The journey towards success is wrought with enough challenges and obstacles as it is already; anyone who has ever managed to accomplish anything great would be wise in telling you that they had to ignore countless internal and external factors to get to where they are today that would have otherwise jeopardized their efforts or been detrimental to their overall success had they chosen to direct their attention towards them.

One of the things you will discover on your own journey towards making anything happen is just how extremely easy it is to lose focus and get derailed if we take our eyes off our pursuits or give audience to negative things or people.

In order for us to make our way to the finish line as far as our goals and dreams are concerned, we must be prepared to do the following:

1. Stop comparing ourselves to others

One of the most detrimental things we can ever do that would jeopardize our chances for success in anything, is to compare ourselves with others. In order for us to accomplish our goals and dreams, we will need to take our eyes and focus off others, direct all our attention towards our pursuits and embrace the fact that we are all on separate journeys — leading to different destinations. We all have different strengths and limitations, gifts and talents, skills and abilities that enable us to do what we were born and have been called to do in life.

Don’t waste time comparing yourself with others, being envious of or attempting to keep up with those around you that are living the life you aspire to live someday as you don’t know what sacrifices they had to make to get to where they are or what means some of them used to attain their success. Stick to your lane and focus on the things you need to focus on to move your own life in the direction you want it to go.

2. Don’t focus on what our competition is doing

We shouldn’t waste time worrying about what our competition is doing or trying to gauge our progress against theirs’ but should instead direct our focus towards our own vision, and become our own competition by setting bigger goals and benchmarks for ourselves each time we check one off our list.

Although we live in a dog-eat-dog world where most people feel the need to protect their “turf” or believe that they have to step on others in order to get ahead, truly successful people understand that the universe is limitless and that there is enough for everyone. They also don’t concern themselves much with what their competitors are doing but instead focus on the things they can do to set themselves apart.

“Double down on what you’re good at.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

3. Be a doer, not a talker

Actions definitely speak louder than words; we need to learn how to DO more and SPEAK less. If we want people to take us and our goals and dreams seriously, we have to demonstrate through our actions what we’re all about rather than explain with mere words as talking about our aspirations benefits us in absolutely no way if we can’t translate our words into action and often results in inertia.

4. Let results speak for themselves

People recognize quality products, service or work when they encounter them or see it. If we want to be successful in our endeavors, we have to demonstrate to others what you can do for them and the kind of value we can add to their lives via the results they can expect to receive based on our services, products and work as opposed to just merely trying to convince them through our words.

5. Don’t over-share your aspirations

If there’s one thing you will most likely discover rather early on in your journey towards success is that not everyone will support you or be on board with you as far as your goals and dreams are concerned. Reasons for their lack of support might include them not understanding your vision or believing that you have what it takes to bring it to pass. You will really need to exercise your discretion to determine who to share your aspirations with and who to keep in the dark to avoid opening yourself up to other people’s negative influence and limiting beliefs.

“It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. they went out and happened to things.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

6. Pay attention to what and who you listen to

The things and people we listen to on a regular basis directly and indirectly influence how we perceive ourselves as well as some of our choices and actions. We need to pay particular attention to our inner dialogue. The things we say about ourselves and how we talk to ourselves as it greatly impacts how we view ourselves and in turn influences our ability or disability to make things happen.

We also need to be careful who we allow into our lives and should choose to only surround ourselves with people who speak positively about us, celebrate us and empower us with their words and support because we often become like those with whom we closely associate, open ourselves up to their influence and at times, unknowingly begin to view ourselves through their eyes.

7. Don’t indulge naysayers, critics or detractors

You better believe you will encounter plenty of them when you attempt to do something significant with your life. In fact, you should be worried if you don’t as that most likely means that you aren’t making as big of an impact as you would like.

Plug your ears and refuse to give audience to people that try to undermine you and your abilities, discredit you or dissuade you from following your goals and dreams because of their own limiting beliefs or past failures.

The journey towards making things happen can at times be lonely. Don’t allow anyone or anything to distract you and cause you give up on your goals and dreams. Keep your eyes closed, your lips zipped and ears plugged as you focus on making your way to the finish line.

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com