Clark heard Brian Tracy once say “Your life gets better when you get
better.” He took that to heart years ago and came up with these critical steps that I personally use to kick his butt into high
gear. He has achieved great success following these steps. Everyone will
have a different meaning of what success is to them, so make it
personal to you. For some, it might be financial, for others it is
significance.
I have achieved great success in both definitions and I
know that you can too. It takes courage and commitment.
1) Don’t Just Rely On Your Brain, Listen To Your Intuition Too
– It’s the great voice of your spirit. It will lead you to your “Why”.
Once you have listened, then you must follow your “why”. It all starts
with a goal and believing in yourself. Believe that you can do it and
believe that you are worth it. Give yourself permission right now to
make your life matter. So many people don’t believe that they can
achieve much in life. Give yourself the gift of goals. I write down my
goals so that I can map out the means of getting there. It doesn’t
matter if it’s a financial, physical, intellectual, or spiritual goal.
Start to imagine what it feels like to have already achieved your goal.
Feel it and get into commitment mode. How bad do you want to achieve the
goal? What resources will you utilize to go after it? What sacrifices
are you willing to make? If I am writing it down on paper, I am also
writing it down in my head and imprinting it on my soul. I know I am
fully committed. I will do whatever it takes to make the dream a
reality.
2) Own It! – Define your goals very clearly and
precisely. It helps you map out and anticipate obstacles. It also helps
you break the big goal down into smaller goals. Short-range goals are
the stepping-stones on the way to achieving big things. Big goals don’t
get achieved overnight, but the little goals add up quickly, and when
the big victory finally happens, it will feel like it happened
overnight. My overnight success took almost sixteen years to accomplish,
so I was not surprised when it happened. I’d spent every day of my life
working towards it. It took action. I created niches and got in the
trenches with the mindset of persistence, determination, integrity,
enthusiasm, optimism and having a can win attitude.
3) Just Suck It Up! No Complaining – If you
complain, that is the mindset you will remain in…a prisoner of your
pain. Your attitude can be your best friend or your worst enemy. You
have complete freedom to choose how you will act and react every second
of the day. There’s 86,400 seconds in a day. If it was easy, it wouldn’t
be worth it. Obstacles will come, oh yes they will. For me, working
hard and overcoming struggles is a daily business. I have found that
from the birth of a dream to eventual reality has been a marathon and
not a sprint. It takes time. “Success is not a result of luck. It is a
result of how you spend your free time.” I always have a few different
goals, so that when I need a break from one I can focus on another. Very
few painters work only on one piece at a time – they work on many. Put
passion into all of your actions, and have many actions devoted to
different passions.
4) Self Talk is Powerful – Tell yourself that you
are going to have a life that counts. You are going to make an effort to
never give up. You are full of enthusiasm and determination. You are
ready to work hard and play hard. You will be the master of your time.
Let go of your mistakes; today is a new day. Don’t let your past infect
your future. I believe that your best days are still ahead of you.
Optimism is power. Be ground zero for an epidemic of positivity. You are
going to be a doer and not a procrastinator. You are going to be a
dream activator and not a dream-denier. You are going to hang out with
others who lift you up and encourage your self-actualization. Shed your
bad habits, and let good habits take root through repetition.
5) Stay Away From Life Suckers – Life is about
making progress. People are going to try and talk you out of your
dreams. They will suck up your time with nay-saying, or criticize you
and pick you apart. But you tell them that Derek said to back off. Stay
away from those people who are imprisoned by negativity. They’re not
even doing good for themselves, so how can they possibly be doing good
for you? Get around high achievers, mirror their good habits because
greatness is contagious!
6) Don’t Worry About Failing – Try, try and try!
Failure and rejection are absolutely nothing to fear. With each failure,
I became one step closer to success. Seriously, after each failure,
change your approach. Don’t keep banging your head against the wall over
and over again trying the same dang thing. You have to change your
approach, period. Look at it through a 360 degree lens. There is always a
way. Just look at the technology and medical advances the past 50
years. It is unbelievable. Remember the old Disney cartoons; now look at
what Pixar and Disney create. It’s incredible. They have failed many
times and yet they kept persevering and trying a different way until it
worked. Impossible is not a fact but really an opinion. Keep pushing
through.
