One of the greatest drives of all human beings is the drive to succeed – the drive to improve, to make progress. It is by making progress that we feel a sense accomplishment. After all, if we’re not getting ahead, we’re actually falling behind, and nobody likes to feel left behind. But what if you could get ahead faster? What if you could achieve all that you want and more? What if you could achieve massive success, and do it in a short period of time?

Well the good news is that it can be done, and many people have done it before. There are numerous examples of individuals who have completely transformed their lives, their relationships, their health, their businesses, and their income in surprisingly short periods of time.

If you want the same to happen for you, here are 12 tips to help you achieve MASSIVE SUCCESS in your life and business:

1. Believe that it’s possible for YOU

The first step towards achieving massive success is to believe that it’s possible for YOU. It’s easy to believe that achieving massive results in a short period of time is possible for others, because you can simply look at real life examples for the evidence you need to support that belief. But to believe that it’s possible for you before you’ve created the results to prove it can be challenging. The average person believes something only when they see it.  But the person who succeeds must believe in their success before they achieve it. Your belief in yourself must come first, and it is precisely that belief that will fuel your motivation to take action.

2. Act like the person you want to become

The person that you are today is precisely the person that has created the results you are currently experiencing. Achieving new, massive results will require a personal transformation. You must begin to transform yourself into the person you want to become. You must be willing to give up the person that you are for the person that you can be. Start by visualizing how that person talks, what skills they have, what their habits are, how they handle setbacks, how they lead others, etc. Then start acting like that person. If you continuously act like the person you want to be, soon enough you will become them.

“Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you’d like to act.” – Bob Dylan

3. Put your stake in the ground

Putting your stake in the ground means deciding precisely what you want to achieve, and sticking with that goal until it is done. Don’t jump from one industry to another, or from one opportunity to another. Claim your territory – stand firmly, stand proudly. Choose one course and stay on that course until successful. Say no to all the things that take you away or distract you from your chosen course of action.

4. Vocalize your vision

What you put out into the world you attract back to you. Vocalizing your goals is therefore one of the most effective ways to achieve them. When you vocalize your goals, you attract people and resources that can help you accomplish them. A public declaration of your intentions is so much more powerful than a private commitment. When you make your intentions public, it helps to hold you accountable to achieving them out of fear of not wanting others to see you fail to do what you said you were going to do.

5. Refuse to tolerate negativity

One of the greatest killers of success is the pull of negative people who try to hold you back from getting ahead. Whether they are your colleagues, friends, business partners, or even family members, you must severely limit the amount of time you spend with people who are negative and whose attitudes do not support your success. You must also refuse to tolerate any negativity from yourself. Monitor your thoughts and your attitudes, and when you catch yourself thinking or reacting negatively, stop yourself and re-frame your perception of the situation immediately. Refuse to tolerate complaining, blaming, and criticizing in both your personal and professional life.

6. Have a “No Plan B” mentality

In order to achieve massive success, you must think and act as if failure is not an option. If failure is an option, or if you do have a back-up plan, then you are more likely to give up when things get too tough. When you have no other choice except to succeed, you force yourself to keep going even when it’s extremely uncomfortable. When a person’s back is against the wall, they can do amazing things.

7. Expect turbulence before take off

If you’ve ever been on a plane, you know that the take-off is often more uncomfortable than the flight. The same is true of any new endeavor. When you first begin taking new actions to achieve a new goal, it is often uncomfortable in the beginning. Expecting things to be easy or comfortable right away is a recipe for failure. Embrace the discomfort of new experiences and of acquiring new skills and habits. Expect a few setbacks before take-off. Learn from them and keep moving forward. Do not let yourself shrink back into your comfort zone.

8. Go full throttle

To achieve massive success, you must take massive action. A little action here and there won’t cut it. In order for a plane to take off it must go full throttle. If it doesn’t go full throttle it will never lift off the ground. The same is true in life and in business. In order to get off the ground you must go full throttle in the beginning. Going full throttle creates momentum. You can’t afford to ease off the gas until after that momentum is created, not before.

9. Use the language of success

To become a success you must think and talk like a success. You can easily tell the difference between someone who consistently succeeds and someone who consistently fails by the language they use. The successful person says “I’m committed” while the unsuccessful person says “I’m going to give it a try and see what happens”. The successful person says “I’m going to make this better” while the unsuccessful person says “I really hope things get better”. The successful person says “I’ll figure it out” while the unsuccessful person says “I wish I knew how”. You must speak the language of success in order to achieve it.

10. Focus on getting better every day

Another major key to achieving massive success is to focus on getting just a little bit better every single day. Consistent minor improvements over a long period of time have a major compounding effect. If you improve by just 1% every single day for an entire year, by the end of the year you will have improved by 3,778%.  Each day, strive to become just a little bit better than you were yesterday. This simple habit will have a profound impact on your results in the long run.

11. Don’t take advice from people who aren’t getting the results you want

A crucial principle for achieving massive to success is to reject the advice of anyone who is not achieving the results you want. Common sense tells us that we cannot learn to do something from someone who has never done it. Make sure you get your advice from the right people, and never take advice from someone who is more messed up than you are. If your goal is to lose 10 pounds, find someone who has lost at least 10 pounds and ask them how they did. If your goal is to make at least six-figures this year, find someone who has made six-figures and learn from them.

“I never take advice from anyone more messed up than I am.” – Tom Hopkins

12. Accept no excuses

The final tip for achieving massive success in your life and business is to accept no excuses. Average people have a habit of letting just about any excuse stop them from achieving their goals. You can have excuses or you can have results, but you can’t have both. Successful people know that it only takes one good reason to motivate you to achieve what you want to achieve. It only takes one good reason to overcome a thousand excuses.

Which one of these tips do you believe is the most important tip to being successful?