The 12 factors of Business Success: Discover, Develop, and Leverage Your Strengths

Chapter 12. Success Mind

Success is not doing things that are risky for the rush or the glory; it is about fully experiencing the life you have, in your own skin, for your own reasons. It is about accomplishing your dreams and leaving nothing undone when you finish.

Much of success is an inner game. You have to develop a success mind. This is a way of thinking, a way of being, and a way of doing that drives you forward through the good times and the tough times. Success is about doing one more thing, exploring one more option or opportunity when everyone else has stopped. It is having the drive to keep track of what is working and what is not. It is a process of continually learning new information that you can apply to reach your goals. And, it is about constantly striving to newer and bigger challenges and rewarding yourself for reaching your goals.

Fear keeps many people from reaching their goals. Fear of failure, fear of hard work, fear of what other people will think, fear that they are not good enough, fear of success. The interesting thing is that these types of fears are learned. We practice them over and over again until they become our automatic response.

Research shows that we can overcome nearly all fears or at least significantly reduce our response to fears through education, conditioning, and exposure to the triggers of our fears. One of the most successful therapies for people who have phobias is to educate them, and, over time, expose them to the object of their fear ...