By: James D. Brausch
Published: August 5th, 2010
After you’ve been successful for a time it’s easy to tell who is not very successful even from very short conversations. They give all kinds of subtle clues. Some of those clues aren’t very subtle at all.
I don’t necessarily mean successful in terms of finances. Instead I mean a person who is successful at meeting their goals. They might be successful as an athlete, movie star, manager, parent, coach, writer or anything. Success is defined as meeting your goals and everyone’s goals are different.
One dead giveaway that the person speaking is not successful is that they make excuses instead of taking complete responsibility for their results. Another giveaway is someone who will instinctively lie instead of admitting they made a mistake.
I used to do this. When I was 12 I dropped a full cup of water in my lap. When I noticed people laughing, for some reason I blurted out “I didn’t know there was any water in it.”
People were laughing at me for dropping the full cup of water, so I lied and insisted I had meant to drop the cup and just didn’t realize there was water in it. Of course one mistake wouldn’t have been better than the other. But now I was trying and failing to insist they were wrong to be laughing at me – which I hoped would make me feel better. It would have been more honest to laugh along with them.
You might wonder what that story has to do with being successful. But successful people won’t wonder about that at all. They know that success comes when you stop making excuses and take responsibility for your results. Even if that result is as trivial as dropping a cup of water in your lap.
You’ll also notice this story occurred when I was 12. Many people react this way as kids and then they grow up. But many people don’t grow up and keep lying to themselves and others.
These people are easy to spot. They say things like, “I was going to do this but then that happened.” Instead of taking responsibility for failing to meet a goal, they pass the blame. They whine and complain about problems. They blame other people, places and things for their predicament. Rather than focusing on solutions, they focus on problems.
You’ll never climb out of the rubble of failure if you won’t even admit what the real problem is. Start listening to the way you speak. And make sure you’re not making excuses when you don’t reach a goal.
Most people assume that their speech is a reflection of their thoughts which is a reflection of reality. In fact, successful people recognize that their reality is a reflection of their thoughts which is a reflection of their speech and other actions.
Remember to take responsibility, and you’ll eventually join the ranks of the successful.
About The Author:
James D. Brausch’s blog can be found here: http://JamesBrausch.com
Article Source: www.isnare.com
