Month December 2013

How to Improve Your Chances of Success

Steve Keating 9 Comments

First off let’s acknowledge that there are many “definitions” of success. My version of success could be very different than yours. I believe that success is a very individualized kind of thing. 

Whatever your personal definition of success is this much is certain, you’ll have a much better chance of achieving that success if you have goals, objectives, and a real plan. 

Successful people all understand this simple fact: merely wanting something is not a goal. Successful people also know that wishing for something is not an objective and hoping for it is not a plan. 

When it comes to achieving success what you say means very little when it’s compared to what you’re willing to actually do. I hear pie in the sky dreams everyday and the moment I hear “someday” attached to those dreams I know the chances of the person achieving them is very very small. 

It’s small because they spend their time dreaming about something rather than investing their time to make it happen. They do almost nothing except say what they will do while successful people are actually doing it.  The amazing thing is that “doing” is the prerogative of everyone. Regardless of your circumstances you can at least try, you CAN DO something and doing almost anything gives you a greater chance at success than those who do nothing. 

Pretty much everyone is willing to want but successful people are willing to work as well. Their work begins as a dream, from that dream comes a plan with objectives and goals. People who do not achieve the success they desire never get further than the dream. 

So, how do the successful ones build a plan from the dream? Here’s one way: they put themselves into the dream. If you watch closely you’ll see that less successful people dream about having the success of someone else. They say things like “I want to have a house like so and so.” Or “I want to have a bank account like he or she has.” It’s all about having what someone else has earned. 

Successful people on the other hand dream about earning their own success. They say things like “I can do that too.” They say “I can and I will” rather than “I wish I could.” Successful people spend far less time comparing themselves to other people than less successful people. Successful people make their luck while less successful people are waiting for “the big break” to happen upon them.

It’s simple to gauge your own odds of success. Just ask yourself whether you’re wishing or working. Ask yourself if you have a dream or a plan to achieve a dream. Ask yourself if you’re waiting for your ship to come in or if you’re swimming out to meet it. Oh, and while you’re asking yourself these questions remember that honesty isn’t just the best policy, it’s the only policy of successful people. 

If you really expect success then you’d better expect to work for it too. We seldom get everything we want in life but we often get everything we earn. What level of success are you earning today? 

Building Your Personal Brand

Steve Keating 6 Comments

The Missouri Agriculture Department Website says that Branding is one of the oldest and best ways to permanently identify livestock. It serves as an excellent safeguard against livestock theft, loss or dispute. In fact, the International Livestock Identification Association considers livestock brands to be as important as return addresses on mail.

Once applied the Brand is very difficult to remove. It is intended to be permanent. 

You have a brand too, it is your personal brand. Once applied, it is very difficult to remove. You may not intend for it to be permanent but it just might be.

Now here’s a scary thought… everything, yes everything, you say and do either adds to or subtracts from, your personal brand. People think stuff about you, they either think good stuff or bad stuff. Before you get upset with people who think stuff about you remember that you think stuff about other people too. It’s what we humans do.

What someone thinks of you will be determined by how you build your brand. It is determined by what you say and do. But this is the interesting part, what you “say” doesn’t build your brand and what you “do” doesn’t build it either. That would just be too easy.

Your brand is built by what you say AND do. When you’re trying to build a strong, trusted brand then those two things had better match, or at least be very, very close.  

I give out lots of advice, both online and in person. If I must say so myself most of the advice I give is pretty darn good. It’s tried, tested and true. Online the “LeadToday” brand is strong and growing stronger everyday because the advice found there truly helps people. 

In life the “Steve Keating” brand isn’t as strong and it’s not as strong for one simple reason; I don’t always do as I say to do. In other words, what I say and what I do don’t always match. There are lots of reasons, or perhaps I should say excuses, for why what I say and do don’t always match but this much is certain: it does not help make my personal brand stronger.

So I work on it. I’m aware of it. I try to get better at it everyday. Everyday!

Are you aware of your brand? Do you realize you have one? Do you know what adds to and subtracts from your personal brand? Are you even interested in having a strong personal brand?

If your answer to any of those questions is yes then you may want to check in on yourself from time to time just to make sure your “says and does” match up. You may want to evaluate your brand once in a while to determine if it’s getting stronger or starting to fade a bit. 

Your honest evaluation will inform you about what you need to do next. 

One last point. Our biggest obstacle to building a strong brand is called living life. We’re going to screw up cause that’s another thing we humans do. Never let what you’ve done keep you from doing what you can. Even if you’ve put a dent in your brand by doing something wrong you can still polish the dent by doing what’s right.