One word holds the key to your success.
One seven letter word and the implications behind it are what distinguishes those who get all the great things they want in life, and those who don’t.
Stick around and we’ll reveal this one word and how you can use it to get the life of your dreams and get your child into the school you have been dreaming of ever since you become a parent.
This is what I wish I knew before entering high school at those years ago and making it into Princeton as it would have made everything much easier and much more straightforward.
It was the summer before my freshman year of high school and I was sitting by the pool with the girl next door. Trying impossibly hard to «look cool» and not reveal how much of a huge crush I had on her.
I was still an awkward, just barely pubescent teen who was a little nerdy, super skinny and still had a lot of growing to do, while she was the school’s «cool girl» who was treated like a queen and had the confidence and looks of one.
We were by the pool talking about how excited we were to go to high school when she looks me in the eyes, her amber eyes staring at my soul, and asked, «so, what do you want to be?»
My brain blanked and grabbed at the first thing that came to my head and I said, «I want to go to Princeton and become and astronaut.»
A small beautiful smile crept across her face as she said three words the stuck with me until this day «That’s pretty cool.» And on that day, I decided that I was going to Princeton.
What I didn’t know then would be how monumental of a task that would be and if I knew what I’m about to share now, it would have reduced the heartache and would have made everything 100 times earlier.
The one word that matters when applying to college is how «s.p.e.c.i.a.l.» you are.
That’s it.
When a college looks at an applicant, they look at these 7 factors to decide whether or not to accept them.
A person’s;
S — Smarts
P — Perspective
E — Extracurriculars
C — Character
I — Interests
A — Aims
L — Location
Now, this may seem obvious, but often times the most obvious truths are the ones that are hardest to accept. The ones hidden in plain sight are often the most overlooked.
Let’s see an example of this at play.
Let’s have two applicants Alice and Bob.
Alice has these ratings
Smarts: 8/10
-
She’s not the smartest in her class, but she does pretty well in school and gets pretty good grades
Perspective: 8/10
-
Alice has traveled a lot with her parents and done a little bit of volunteer work here and there and knows a lot about the world and her place in it
Extracurriculars: 8/10
-
Alice plays softball and soccer in the spring and fall respectively
Character: 8/10
-
Alice isn’t the captain of her teams, but she’s a great role model and many people on the team look up to her. When the time comes she can be counted on to step up and take charge, but hasn’t necessarily put herself in those positions.
Interests: 9/10
-
Alice has a lot of hobbies outside of school. She loves painting, singing, drawing, and has her own garden at home that she tends to.
Aims: 8/10
-
Alice wants to be a vet to help save animals and give them and their owners better lives
Location: 6/10
-
Alice lives in a suburbs and has a fairly middle class lifestyle.
Alice’s Average score: 7.9 / 10
Now let’s look at Bob
Smarts: 10/10
-
Bob is the smartest person in his class and everyone knows it. He’s probably going to be the school valedictorian at graduation.
Perspective: 2/10
-
Bob has volunteered a little bit, but in between his hectic extracurriculars and school, there isn’t too much room for volunteering and traveling.
Extracurriculars: 10/10
-
Bob participates in every extracurricular he can sign up for because that’s what colleges want right?
Character: 10/10
-
Bob is a great role model and people look up to him. He’s the captain of the sports teams he’s a part of and the class president. Everyone want’s to be like him.
Interests: 2/10
-
Bob doesn’t really have many hobbies outside of school. Balancing extracurriculars and perfect grades doesn’t really leave much room for anything else.
Aims: 8/10
-
Bob wants to be a corporate lawyer and be as successful as possible.
Location: 6/10
-
Bob also lives in a suburbs and has a fairly middle class lifestyle.
Bob’s Average score: 7.0 / 10
Who do you think an elite school like Princeton or Harvard would be more willing to accept?
Surprisingly, it’s Alice. While she may not be exceptional in any one things, when the whole package is put together, she provided more overall value to the university through her multidimensional character and personality than Bob even though Bob get’s better grades, participates in more extracurriculars, and has more leadership roles.
That is why looking at the bigger picture is so important when applying to school’s like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford or Yale
By increasing the value of each component of the 7 pillars to college success it is almost guaranteed that any student will get into their dream school.