Failure can sneak in your mind and leave you with negative feelings
about your self worth. Don’t let your mind play tricks with you. Don’t
let a failure keep you down or allow the voice of other people’s
opinions ring inside of your head. When was the last time someone’s
opinion paid your bills? Ignore them. Failure is a great teacher and in a
way has been my friend all along. Remember Thomas Edison’s quote: “I
have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Failure
is also a test. Failure might be telling us that we need to change
direction and execute a different plan of attack or a new strategy. Your
mindset has to have the right perspective in order to push through the
negative self talk, the uncertainty, the fear and the discomfort.
7) Stay Creative – Your imagination is powerful.
Sometimes you will have to sit quiet for thirty minutes, so you can
clear your mind of all the noise and open the doorway to your
creativity. To be successful, we must be strategic in taking risks and
utilizing our creativity. Creativity is the taxi that will take us to
untamed and uncharted territory, it is in these places that we become
all we can be. Your creativity has the ability to make a new reality for
you. It has done it for me. I earn a great living because of my
creativity. You will be amazed at what ideas or revelations come to you
when you just put aside all the distractions of modern life and turn off
the TV! It wastes your time and all that you are doing is watching
others live out their dreams. Here is what I do…I typically will close
the door to my home office and get into my zone of working towards my
goal whether it was writing one of my books, working on a new song for a
viral video or creating a new website. It might be for an hour or for
16 hours in a day. It might have to be in the middle of the night when
the kids are asleep or it might be missing a party or hanging out with
your friends. I always tell myself… You can sleep when you die. Haha I
am a firm believer in investing in your goals. Everyday work on it…Every
day!
Now listen… I can shout at you until I am blue in the face, but if
you don’t have the inner desire to say “I am doing this for me”, then no
amount of motivational speaking will light the spark, but know this… If
ever you feel like giving up, just give up your bad habits. If you’ll
change your bad habits, you’ll change your life.
Remember that life is all about the little steps in your journey.
Don’t skip the little steps and fall for the easy way, it never lasts.
You need to exercise your discipline and commitment muscles and pay
life’s tuition for a while. People are always looking for the quick way,
the quick fix and lose out on the building of their character when life
gets tough. If you have been through great adversity, you will be able
to make it through almost anything. I have personally gone through the
fire of adversity in this life as I was abused and abandoned into the
foster care system at age five. I would then spend the rest of my
childhood and youth in the foster care system. I went through so much
rejection and feeling like a failure that it held me back for a while.
One day a breakthrough happened… I decided to divorce my story of
being a victim. I began to look at my negative past with the mindset and
emotion that I am a warrior, a victor! With that mindset shift, my life
became easier and I had more pride of what I had been through. Also,
the obstacles that I faced now would not hold me back or bother me
because in my mind, I told myself that I have been through worse and
that nothing could destroy me. I went through great pain and sacrifice
to get to where I am now. I have learned that what you focus on controls
you, so if I focus on the obstacles, they will continue to hold me
back…but if I focus not what I am going through but where I am going to,
the obstacles fall by the wayside and I continue to keep pushing
forward. So keep pushing!
It’s time for you to envision a better future. You must visualize to
materialize. Live your life fully and doubt your limits. As long as you
still have breath in your lungs, there is time to start over. As long as
there is blood running in your veins, you have time to make your dreams
happen. We have the rest of our lives from this moment on to realize
our ambitions. I am a big believer in dreaming big and taking the big
leap in life. You have one life, own it and live it. A lot of people ask
me “Derek, what do you think the meaning of life is?” I tell them to
give your life meaning. Find your passion and breathe life into it so
that your life’s meaning can help transform the world. Once you are
confident about your own ability to achieve, you can help create a world
of achievers through your example. Always helps others and remember
your ABC’s…Always Be Compassionate.
I came up with a simple acronym for H.O.P.E. so that you can easily remember and apply it in your daily life.
H.O.P.E. – Helping One Person Everyday! Be the example.
Never limit your life, and never give up!
To your success,
"Let our words bring development in our country by encouraging yourself and others" by Bismark
MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: Derek Clark
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