First, maybe we should ask what success looks like for you:

Is it a mansion and a dozen expensive cars?

Enough money to fund your local charity for the next 20 years?

The ability to retire in 10 years with complete security?

Or maybe, like the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” success for you is having many, many friends who love you.

Success isn’t about pleasing others. If it was, everyone would become a doctor or lawyer just like their parents wanted.

Success is what you consider to be success, whatever that might be.

Now let’s take a look at what super successful people can teach you…

Decide to be/do/have more. Decide here and now that you are going to have more success than average in everything you care about. Make this decision, and then make the commitment to see it through.

“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, “I’m possible.” – Audrey Hepburn

Create a dream that is so big, it will keep you excited. Imagine a dream so electrifying that it gets you out of bed like a 5-year-old on Christmas morning. Think big and go big.

“The problem human beings face is not that we aim too high and fail, but that we aim too low and succeed.” – Michelangelo

Make a plan to achieve your goal. I don’t mean make a few mental notes. I mean sit down and write out your plan in black and white on paper. Make goals for today, this week, this month and this year. Then re-read or re-write these goals and your plan daily. And I mean DAILY. The very first few minutes after waking is the best time to do this, as well as just before you fall asleep at night.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Don’t sit on your dream… starting moving. Dreaming is great but without action it’s just that – a dream. Take courage and get moving.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” – Jack Canfield

Learn first and do second. You could reinvent the wheel or the business you want to build, or you could learn how it’s already being done and save yourself a whole lot of time and aggravation. Decide you’re going to learn as much as you can and never stop.

“The fixed mindset makes you concerned with how you’ll be judged; the growth mindset makes you concerned with improving.” – Carol S Dweck

Ask for help along the way. There are people who have already accomplished what you hope to do. Ask them for help.

“The only mistake you can make is not asking for help.” – Sandeep Jauhar

Be at least 1% better than mediocre. We live in a mediocre world. Everyone wants the easy way, the fast way, the method with the least amount of effort. They want to do just enough to get by. This is good news for you, because it means that if you are just 1% better than mediocre, then you have a distinct advantage in whatever you choose to do.

“It never gets easier, you just get better.” – Jordan Hoechlin

Work outside your comfort zone. Scary, right? “I’ve never done this!” “What if they don’t like me or my product?” “What if I totally screw this up?” Make friends with fear, plan on making mistakes and enemies and… Just. Do. It.

“Coming out of your comfort zone is tough in the beginning, chaotic in the middle, and awesome in the end… because in the end, it shows you a whole new world.” – Manoj Arora

Don’t give up. You’re going to have setbacks and lousy days and times when nothing appears to be going right. It is at those times that you are closer than ever to success if you’ll just keep going.

“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” – Roger Crawford

Focus on ONE goal at a time. Imagine you are a cyborg programmed to get this goal accomplished to the exclusion of everything else. Real life will get in the way sometimes, but if you can imagine this type of laser focus, you can get back to the work at hand that much easier.

“What you stay focused on will grow.” – Roy T. Bennett

Leave yourself a note. When a writer pauses writing in the middle of a project, they purposely don’t finish their last sentence. This way when they come back to it, they can immediately start writing without hesitation. You can do something similar by leaving yourself a note that tells you the very next thing you need to accomplish, thereby getting you moving rather than dawdling, gaining momentum from the first moment.

“The hardest thing about getting started, is getting started.” – Guy Kawasaki

Mindset is (almost) everything. If you think you’ll lose, then you will lose. If you think you are outclassed, you are. If you think you can’t do this, then you can’t. You’ve got to believe in your infinite potential because your only limitations are those you set upon yourself.

“The single most important factor influencing a person’s success – whether personal or professional – is mindset.” – Karima Mariama-Arthur

Leap over levels. You just figured out how long it will take to reach your goal. But paradoxically, there are sometimes shortcuts that make sense for you to take. For example, if you wanted to rise through the ranks of someone else’s business to become the manager, it could take you years to do it. But if you started the business yourself, you can be the manager and boss from Day 1. That said, you better know how to manage your business, or else hire someone who does.

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney

See it already completed. Whatever your goal is, see it already completed in your mind’s eye. Visualize how it will look, feel and sound. Live the moment of realizing your goal time and time again. Neville Goddard is a great teacher on this method, and it works.

“The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” – Buddha

And never, ever, ever give up.

“Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.” – Samuel Johnson