The Success Principles

I have lived a long life and had many troubles, most of which never happened.

MARK TWAIN

The key words are I scare myself by imagining. All fear is self-created by imagining some negative outcome in the future. Using some of the same fears listed above, the new format would look like this:

• I want to ask my boss for a raise, and I scare myself by imagining he would say no and be angry with me for asking.

Some people will do anything to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of fear. If you are one of those people, you run an even bigger risk of never getting what you want in life. Most of the good stuff requires taking a risk. And the nature of a risk is that it doesn’t always work out.

acknowledge that fear exists but don’t let it keep you from doing important tasks.

You, too, can get from where you are to where you want to be if you’ll just trust that if you lean into it, the path will appear. Sometimes it will be like driving through the fog, where you can only see the road 10 yards ahead of you. But if you keep moving forward, more of the road will be revealed, and eventually, you will arrive at the goal.

Jana had learned what many achievers have: that even when you can’t move forward, you can turn right or you can turn left, but you have to keep moving. She discovered through some personal development courses that sometimes, in the rush to fulfill our dreams, we get caught up in what we think is the only form that will satisfy that dream

For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.

MARY KAY ASH
Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics

You can never learn less; you can only learn more. The reason I know so much is because I have made so many mistakes.

BUCKMINSTER FULLER
Mathematician and philosopher who never graduated from college but received 46 honorary doctorates

I call this kind of instructive failure “failing forward.” Simply get started, make mistakes, listen to the feedback, correct, and keep moving forward toward the goal. Every experience will yield up more useful information that you can apply the next time.

No man ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes.

WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE
Former prime minister of Great Britain