S — Smarts
P — Perspective
E — Extracurriculars
C — Character
I — Interests
A — Aims
L — Location
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When you hear the phrase “secret to success”, what comes to mind?
In this video, I’ll explain:
- One word that explains my long-term success
- How adjusting your mindset can make a huge difference
- What I mean — and don’t mean — when I use this word (it might surprise you!)
You can watch here:
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How to be Successful
When some people hear “secret to success,” they think you have to have big-name connections. Others think it’s years and years of experience or high-level training. Still others assume it’s just dumb luck and lots of startup capital.
If you know my story, you know I didn’t have any of these things when I was getting started. I was working from home and struggling big-time. So what made the difference?
I can tell you in one word what the secret to my success is.
And it might not be what you think.
In this video, I want to talk about the one thing that has made all the difference for me and continues to be the key to my long-term thriving.
It’s not a fancy business “hack” … and it definitely doesn’t involve any kind of cutthroat zero-sum competition. In fact, it’s quite the opposite!
The best part? It doesn’t require anything other than a switch in mindset to start experiencing the benefits right away.
I love sharing this information, because I know it can really help people make a significant turnaround in how they see themselves, their work, and their path to success. I hope it will give you a new perspective on what can be possible in your business, one conversation at a time.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. If you have follow-up questions or want to share your own experience, leave your comment below and let me know what you think!
The key to success is in one word. Hear us share the 7 reasons this word is key on The BIGG Success Show Podcast. Just click PLAY.
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You can discover the key to success in just one word. That word is connected. Here are seven ways connectedness drives your success.
Key to Success #1: Connected to a BIGG dream
All BIGG success begins with a BIGG dream. Little dreams don’t have the same ability to inspire as a large one.
Your dream is your destination. Where do you want to go? What do you want to accomplish? What do you want from your life, your career, and/or your business?
Your dream sets the direction. All else flows from it – from priorities to activities. It helps you know what to “Yes” to and when to say “No.”
Key to Success #2: Connected to your values
Your dream sets your direction. Your values determine your boundaries.
They keep you from straying off course. They insure you will be happy with the man or woman you see in the mirror.
Without boundaries, success comes with a void. With values intact, success is fulfilling.
Key to Success #3: Connected to the right fear
Fear holds many people back. It keeps them stuck in place.
However, there’s a “positive fear” which drives successful people. It’s the fear of not trying.
When you succumb to this fear, you simply have to go for it. It consumes you.
When your mind tries to conjure up all the negative fears, you fight back. It causes you great intestinal distress to even consider not giving your BIGG dream a shot.
Key to Success #4: Connected to perpetual action
Successful people have a penchant for action. Once they’ve defined what they want to do, they must act!
While others keep busy researching and analyzing, BIGG goal-getters are doing it. They realize you won’t ever know all you need to, but you’ll know more if you simply get started. This is especially true in today’s fast-changing, uncertain world.
Key to Success #5: Connected to results
Action isn’t enough. Actions must lead to results.
Most people spend much of their time on pleasant activities. Winners look for pleasing results.
It’s fun to reach out to a friend. It’s nerve-wracking to reach out to a new connection.
It’s fun to share a goofy video online. It’s hard to write a proposal.
Pleasant activities don’t cause any angst. Like an old shoe, they’re comfortable. They are risk-free.
Unfortunately, they trap you in the status quo. Pleasing results come from activities which may create some inner turmoil, but they bring you closer to your BIGG dream.
Key to Success #6: Connected to a deeper purpose
You often hear the mantra, “Follow your passion.” But passion isn’t enough.
You need to connect to a deeper purpose – a why. Why is it important for you to succeed? What difference will it make in your corner of the world?
Your purpose should be “practically emotional.” It should stir your soul as you picture the difference you will make for other people, if you can just reach your goal.
Your passion gets you started. Your purpose keeps you going.
Key to Success #7: Connected to the connected
Finally, you can’t do it alone. You need to connect to the connected.
By this we don’t just mean people who know people, although that’s important too. In this case, though, we’re really talking about connecting to people who are connected in the ways we’ve described above.
Like you, these are the people who are going somewhere. You can understand each other’s trials. You can appreciate each other’s successes.
Together, you can encourage each other to reach BIGG success!
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00907-021915.mp3
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
– Alexander Graham Bell
“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”
– John Maxwell
Everyone wants success. We think about success, we read about other people’s success, and we wish could be successful too.
