead of shopping for 1 hour twice a week in the store.

If you want to add a habit or project to your plate you’re going to have to take something away.

Do you want to read more or learn an instrument? First you should track your time and see what activities you do the most and if they’re positively or negatively impacting your life.

Reduce or eliminate the activities that don’t positively influence your goals and life.

Focus more on adding beneficial activities.

You have the time in your day, you just have to use it wisely.

“Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them.” -Jack Canfield

It’s okay to admit you don’t know. You won’t know everything. No one ever will.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to speak up when someone asks you if there are any questions. Ask a question. Even if you’re embarrassed.

How do you expect to get better?

You will never learn unless you ask. Especially when you’re first starting out.

Always ask questions. Always seek help from people with more experience. Seek help from successful people. Those are the people who can help you avoid the mistakes they’ve made.

Be curious.

Don’t wait for someone to come help you. Don’t sit around trying to solve a problem. Go ask someone what they would do.

Ask them what they’ve done in similar situations.

If you never ask for help you’ll never get it. You won’t reach the level you want.

Do you want to improve? Do you want to be the best?

Ask for help.

In your next meeting ask one question, no matter how simple it may seem.

Don’t try to craft the perfect question. It can be basic and quick or long and well thought out.

It’s not as intimidating as it seems. You’ll get out of your comfort zone and in the meantime, learn more than ever before.

“We get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered, we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell.” -James Stephens

You don’t have to wait for someone’s permission.

You don’t have to know everything. You don’t have to be the best.

You have the necessary knowledge and skills to start.

The longer you wait the harder it gets. You may accumulate more knowledge and skills but unless you have a plan, you’ll never start.

You can start your project right now.

It can be a side business, learning a language, making a movie, creating a video game, etc.

Start something you’ve been putting off doing. Start something you’ve always wanted to do.

You’re resilient enough. You’re smart enough. You’re talented enough. You’re ready.

You’ll never feel like there’s a right time. So why not now?

Try working on your passion project for 10 minutes a day. That’s it. Some days you’ll work more and some days you’ll work for 10 minutes.

At least you’re moving the needle in a positive direction.

You don’t have to drop everything and leave today. You don’t have to quit your job. You just have to start believing and building.

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” -Arthur Ashe

It’s easy to get distracted from what matters most.

We give up on something we’ve always dreamed of because we’re too old or we believe it’s too late to start.

We put other people’s priorities in front of our own.

We settle because it’s easy.

It’s okay for your dreams to change. It’s okay to prioritize your family.

Your priorities will change over time. Don’t let this stop you from accomplishing your goals.

Don’t give up on your goals. Don’t give up on your dreams. Keep pushing toward them.

You don’t want to wake up one day and regret what you didn’t do.

Live your life the way you want to.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. If you really want to go after your dreams make a plan to quit your job.

If you have other obligations – a family, parents, siblings, etc. – you can still make a plan, you just have to be more diligent. Save your money and work on your project while you have a job.

Focus on why you can achieve your dreams instead of the various reasons why you can’t.

If you want something bad enough you will make it happen.

You control your life. You control what you do. Do what you want.

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” -Peter Drucker

It’s easy to get caught up in our daily lives.

We plan out our schedules, take lunch at the same time each day, talk to the same people, and follow a specific routine even if we don’t realize it.

Our life is controlled by our everyday habits and actions.

Routines work well if we’re focused on improving the right skills and activities.

How do we know if we’re doing the right things? How do we know if we’re tracking with our goals? What areas should we focus on improving? How do we differentiate the good habits from the bad?

Self-reflection.

It’s how we know what’s working and what’s not. It helps us become more grateful for what we have. It helps us figure out what we should do next and how to get there.

Deliberate self-reflection is necessary for long-term improvement.

Without self-reflection, you may continue working on improving the wrong areas of your life.

Take 10 Minutes once a week to just sit and think. Turn off your TV. Turn off your phone. Close your computer. Don’t play music. Sit in silence. Just reflect on your life.

Think about what’s holding you back. Think about your bad and good habits. Think about where your spend the most time. Think about your family. Think about your week. Think about your life.

Take time to do some deep introspection. It’s easy to lose sight of what matters most.

Dedicate time each week to focus on yourself.

Most of us convince ourselves that we’re constantly working.

We confuse being busy with accomplishing true work.

In reality, we waste a lot of time on tasks and activities that don’t get us closer to accomplishing our goals.

Everyone wants to be good but very few of us are willing to put in the work it takes and the work we know is necessary to accomplish those goals.

One major excuse we use is time. We don’t have enough time. We’re too busy.

We all have the same amount of time each day, week, month, and year. Not enough time is a poor excuse.

Instead, focus on figuring out where you’re spending your time.

What small activities do you do on a daily basis that you could eliminate? What activities do you do that bring you joy? Are your long term goals more important than your short term satisfaction?

You’ll start to find minutes and even hours you spend throughout the day on useless activities.

Maybe you watch 2 hours of TV per day. You don’t have to eliminate TV completely but instead try watching only 1 hour of TV per day. There you go, 1 hour back in your day.

How long do you spend watching Snapchat, scrolling Facebook, watching YouTube videos, etc.?

These small moments of boredom add up. Try being more aware of how much time you spend on these activities.

Replace that time with useful tasks such as reading, writing, meditating, exercising, learning a new skill, or focusing on your long term goals.

You can accomplish anything you want. You do have enough time. You just have to be willing to make time for the activities that matter most.

“Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”

– Jim Rohn

We’ve all heard you’re the average of the five people you hang out with most. 

