10 Universal Principles Of Success

This world is an amazing place. The principles you are about to discover are the ones I learned back in 1995 while still in medical school. I had never heard of such success ‘gurus’ as Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins, Wallace Wattles (heard about them for the first time in 2002). Yet it turns out we are all saying the same thing in different ways.

My main ‘success manual’ which led me to discover the following principles was (and still is) the Holy Bible. Most every extraordinarily successful person I have studied since 1995 has vouched for the power of the words contained in that Book to change lives, including all the men mentioned above.

The great thing about the Bible is that you do not have to subscribe to any particular religion for its teachings to work. They are principles, just like gravity, and thus work when you apply them correctly, regardless of your background or religious affiliation.

I decided to put these principles into words when I realized they were applicable to other areas of life other than just the academic arena. Read this article and use the principles to create success in your life today. They work.

Success comes as a result of forming certain habits, and continuing in them. Consistency is key. To succeed, you need to be a certain type of person. Don't be discouraged if you are not yet that type of person. With practice, any woman can become a successful person. The successful person thinks in a certain way, talks in a certain way, and acts in a certain way.

This article outlines 12 of those 'certain ways' that highly successful women behave. Do not be fooled by their simplicity. When done properly, these principles work. They take your life to another level. Don't take my word for it though. Act on them for yourself and see what happens.

Any woman who consistently applies these principles to any area of her life *will* experience success in that area.

1. Vision: Have a clear picture of what exactly it is you want to achieve or become. Keep this picture at the top of your mind at all times. Doing something you want to do, because you want to do it, will motivate you to succeed at it. Start with the end in mind.

Your imagination is your workshop. This is where you design the life you desire. There are always 2 creations to everything - the first happens in the workshop of your mind (your imagination), and the second is the physical manifestation of the blueprint you've designed in that workshop.

Begin today to gain and design the life you desire. If you don't have a clear design and direction for your life, chances are you're living someone else's vision, someone else's design. Someone or something else is in control of your life.

So get to work. Set aside some time today to begin creating the life of your design. Set aside a bit of time each day to review your design, add more clarity, adjust any bits that don't quite fit and so on. Have fun with this. You only get one shot at this life. Make it count.

2. Belief: Believe without a shadow of a doubt that you can do it. Believe that you will succeed. Believe that God is helping you get what you want. Stay away from negative influences (people, books/articles, anything negative), that make you doubt your ability to succeed. Surround yourself with things that remind you that you can, and will, succeed.

If you must doubt anything, doubt your doubts. And why not? They hold you back from reaching outside the box to achieve your true potential. They keep you from seeing your true worth.

Believe you can succeed in that business venture. Believe you can get that promotion. Believe you can attract Mr Right, if that's what you desire. Believe you can write that book.

What you believe becomes your reality, see. So as you work on your design (see 1 above), believe that the design you're working on can actually be your reality. Believe that you deserve to succeed. You should - you were created in God's image and He don't make no junk, as someone once said.

You were born to succeed. You've got it in you to succeed. You must believe this, and don't let anyone tell you anything different.

No matter what you seek to accomplish, your actions don't contain any power unless they're backed up with faith.

Whatever you desire, believe it's possible for you. Armed with this belief, you can now apply the remaining principles in confidence that each step is moving you closer to bringing your dreams to reality.

3. Responsibility: You are responsible for your future. You alone are responsible for the outcome of your efforts. Don't look for anyone to blame. Ask for help as you need it, but remember the final decision is up to you. It's your life, after all.

The beauty of accepting responsibility is that it empowers you to make the necessary changes to your life. When you realize that you're responsible for the outcomes you experience, it makes you wiser in the choices you make.

Your life becomes richer in every sense. In your business, you know you are responsible for outsourcing or delegating tasks that would be better done that way. You're responsible for marketing your wares. You're responsible for applying for that job you desire. You're responsible for choosing a self-image that is congruent with the results you desire. You're responsible for making yourself attractive and appealing first on the inside (which means no guilt - seek forgiveness, forgive yourself if necessary, love yourself, then move on; no self-loathing, no man-bashing, love others unconditionally, expecting nothing back from them).

