Anyone who wants to be successful must drop these 10 habits.

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'You have brains in your head, You have feet in

your shoes, You can steer yourself any direction

you choose. You're on your own, And you know

what you know, And YOU are the guy who will

decide where to go"

-Dr Seuss

At one time in my life, I believed that my success

was based on the amount of money I made, how

good I was at my job, and how many people liked

me. The older I got the more I realized that

success for me was actually based around how

happy I felt.

I did spend many years caught up in the whirlwind

of defining my success by comparing it to how

other "successful people" lived their lives. I wasted

a lot of energy chasing other peoples' definition of

success.

I never really truly believed I was successful. Many

times I felt I was a failure because I believed I was

not achieving the levels of success that I perceived

people around me were. On the outside I am sure

that people considered me to be a success but I

never was that happy with myself. I always felt that

something was missing and that there was more

to life for me.

This Quote Changed My Understanding of Success

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness

is the key to success. If you love what you are

doing, you will be successful".

-Albert Schweitze

Many years ago

I read Albert Schweitzer's quote –

his words resonated with me. Maybe I was ready

to listen, I don't know but I did stop and think

about how unhappy I was and how unsuccessful I

felt. I then tried to work out what I wanted to do

that made me happy.

In my heart I always knew that I wanted to live my

life writing and teaching, but the thoughts in my

head blocked any attempt to acknowledge how

much my dream meant to me and there was no

way I could tell anyone else either, it was just too

scary.So I kept my secret hidden for a long time.

It was also very hard for me to break free from the

cycle of success that I aspired to. I was living a

life where I believed that money and status would

bring me success. I l pursued this definition of

success, because, I felt I had to and I was too

scared NOT to. When everyone around you works

really hard, earns lots of money, has lots of status

and all the toys that come with it, you want to have

all of that too! You want your kids to have all the

things that their friends have and you want to

enjoy the comforts of life as well. So you keep

working believing that you have no other options

and you keep convincing yourself that life is not

that bad – but for me over a time it became bad

and I started to feel that my life was slipping by.

Even though I knew what I wanted to do with my

life, I did not do anything about it for a long time.

There were some feeble attempts but when I got

scared I would scurry back to living a life that was

familiar and comfortable. I still had to face a few

more knock backs before I committed to begin my

journey to discovering how to be successful and

happy with my life.

"The good news is that the moment you decide

that what you know is more important than what

you have been taught to believe, you will have

shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success

comes from within, not from without."

-Dalai Lama XIV

I was following the wrong path to success and as

a result my chances of feeling that I was

successful were zero. Once I started to get clear

about what success meant for me and began the

journey to living a life where I truly felt successful,

then I discovered what it felt like to be happy.

"I want to define success by redefining it. For me it

isn't that solely mythical definition – glamour,

allure, power of wealth, and privileged from care.

Any definition of success should be personal

because it is so transitory. It's about shaping my

own destiny".

-Anita Roddick

To start the journey to becoming and truly

believing that you are successful is hard work and

it took me many years to find the courage to step

out and begin the journey. If you are wanting

success and happiness in your life then you need

to really look at the "bad habits" you have created

in your life that stop you from achieving the level of

success that you desire.

For me there were 10 bad habits I needed to

eliminate. By sharing with you how I managed to

overcome these bad habits, hopefully this will help

you to find your courage to begin your journey to

attaining a life of happiness and success.

1. Believing that you have to wait for the right

time to begin.

There is no perfect time to start this journey. It will

never be perfect and you will always have

challenges and obstacles to overcome – it doesn't

really matter – just start NOW. When you choose

to be successful then the actions, the decisions

and the choices you make today will create your

future.

"You don't have to be great to start, but you have

to start to be great".

-Zig Ziglar

2. Accepting that moderate success is easier to

achieve then aiming to achieve your wildest

dreams.

It is so much easier to accept being moderately

successful than aiming to achieve success beyond

your wildest dreams. Dream big and set goals that

are beyond the realms of your current reality – go

for it ,you may just surprise yourself as to what

amazing successes you can achieve.

"If any of you have a desire to be mediocre, you

will probably find that you have already achieved

your ambition."

-Hugh B. Brown

3. Believing other peoples' approval is important

to defining your success in life.

You will never start your journey to success if you

are waiting for others to give their approval. It is

your ego and your fear of being criticised that

directs you to seeking their approval. Get over it

and move on and do what you have to do to be

successful. For me committing to my 12 month

plan with practical goals, set tasks and activities

was how I overcame this bad habit. I just had to

follow the plan and didn't need anyones approval

to do so.

"The good news is that the moment you decide

that what you know is more important than what

you have been taught to believe, you will have

shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success

comes from within, not from without"

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. Believing that your success can only be defined

by the success in your professional life.

This bad habit you have to give up immediately

because there is no way you can be successful in

one part of your life. Your professional and your

personal life are interconnected and all aspects of

your life need to be balanced.

