Many of us keep saying, “I want to be successful in life,” but have no idea what success means to us, after all. While the rest of us might exactly know what we want in life, we may easily get distracted or give up before reaching our goals. Either way, what we fail to understand is being successful demands sacrifices. Therefore, to truly achieve a successful life, we need to get rid of our bad habits, limiting beliefs, excuses, and anything that acts as a hurdle on the way to reach our destination.
Science says 92% of people give up before achieving their goals successfully, leaving only 8% of people achieving goals. This proves that not every one of us can reach successful heights if we don’t make adjustments. You need to get rid of the life you are now living to achieve the life you desire.
So, how do you define success?
I’ve looked up a few definitions while trying to understand how others define it, and the following caught my attention:
- Collins English Dictionary: Success means achieving something you’ve been trying to do.
- Jeff Haden: Achieving success means being able to assess your life at a certain point and declare yourself happy and content with it
- Oxford Living Dictionaries: Accomplishing a goal or purpose, attaining fame, wealth, or social status.
What Is Success After All?
Let me clear any doubts and confirm that I agree with Jeff Haden. The best way to assess if you are successful is to ask yourself if you are happy. What is your answer?
- Yes – If your answer is affirmative, congratulations! You are successful, and you have every chance to remain successful.
- No – If something does not let you thoroughly enjoy your accomplishments, it means you should stop guiding your actions by what other people deem as successful and focus on what makes you happy.
Unfortunately, success is not easy to attain. Especially when so many things drag us back, distract us, delay us, and distort our perception of life, success, and happiness.
Before we can actually chase success and happiness, we need to eliminate all obstacles. All small things that could potentially come between us and our goals.
Let’s look at those things and find out what they matter and how we can give them up.
Things You Should Give Up If You Want to Be Successful
1. The “I Can’t” Mindset
Let go of the “I can’t” mindset if you want to accomplish anything meaningful in life. This is probably the most common fear every individual goes through.
In life, never say or think you can’t do something without trying. Perhaps:
- You don’t know how to do it yet, which means you should learn.
- You don’t try hard enough, which means you should try harder
- You don’t really want to, a case in which you should assess your reasons and either reconsider or set different goals.
If you really want to chase your dreams, have an open mindset, be willing to learn, and try hard enough.
2. Embrace Failure for Being Successful
Apparently, one in three people have a fear of failure, as per a survey by YouGov.
Embracing failure is an essential part of becoming successful in life. Failures help us to learn from our mistakes and rectify them. So, don’t be afraid to acknowledge it, as it affects even the most successful people.
Successful people like Steve Jobs and Tim Ferris have learned to overcome it.
Failure can be a good teacher if you learn from it. Moreover, trying and failing is better than not trying and living with the thought of what could have happened.
3. Friends Who Don’t Believe In You and Don’t Support You
As much as it feels good to have people who have your back, it’s also essential to let go of toxic friends or friends who don’t value your dreams and aspirations.
That’s why you should always be picky with your friends. It would be best if you surrounded yourself with people who believe in you or at least believe in your right to follow your dreams. People who’ll support you and guide you when you make a mistake.
According to Mayo Clinic, healthy friendship is an integral part of determining your:
- Self-worth and confidence.
- Happiness and stress.
- Coping with traumas and harrowing life events.
Hence, don’t accept anyone whispering behind your back or telling you to give up.
Only accept positive vibes and support. Those who cannot provide them aren’t really your friends, so you are better off without them.
4. Eliminate Unhealthy Habits For A Successful Life
Successful people always keep striving for healthy habits, no matter what. They have immense self-control preventing them from indulging in activities that are detrimental to their overall well-being.
Ask yourself this question— do you really need to consume alcohol when you know you’ll be driving? Is it necessary to eat junk food even after being aware of the added sugars and fatty burgers?
You’ll find your answer. You may feel you do, but you don’t, and you shouldn’t jeopardize your health and well-being with them. Just think of how spending a couple of weeks or months in the hospital could impact your race to success!
5. Clothes You Don’t Feel Comfortable Wearing
As much as it’s vital to look prim and proper, it’s never okay to compromise with your comfort in some cases.
People striving for success know their confidence exudes the most when they feel the most comfortable. It shows when they walk, talk and hustle.
Nowadays, there are options for everyone out there. You can look fancy without dying inside because your clothes are too tight, the shoes you wear hurt your feet, or you feel like a clown because your outfit does not represent you.
Do your homework and choose clothes that are in style, adequate for the occasion, but suitable to your taste, and most importantly represent your personality well.
Fashion psychologists tell us that the clothes we wear send non-verbal signals about us, such as:
- Your income and finances
- How much influence you have
- How much power you wield
- How smart you are
6. Past Regrets
If you carry the baggage of past regrets moving forward, you’ll only dim the chances of you becoming successful in life.
For people who want to become successful life, it’s essential for them to not dwell on the mistakes they committed in the past unknowingly.
If you waste your time and energy thinking of the road you did not take, things you did not do, or goals you never accomplished, you will probably never know success.
You can’t change the past, so why fixate on it? Instead, the power lies in embracing it and letting it go so that you can focus on the journey ahead of you.
7. Avoid Distractions For Being Successful
There are so many hurdles that you’ll have to fight in the quest to become successful in life. One of them is the overwhelming distractions that we all come across every second of our life.
It’s prevalent for humans to get carried away with small stuff and lose sight of goals.
If you want to be a photographer, you should look up photography classes and equipment and find a way to obtain them even if, in the beginning, it’s only a passion and doesn’t put money on the table.