Take responsibility for your future, and when you succeed, the victory will be sweeter.

4. Affirm: Make a habit of saying out loud what you hope to achieve. Speak of it in the present tense, e.g., 'I am fit and trim', as opposed to 'I will be fit and trim'. If you feel awkward speaking out loud to yourself, write down the affirmation. Then look at it (or better still, rewrite it) several times each day. This helps your mind stay focused on the goal. It also builds your self-belief and confidence.

One verse that really helped me propel my results to the stratosphere, is this one: "if you say to this mountain, be removed and be cast in the sea, and you don't doubt, but believe that what you say comes to pass, you will have what you say". Jesus Christ said that. I chose to believe it. Then I started to speak it out loud. I'd say 'the things I say happen'. Then I'd say what I want to happen, and I believed (still do) that the things I said (and say) do indeed happen.

I did this whether or not the current physical reality agreed with what I was saying. You see, the User's Manual has said that if I speak with faith (faith in God's ability to bring things to pass), what I say will happen. So I started speaking stuff with faith.

One time, when I was still new in business, I had a rough patch (I'd stopped affirming stuff - which you'll be tempted to do when things go great) whereby my bank account was nearly empty. So I decided to start speaking things into being. I started saying 'Thank God for my overflowing bank account and booming business', and things like that. I backed my words with faith and took action by going a-prospecting.

In less than 48 hours, out of the blue I had 2 orders for my highest price products (at the time they cost over $1000.00 each).

Don't nobody tell me this stuff don't work!

So watch what you say. Always. Quit saying negative things about yourself or others, your circumstances or theirs. You know that design you came up with at the beginning? Speak it into being. With gratitude. Keep on speaking it into being, and back it all with some action steps (which become clearer to you as you affirm your belief that your design is coming to pass).

This is another ingredient in the recipe for total success. Your words must line up with your thoughts and actions.

5. Commitment: Make a firm commitment to action. Decide to take whatever steps you need to take to help you achieve your goals. Then honour the commitment you've made. Too often we find it easy to keep our commitments to others while neglecting to keep our commitments to ourselves. This pattern has to change if you're to succeed in life.

Integrity is central to your success, and integrity starts with YOU. Commit to your own success. Decide that failure is not an option (bearing in mind that failure = quitting). When you master integrity with yourself, you'll find it even easier to be a person of integrity with others.

True commitment is much more than just being interested in something happening. It's that spirit of 'no turning back', that attitude of steely determination that helps you overcome all obstacles on your way to your breakthrough. It’s that spirit of discipline that makes you do what you have to do even when you don’t feel like doing it.

No obstacle can stand in the way of the woman who is truly, fully committed to a given course. Be that woman.

6. Set a SMART goal: Now that you know what you want to achieve or become, you need to define it by making it a goal. Your goal has to be Specific, Measurable (you need a standard to help you know when you've achieved it) and Motivational (it's got to inspire you and keep you motivated), Attainable and Attractive, Realistic (no point setting an unrealistic goal such as "I want to be a millionaire this evening") and Timed (State when you hope to achieve it).

This is where you take your vision (step 1) and put a deadline to it. Not to keep you bound or trapped, but rather to guide your subconscious mind as it steers you towards your desired goal. This is where cybernetics comes into play. The principle of the guided missile operates in your mind as well. You program the target (your SMART goal), and your mind gets to work steering you towards it.

Your course won't be a straight line (it never is), however it will see that you end up where the target's at, as long as the target is clearly defined (steps 1 & 4) and kept at the forefront of your consciousness at all times (steps 2 & 3)

So, no matter what may be said about goal-setting, truth remains that it works, if you work it right.

7. Plan and Take Action: Work out a plan of action. Break down the plan into baby steps. Take a step or two each day, reminding yourself that each step is bringing you closer to your goal. Perform each act to the best of your ability, filled with faith, determination and purpose to reach your goal. Most importantly, be consistent.

Each task, done properly, is sure to lead you to your breakthrough. When things don't work out exactly as you wish, consider it to be feedback, learn from it, make the necessary adjustments to your plan and keep going.