"I believe that being successful means having a

balance of success stories across the many areas

of your life. You can't truly be considered

successful in your business life if your home life is

in shambles."

-Zig Ziglar

5. Using other peoples' definition of success to

define who you are and what success looks like

for you.

This was one of my really bad habits, in that I

constantly compared other people's successes to

how I wanted success to be for me in my life. I

now know that success comes from within and

once I achieved true happiness living the life I

love, then success was guaranteed. Using other

peoples success, as a benchmark for my success

in life would not bring me happiness – that was

something only I could do, nobody else could do

that for me.

"Care about what other people think and you will

always be their prisoner"

-Lao Tzu

6. Believing that money and wealth is the only

measurement to defining how successful you are

I don't know why so many of us believe that

money and wealth defines how successful we are.

If I wanted success in my life I had to be earning

lots of money – the happiness would come later!

Well that didn't work out for me – even with

money I didn't feel successful! I knew in my heart

that money wasn't going to bring me happiness

and for me to feel that I was successful I had to

overcome my belief that, my success would be

measured by how much money I could make.

Once I got that bad habit out of the way, then I

was free to embrace on my terms success and

happiness in my life.

"You can only become truly accomplished at

something you love. Don't make money your goal.

Instead, pursue the things you love doing,and then

do them so well that people can't take their eyes

off you"

-Maya Angelo

7. Constantly focusing on all the reasons why you

don't deserve success in your life

This bad habit reflects a lack of self-confidence

and belief in you! I had to work really hard to

overcome this bad habit. For a long time I would

rationalise in my head all the reasons why I felt I

wasn't as successful as my peers, colleagues, and

friends. I would look back at all the bad choices I

had made in my life and wish I could have been a

different person. I spent a lot of time wishing I

could be the same as everybody else, because

then I would be successful! I didn't deserve

success because I didn't have the qualities that

successful people have. Now I reflect back and I

shake my head – what was I thinking??

"In the School of Life events, situations, and the

people you have attracted to be part of your

personal experiences is synchronized perfectly in

order to teach you the lessons that need to be

learned. They show you exactly what is needed to

be successful in your Life."

-Jacqueline Ripstein

8. You don't know what you want or what

success means for you so you just don't do

anything.

Achieving success in your life is not complicated

but you can make it as complicated and as hard

as you want. Success requires hard work,

perseverance, clarity and focus. If you look at any

successful person those elements will feature

somewhere in their journey to having a successful

life.

To aspire to be successful in your life you have to

know what a successful life means for you.

Success comes from the way you act, the way you

think, your attitude toward life – success is a habit

and you work on it everyday of your life. If you

don't know what success means to you then it is

really hard to start the journey.

Knowing what you want and setting out a plan with

practical goals increases your chances of success.

The plan gives you the clarity and focus you need

to start the journey – without a plan and not

knowing what you want, you will never begin the

journey.

"One reason so few of us achieve what we truly

want is that we never direct our focus; we never

concentrate our power. Most people dabble their

way through life, never deciding to master anything

in particular."

-Anthony Robbins

9. You have a limiting belief that to be successful

you have to pay a price at the expense of others.

This belief has come about as a result of society

promoting that to be successful, you have to be

tough and prepared to make sacrifices. It is people

that will pay a price for your success – mainly

because successful people will do what ever it

takes to get what they want. This is rubbish and if

you believe this to be true then you will not

experiences the great joy and happiness success

can bring to your life.

Your success in life is not determined by how

many people you have to step over or push aside

to get what you want. You, your actions, your

thoughts and how well you serve others are what

contribute to you having success in your life.

10. The fear of failing and making mistakes is a

huge block to you making the changes you need

to make in your life.

For me, clinging on to this bad habit stopped me

from making the changes I needed to make for me

to be happy and have a successful life doing what

I love to do – writing, speaking and coaching. If

you want to be happy and successful you are

going to have to accept that failures are necessary

on the path to success. It is a given.

This book gave me great tools and strategies to

effectively manage my fear of failure. Tim Hartford

talks about the wrong way we react to failure and

that our egos take control and as a result we try to

"bury the failure – not a good thing. He suggests

that we should adapt the way we think and react to

failure by adopting a "trial and error approach".

What this means is that we cant really predict how

things are going to turn out and so we test it,

adapt and adjust along the way. Failure according

to Tim is the opportunity we need to figure out

how we can succeed.

If you desire success in your life, you have to be

prepared to change. The first step to change, is for

you to face those "bad habits" that prevent you

from achieving the success and happiness you

desire in your life. Once you have overcome your

bad habits, you will be unstoppable, and your life

will be full of happiness and success.

"So be sure when you step, Step with care and

great tact. And remember that life's A Great

Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You

will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid,

you'll move mountains."

-Dr Seuss