Success means many things, not just money and possessions. It also means success in relationships, passing examinations and getting good grades, getting a good job, developing useful skills, making progress in any area in life, and much more.
If we could sum up the term success in a few words, we can say that it means achievement, accomplishment, and getting positive results.
In this post, I would like to mention six of the main keys to achieving success and getting positive results.
First Key to Success – A Clear-Cut Goal
You need to know exactly what you want. If you do not know precisely what you want, you will not take the right action, go in the right direction, or make the right decisions.
When the goal is clear-cut, you can make plans and you know what steps you need to take.
Second Key to Success – Studying Your Goal
Learn about your goal. This would make it clear whether you really want to achieve it. Sometimes, we want something, but when we learn about it, we discover that we do not really want it.
Learn about your goal, so you know the details about it, what you need to do, what you need learn, and what changes you need to make in your life, so that you can accomplish it.
Third Key to Success – Patience
A tree does not grow and bear fruit overnight. Everything needs time to grow.
It takes time to build a business. It takes time to become a successful CEO. It takes time to learn drive a car, learn to swim, or speak fluently a foreign language.
Success in any area of life requires that you act patiently. Otherwise, if you don’t get immediate results, you might get impatient and quit.
You might meet obstacles and difficulties. There might be delays and failures. You need therefore, to stay patient and continue with your actions, despite the obstacles, difficulties, delays or failures.
You can develop patient by striving to be patient in all your actions and endeavors, and by developing self-discipline.
Fourth Key to Success – Persistence
Patience and persistence come together. When there is patience, there is persistence, and when there is persistence, there is patience.
Most people do not finish what they start due to lack of persistence. Just think how many things you could have accomplished if you were persistent in whatever you did up to now!
Often, if you were just a little more persistent you would have achieved what you set out to do. It is just like in the well-known story, about the person who was searching for gold. After digging to a certain depth and not finding gold, he quit and went away.
Another person came along and continued to dig at the same spot. After digging just a few more centimeters and found the gold.
It is the same in life. You need to persevere and not quit.
Fifth Key to Success – Motivation
This key is also associated with the previous keys. When there is motivation, there are also patience and persistence. Motivation supplies the ambition and desire to get successful results.
What can strengthen your motivation? Being constantly aware of the importance of your goal, its benefits, and the reasons why you want to achieve it, can keep the motivation level high.
Repeating affirmations, reading about successful people can be helpful too to increase motivation.
Sixth Key to Success – Confidence and Faith in Yourself
How much you believe in yourself has much to do with what you get in life. If you lack self-esteem and self-confidence, you will not take action, do new things or take risks.
For success, you need a certain degree of assertiveness, and the courage to get out of your comfort zone.
Make an experiment. Strive to follow all the keys described in the article and implement them in your life for one week. Then, follow them for another week. Start with small simple goals that do not take too long to accomplish.
After accomplishing a few small and simple goals, you will have more motivation and confidence to go after bigger goals.
About the Author
My name is Remez Sasson. I am the author and creator of SuccessConsciousness.com, which I have been running since 2001. Join me on a fabulous journey to self improvement, happiness, success, positive lifestyle, conscious living and meditation, through my website, articles and books.
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Do you know what leads one person to achieve success in life over another? After doing much research, we’ve developed 10 Keys to Success. Success is within reach if you are willing to put in the work. But in order to do the right work, you must first learn how to be successful.
Here at Finally Family Homes, it’s our mission to help youth who have the odds stacked against them to beat the odds and succeed in life. So, what is the secret sauce of success? We’ll fill you in below. We’ve also provided some success quotes to inspire and motivate you.
How to Be Successful – Defining Success In Life
How do you define success in life? Most people consider success as having a great career, wealth, and respect from peers. But don’t overlook goals that will support a happier life. Prioritizing relationships, physical health, safety, contributing to others, and creative expression have been shown to improve feelings of happiness.
However, don’t confuse the feeling of happiness with success. You could be quite happy eating Cheetos in your parents’ basement while you watch TV. That doesn’t make you a success. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Happiness is not a goal…it’s a by-product of a life well-lived.”
Success in life means attaining your vision of a good life. It means achieving specific goals that result in the future you have planned for yourself. Success in life is defined by the individual. Your vision of success looks different than someone else’s.
