By now we all know that what separates successful people from the not so successful is largely the mindset and action they take; it’s been proven repeatedly.  The next question on everyone’s mind is what mindset and actions are they taking that is so different?  

The first thing to know is that success and comfort don’t really fit in the same sentence and this is where most of the ‘not so successful’ people fail. To live a larger life than you currently are, you need to get uncomfortable.  The problem is simple, most people run away from anything that makes them uncomfortable – it is a paradox.

If you’ve ever been curious as to where you might be falling short – kill your curiosity now. If you start to expand your ‘world’ by doing things that are uncomfortable, you will see your reality change and experience success on a completely different level than you ever have.

Here are 7 uncomfortable but essential things you should be doing if you want to change your story about success now:

1. Remove toxic people from your life

You will never really see how toxic someone is until you breathe fresher air. You might not have made a conscious choice when you were younger who you let into your life, but you do have a choice now. The people in your life should be supportive and encouraging and of course, never make you feel less. But additionally, their mindset influences yours and their level of success.

You are a product of your environment, surround yourself with the best and you will become better. Once you let go of negative people, the positive ones appear. Just like you might have developed limiting beliefs from your environment as a child, the same happens with the environment you are in when you are an adult.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

2. Tell your fears to get the hell out of the way

Fear will always be a part of life. It doesn’t disappear over time or with growth, it will always be there. The only thing you can improve on is your relationship with fear and how you manage it. People let fear stop them all the time. That’s why they don’t take action even if they know it is the right thing to do.

Fear can feel very real and physical, but this is because your mind can’t tell the difference between real or imagined ‘fears’.  So you need to understand that fear is normal, but again, you need to get uncomfortable, charge ahead anyway and prepare yourself for the challenge and then rise to it. FEAR Is False Evidence Appearing Real; more often than not. So why let it control you?

3. Take time management seriously

A lot of people seem to think that how they spend their time and the results they get in life aren’t connected. In fact, it’s everything! How you spend your time determines whether you will achieve your goals. It might not be fun to plan, prioritize and strategize your time. You might feel uncomfortable at the thought of it, but unless you take it more seriously, you can expect to get the same results.

Maximize your time to maximize your results. If you don’t manage your time effectively, you are not managing your life and success as effectively as you could. All successful people value time, they don’t waste it!

4. Sacrifice is an ingredient

There are most likely some things you need to give up in order to gain what you want. Things like waking up earlier to get more done, staying in to get something done for your business instead of going out, investing your money into growth and sacrificing other things you could buy.  

It is about prioritizing the results you want to have over what is currently blocking them, that which you need to sacrifice.  Sacrifice is not bad, but it is essential to achieving anything. If you are not willing to give up some things in order to gain something bigger, you will not achieve your highest level of success.

“You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” – Lionel Messi

5. Play the lottery with life

Every time someone plays the lottery, they risk losing the amount they played so easily. Yet, this is so much easier for people to do. Why not play a bit of lottery with what you can create for yourself in life?   If we could predict, plan and stay on a path that would ensure success – great; but that’s another world and it’s not the one we live in.   

If you don’t take risks, you will not go very far. Your results might slowly get better, but you won’t have any huge shifts or wins that can catapult you to the next stage of your success.  Remember the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Just take a chance!

6. Consistent action must become automatic

Successful people put results before comfort. They don’t make a few efforts this week; then tail off, then the following week they are back on track. They don’t go from highs to lows as much either. They ‘manage themselves’ and take consistent daily action towards their goals. If they don’t like the task, they delegate or they do it anyway, that’s it. They know that routines and consistency are key to creating the foundations for success.

7. Listen to your intuition more than the facts

This doesn’t sound right, I know, in fact it sounds very ‘unbusiness’ like. The truth is that your brain can be fooled, but your gut doesn’t know how to lie. The facts might look good on paper but when you have a sense that there’s something wrong, your heart knows things that your mind can’t explain.

Start listening to your intuition more. Follow what feels right and see how your intuition is almost always right. Richard Branson swears by it, and I’m sure you can remember those times when you wished you had listened to your gut, and you didn’t.

Remember, the uncomfortable needs to become your new comfortable. The more uncomfortable, the bigger the growth.  If you apply just one of the tips above into your life, you will notice positive changes immediately. Don’t only read other people’s stories of success, start to write your own.

Which one of these tips are you going to implement immediately? Leave your thoughts below!