Everything else you invest time and effort in and doesn’t get you closer to your goal (perhaps you need a job to earn more money for the equipment or training you need) is a distraction.
8. Letting Others Decide for You
Giving your life’s control in the hands of others is probably the most hurtful thing you can do to yourself.
Let alone be successful in life; you won’t ever be confident when you let others decide for you.
I know quite a few people who never dared to decide for themselves and allowed others to tell them what to do. They were never happy or prosperous.
You need to make your own decisions and live with them. If you do it and fail in the process, you will at least know you did what you thought was the best for you.
Whereas, if you constantly follow other peoples’ decisions, eventually you will regret it and feel frustrated, disappointed, upset with yourself.
9. Worrying About How Others See You
Successful people know that to do something meaningful in life, they will have to face haters, naysayers, and backlashes from others. Yet, they never let these things deter them away from their vision.
We know it would be great to be loved and appreciated by everyone. However, in the quest to please everyone else, you’ll only deplete yourself.
There are many haters out there, and nothing you do or say will ever please them.
Instead of worrying about what they may think of you and try to impress them, invest your time and energy in your goals. You will reach them faster!
10. Whining About How Stressful Life Is
People wanting to become successful in life accept that road is stressful. Successful life without stress is a myth; it is the bitter truth. However, they also prioritize managing stress in a constructive way instead of dwelling on it.
Stress is perhaps a constant in your life and a considerable obstacle when it comes to attaining your goals.
Instead of letting it overwhelm you, you need to identify its sources and apply some simple yet effective stress relief strategies.
Leave your worries aside and give yourself a break now and then. You deserve it, and even if something doesn’t work out the way you wanted, it’s not the end of the world.
11. Excess Use of Social Media
Successful people understand the value of technology and social media and the enormous opportunities one can extract from them. Instead of wasting time on social media by scrolling mindlessly, they intentionally use it for their own benefit.
I realize some platforms can actually help you achieve your goals faster, especially if your success version involves a certain degree of fame and fortune. However, spending most of your time online will not help.
You need to set some boundaries and establish some form of self-control for how much time you spend online.
If you find it difficult, it is a clear sign that it is time to take a break from social media and remind yourself and those around you that there is life offline as well.
12. Release Excuses For Being Successful
Bid goodbye to excuses forever if you want to become successful in life. Successful people don’t succumb into excuses; instead, they strive for a growth mindset that helps they steer away from excuse or complains.
If you tend to find excuses for yourself and justify your actions, fight it.
Excuses may make you feel better about yourself for a little while. However, they will not change your failure to accomplish your goals. Instead of justifying your lack of action, get to it.
Otherwise, one day, you may come to realize you are just a pathetic loser who never had the courage to do anything and hid behind convenient excuses.
13. Stop Multi-Tasking
Several studies have confirmed that multitasking is almost impossible and also drains brain productivity. One of the most evident characteristics of successful people is they always focus on one thing instead of multitasking.
So, when life puts you in situations where you have to do several things simultaneously, you don’t. Not only can you not focus and obtain excellent results on several tasks simultaneously, but you will only exhaust yourself and diminish any success chances you may have.
Instead, you should prioritize and figure out what matters to you the most and go for it. When you are done, you can take care of the other stuff too.
14. Short-Term Goals
Successful people always pay attention to setting SMART goals and feasible to achieve within a short period.
When you want to achieve goals that are challenging and takes time, you are tempted to establish other short-term goals.
Unfortunately, doing so would only create one more obstacle in your path to success.
Instead, you can make your final goal more achievable by dividing it into several smaller and gradual goals and focusing on attaining those, one by one.
This way, you will win several small but encouraging battles on your way to the final victory.
Concluding Thoughts,
In your pursuit to achieve success, you must let go of things that hold you back and limits your growth. Only when you embrace the journey and count your progress, you become one step ahead to be successful in life! We hope cultivating these changes mindfully can help you become successful and separate you from the average.
Do you think you can give up the habits and actions above? Do you agree that they could prevent you from reaching your goals and being successful? Is there anything you would like to add to the list?
Don’t hesitate to share my post with your friends if you agree, or drop a comment if you don’t, or there is anything you would like to add! And do not forget to subscribe to us for more such interesting articles.
Key Takeaways On Being Successful In Life
- 92% of people give up before attaining their goals, resulting in lowered chances of them ever being successful in life.
- The meaning of success is subjective to different people. However, to become successful in life, one must give up toxic habits entirely and grow to their best potential.
- The first most crucial step to becoming successful is to give up the “I can’t” mindset.
- Then, embracing failure as a part of the journey is non-negotiable as it helps in learning and growth.
- Let go of toxic people who don’t believe in your goals and vision.
- Furthermore, eliminating all the unhealthy habits is a must.
- Always wear clothes you feel the most comfortable and confident in.
- Leave the baggage of past mistakes in the past only and continue to focus on the present.
- Fight with the distractions that come along your way.
- Additionally, make your own decisions and don’t let others decide what’s best for you.
- Stop obsessing about what others think, as you’ll never satisfy others other than yourself.
- Always rely on stress relief strategies to manage your stress.
- Use the power of social media intentionally instead of excessively misusing it.
- Release all your excuses and focus on doing one thing at a time against multi-tasking.
- Lastly, break your long-term goals into small short-term achievable goals.
What are the top three things I should give up for being successful?
- The “I can’t” mindset.
- Let go of excuses.
- Embrace learning from failure.
Read more: 10 Effective Secrets to Mastering Your Mind