One good thing about baby steps is that they keep you from procrastinating. They make the task at hand look easily doable. That makes you more likely to get it over with. And for each baby step you complete, you experience the joy, and increased confidence, of success. This motivates you to take the next step, and your successes continue piling up and adding up until your vision is manifested.

So you see, positive thinking is not enough. Affirming, Believing, Imagining and all the rest are not enough without this one thing: appropriate action. It makes everything click into place. The other things pretty much set you up to perform the appropriate action.

So grab a sheet of paper and a pen. Find a quiet spot where you won't get distracted. Now begin to brainstorm (you could do this with a trusted friend, if you wish.). Write down as many ideas of possible action to take, that you can think of. Keep your copy of your Vision in front of you at all times, for that will make it easier for you to recognize the pieces of the puzzle, so to speak.

Take one action step as soon as possible after your brainstorming session. Then another, and another.

8. Persistence: Do not give up until you have achieved what you desire. In the course of things, be willing to change any part of your plan which turns out not to work, and try something else. Thomas Edison did not give up in his quest to invent the light bulb, even though he'd 'failed' 10,000 times. Now that's persistence! See every ‘failure’ as a stepping-stone to success and as a temporary set back. It's been said that there's no such thing as failure, only feedback. Learn from it and push on towards your goal.

Acknowledge that it's not always going to be easy to do what you need to do. Many times you may not feel like waking up to do that workout. You may not feel like phoning that prospect or following up on that prospect. You may not feel like kissing and making up with your lover. But remember the desired result. Remember your design. Keep your eyes (and mind) on it and persist in doing what you need to do.

Refuse to give up or give in to quick-fixes or apparently easy ways out. Think long term.

9. Gratitude: Maintain an attitude of gratitude, knowing that your dream is about to become a reality. Refuse to grumble when circumstances look contrary. Refuse to complain. Be grateful for where you are now, and for where you are headed. Look around for things to be grateful for. You'll be surprised to find quite a few.

An amazing thing happens when you offer up praise and gratitude to God for the things happening in your life. An equal and opposite reaction is set up. Or as the psalmist says, 'when praises go up, the blessings come down'.

Here's something else about gratitude: when you are giving thanks for something, your mind is focusing on that thing, right? And what happens to what you focus on? It expands. You get more of the same. So gratitude is a powerful mechanism of activating the Law of Attraction into your life.

When things look like they're going wrong, that's when you need to offer even more gratitude: believe there's good in everything, and offer gratitude even when the good is not apparent to you. As you persist in giving thanks, the good will become apparent, and you will attract more of it into your life.

Thus you should take gratitude very seriously.

10. Become a giver. In your relationships, always think in terms of what you can do for the other person. What goes round comes round. After all, whatever dreams you have, most likely involve interacting with other people. Be kind and generous to all; you never know where your breakthrough will come from.

It's the old Law of Reciprocity at work: give and you will be given. It's not your place to be concerned about who will give to you. Just focus on giving to others, and God will sort you out but good.

In business, don't be afraid to give some of your best material away for free. Ask Seth Godin what good it's done him to do just this. When you give away quality material, God rewards you by making you able to produce more quality material, which you can then sell for a good price. You see, in giving away high valued material, prospects will be thinking 'if this is what she's giving away for free, imagine what her paid stuff is like!', and they'll happily pay you what you ask.

You can never out-give God, see. So be free in your giving. Don't hold back and He won't hold back from you, PLUS you'll never be wanting for anything. That's the system that God has put in place to provide for all His creation. Plug into it and reap.

11. Be in the know: Find out everything you can about your situation/goal. Read books, listen to tapes, and talk to experts, whatever it takes. This will help you make wise decisions and keep you confident as you go along.

Devote at least 15 minutes each day to studying personal development material, and at least another 15 minutes each day to studying material from your industry. This will keep you at the top of your game, as the mediocre masses don't bother to do so.

As Bob Proctor puts it, 'join the 6 a.m. club' - wake up an hour earlier and get some reading done. It can only serve you well.

So there you have it. If you act on these principles consistently, you WILL succeed in any endeavour. Don't just take my word for it, though. Prove it yourself by actually applying it to your life situation.

Knowlegde is not powerful until you act on what you know. Think about that. Better yet, act on it! You'll be glad you did.