If you are looking for the key to success in business vs the key to success in a relationship, your strategies and efforts are going to be quite different.
It’s also important to take care that you don’t let someone else dictate what a successful life for you looks like. You only have so much time in life, so make sure you create a holistic picture for yourself.
This post contains affiliate links. We earn commissions to support youth in need if you shop through the links on this page. You can read our full affiliate disclosure here.
The hilariously talented Ken Jeong was raised to pursue medicine, and even though he was a successful physician, it wasn’t what he really wanted. Later, he found his way into acting and comedy, and to the delight of audiences everywhere, he is now living out his vision of success.
As Thomas Merton put it, “People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.” Don’t put your ladder against the wrong wall! If you are meant to be a yoga teacher, you won’t feel successful as a “successful” investment banker.
People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”
Thomas Merton
So now that you know what success is, how do you get there? Believe it or not, although success may look different for everyone, there is a common list of strategies or keys to achieving that success. And here’s the good news: once you learn how to succeed, you can apply these tools to succeed in multiple areas of your life.
These keys or tools listed below will help you unlock success in your life. They are strategies used by successful athletes, businessmen, and artists. Make sure you have a clear vision of a successful life in front of you as you work through them.
The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”
Brian Tracy
1st Key: Make A Plan
The very first key to success is to make a plan. This means having a clear picture of what a successful life looks like to you and putting together a well-defined set of goals to get you to that life.
Planning well starts with figuring out what you want and writing it down in detail. It’s important to have clarity on your definition of success. This is the foundation for your plan.
To succeed means to accomplish a goal. By this definition, if you don’t set goals, you’ll never succeed.
2nd Key: Prepare For The Unexpected
Many of the best-laid plans have been derailed by a single misstep. Preparing for the unexpected can make the difference between your plans ending in failure or succeeding despite a bump in the road.
So how do you prepare for the unexpected? Start by making a list of things that could go wrong in your plan. Then create workarounds and backups for each potential problem. Even when I’m driving a route I know well, I usually keep my GPS up and running to help me navigate traffic jams, construction, or missed turns.
3th Key: Prioritize Your Goals
As you create your systems and put your good habits into practice, you’ll probably find there isn’t enough time in each day to work towards every goal. Manage your time wisely, so that the right activities take priority.
If you’re unsure how to prioritize goals, it may help to apply some techniques like a numerical ranking system or the Eisenhower Matrix. Prioritizing your goals also means not letting things that never even made your list get ahead of pursuing what did. In other words, don’t let talking to a telemarketer derail your plans to work on your website.
4rd Key: Develop Good Habits
You can have big dreams, great goals, and still fail. The third key of success requires you to turn your goals into actions. Repeated actions in the right direction become helpful habits. And once you form the right habits, you create momentum.
By creating systems for your life as you form good habits that can help you stay on track. You can build systems by grouping good habits together. Having a system in place can keep you from having to make decisions on the fly or having to keep track of doing all your goal-oriented tasks one by one.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
James Clear
Instead, you follow an intentional daily pattern that moves you toward your goals with less stress. This has the added benefits of reducing stress and freeing your attention to focus on the things that truly require more brainpower.
5th Key: Learn from Your Mistakes
They say, “the road to success is paved with failure.” What they don’t say is that each piece of failure on that road probably looks different than the other. Success most likely came by way of trying (and failing) many different ways. Yes, you can fail your way to success, but almost never by making the same mistake over and over.
Failure is a part of the process of becoming successful if you make it a teacher. Learning and growing after failure makes it useful.
For example, consider a runner. Every race a runner loses, they may still be improving. They will likely see progress if they build up strength and try new running techniques. They may move up from 5th place to 3rd place to 2nd. Even though they aren’t first, each race is a part of the process of success, moving them closer to getting first place.
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan
Download this FREE Michael Jordan Success Quote on a phone wallpaper.
6th Key: Try Different Strategies
The road to success is not straight. There are stops and starts, turns, and detours. Anyone who says they’ve got the exact path to success for you is probably lying. As the (creepy) saying goes, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Heck, there’s more than one way to get the meaning of that saying across. Let’s make up a newer, more pet-friendly one: “There’s more than one way to peel a banana.”