It’s not just a saying. Be aware of the positive and negative people you allow in your life.

It’s the hard truth that some of the most important people early on in your life won’t be around in your future.

Work and hang out with people who push you to become better.

Misery loves company. Negative people will try to drag you down. You have to cut them out of your life. It’s going to be hard.

You don’t necessarily have to tell them you can’t hang around them anymore but you may start limiting the amount of time you spend with them.

If you want to get better at your job or in your life, hangout with people who are where you want to be. People who are more successful than you.

Swallow your pride and admit that you’re not as good as you want to be. 

High performing individuals are always looking for ways to improve.

Focus on meeting annd hanging out with the highest performers in your industry. Pick their brains. Ask them questions constantly.

If you want to own your own business hang out with a bunch of business owners. If you want to sell one million dollars in a year, hangout with people who are already there. 

Eliminate the people who drag you down and focus on working with the best of the best.

The immediate sale may be small. It might not be sexy. It won’t break any records. It does, however, get your foot in the door.

Think about this sale as just the beginning. Your “smallest” customers can turn into much greater deals.

What matters most is the long term value of your customers not the immediate revenue. 

Treat every client you bring on, large or small, as a key customer. Act the same way throughout the process for both sales. They’re both important customers to have. They all should be treated equally. 

First off, it’s the right thing to do. Secondly, you never know who important those small clients can become to your business.

Future revenue from customers also means referrals not just upsell opportunities. 

Some of your largest customers may come from smaller client referrals. You never know what that small client can bring.

You may not get as excited for a small customer as you would a large customer which is okay. It will take time for you to understand the true value of a customer. 

Try to act the same way. Get as excited for both customers coming on. Their potential is what matters most, not their immediate dollar value.

It may work for a while but eventually you have to accept the reality of the situation. 

Not looking at it or ignoring it won’t make it go away. It’s still there. It will forever be there unless you do something about it.

You have to act. The things we least want to do in life are the things that are most important for us to accomplish.

Change the situation. It could be credit card debt or a conversation you need to have or an email you have to respond to. Whatever it may be you know you have to eventually take care of it.

It does exist. Get it over with first thing instead of waiting around. If you continue to wait it may become unmanageable. Maybe incurable. 

Don’t let it get to that point. Take care of it before it becomes an issue.

Pretending it doesn’t exist does nothing. Solve the problem. It will eat you up inside until you do it. Don’t wait any longer.

It may be hard. It most likely won’t be enjoyable. That’s why you’re procrastinating on the issue. 

Go take care of one project, conversation, bill, etc. that you’ve been stressing out about but not acting on. It will feel great.

Walk through scenarios with friends or colleagues. Maybe a conversation that didn’t go well with a prospect or potential client or a vendor. 

Whatever it may be it’s good to get someone else’s perspective on the situation.

Figure out what they have done in the same situation. What worked. What they think you could do differently and why. What they think you did well.

Go talk with successful people in your company that you trust. That have proven results. People that are willing to help.

Try to do this once a week. Ask your successful colleagues to lunch. Ask them as many questions as you can. Don’t go after the silver bullet approach because there isn’t one.

Practice getting better at your craft. If it’s a skill you’re truly passionate about improving you need to walk through these types of scenarios on a consistent basis. It’s how you become one of the best in your field.

Keep on practicing until you’ve internalized the information. After that, practice some more.

Test what you’ve learned. Don’t take advice and not implement it. That’s a waste of time. 

Immediately experiment with what you’ve learned. 

Focus on the constant effort for improvement by practing multiple scenarios. 

Avoid spending your time worrying about not accomplishing your goals or dreams. Instead, figure out what you have to do to accomplish those goals.

Figure out how what steps you need to take right now. Make a plan on how to achieve those goals or at least a strategy.

If you spend all your time worrying you’ll never accomplish anything. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a big next step. 

If you’re worried about failing or looking dumb or being judged stop worrying about that. It’s inevitable you will be judged, ridiculed, and look dumb. Maybe all at the same time. Why does it really matter? 

It’s never as bad as you think it will be. If someone is judging you it’s because they’re jealous of you. If you’re ridiculed it’s because people don’t understand how to even begin to do what you’re doing. 

There’s no point of worrying about all of these irrational fears. Most of these fears will happen but almost always not be as bad as you’ve imagined.

It’s okay to worry. You just have to get over the fact that what you’re worrying about won’t be that bad.

You won’t die from it. You won’t be hated by everyone. You won’t look dumb to everyone. 

The more you face your fears and become uncomfortable the less you will worry and the more you’ll get done.

“Ideas are cheap. Ideas are easy. Ideas are common. Everybody has ideas. Ideas are highly, highly overvalued. Execution is all that matters.” -Casey Neistat

Starting is the first step. If you don’t start then there is no chance of anything happening. Executing is critical. 

If you don’t execute on what you’ve started you’ll never finish anything.

You’ll keep starting project after project with no results. 

Focus on following through on your projects. Not every project will work out which is okay but you can’t stop when it gets hard and it will get hard.

It’s okay to quit something that isn’t working but you have to at least try to finish.

If you enjoy the project and your progressing but it gets hard you need to persevere. Push through the lull. Finish what you’ve started.

If you prepare and train for a race, you’ve done all the front end work. You’ve started moving towards your goal.

When the race comes you need to execute. Follow through with the plan you’ve set in place. 

Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from accomplishing your dreams.

Finish what you’ve started and achieve your goal. 

Starting is the first major step. Once you’ve done that focus on executing your ideas.

It will be worth it.