Any way you put it, there’s more than one way to do – just about everything. So, if at first, you don’t succeed, try another way. Try a new strategy. Come at your goal from a new angle, at a different time, with a different person. There could, in fact be many effective strategies. You just need to find the right one. The only way to find it is to keep changing and keep trying until you find one that works.
7th Key: Take Smart Risks
As you try out different strategies, you may find that you’re trying something entirely new. It might feel scary. Admittedly, taking risks is intimidating, but taking smart risks can have big payoffs. Taking a smart or calculated risk means researching potential outcomes and determining your chances of success and if the payoff is worth risking the harm that could be done.
Getting good at risk-taking is a life skill that takes time to develop. You may have a few painful failures as you figure out how to take calculated risks in life. It’s best to start out by taking small risks. As you get better at it, you’ll probably become more comfortable. But don’t let your comfort be the only deciding factor. Often, taking a risk is the only way to achieve success.
8th Key: Learn from the Experts
Truthfully, there is no one path to success. Nevertheless, a lot can be learned from studying other successful people. Even better is to be mentored or to study directly under someone. Recorded history doesn’t always catch all the details and nuances.
Start by researching and studying successful people who did something in the same realm of what you are striving to achieve.
Want to innnovate?
Study innovators.
Want to be a great painter?
Study Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso.
Want to own a restaurant?
Learn from a restaurateur.
Whatever you are after, seek out the experts, ask questions, and take notes.
9th Key: Master How to Say No
Our culture undervalues the importance of saying no. It can be uncomfortable. If you listen to interviews with successful people, you’ll probably hear them talk about turning down great opportunities they knew weren’t right for them.
Learning how to say no is an essential key to success in life. Successful people say no all the time. Saying no means knowing yourself, your boundaries, and being able to determine what is worth your time and energy. Saying no to the wrong thing leaves space to say yes to the right thing. It leaves room for the right opportunity.
Have trouble saying no? Check out this video for some awesome tips!
10th Key: Invest in Relationships
While the saying, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” may overstate the importance of relationships to success, it’s certainly not without merit. As a rule, investing in relationships is quite valuable. People are made to be connected to a community. The benefits of being in a safe and encouraging community go beyond success in any one area of life. As James Clear says in Atomic Habits:
One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.”
James Clear
Many types of relationships can boost your chances of success in life. For example, the relationship you need most may be a friend who has no “connections,” but supports you when times are tough.
Maybe the relationship you need is with a competitor, someone to challenge you and keep you sharp. In particular, pursue a mentoring relationship, which can lead to networking opportunities and invaluable advice. We know that the lack of these relationships can be the most significant gap between aged-out foster youth and success.
If you’re intimidated by the idea of networking, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Learning how to network effectively takes time, intention, and practice. Everybody finds it intimidating at first, but it’s important to face those fears and do it anyway.
What Makes a Person Successful in Life
The above keys for success are not all or nothing. However, the more of these you have, the better you will do as you try to figure out how to achieve success in life. And all of these keys or tools can be acquired and developed by anyone with enough time and grit.
It also bears mentioning that a successful life is not all about pursuing success. It is not consumed by delusions of grandeur. How can you be happy if you are consumed?
Some of your most powerful and most meaningful moments will happen in the midst of failure and defeat. Some of the best memories can be made in the mundane. These are valuable too. Without a doubt, success in life also means developing the ability to be grateful and to find the nuggets of beauty in less glamorous times.
We believe true success includes making a difference in the world. The most powerful difference you can make is the difference you make in the life of others. Otherwise, all your success dies with you. As Roy T Bennett put it:
Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.
Roy T Bennett
Next Steps to Digging Deeper on a Key to Success
Want more? Dig into our recommended reading by the authors quoted above. GOALS! is one of Brian Tracy’s top-selling books. In his book, he shares how he took himself from rags to riches.
Atomic Habits is a number one New York Times bestseller by James Clear, an author and speaker focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement.
Atomic Habits will give you a proven framework to make good habits & break bad ones.
His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning.
At Finally Family Homes we help young adults aging out of foster care succeed in life. Visit here to learn about us and our mission.
Want more inspiration on your journey to success? Check out:
7 Famous Entrepreneurs and What Made Them Wildly Successful
9 Inspirational Stories of Success & Overcoming