Today I am going to talk about success and to do that I want to start off with a quote that truly hits home for me.

“If your actions inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader” ~John Quincy Adams

If we break down this quote, you can clearly see that to be successful you are not successful ALONE. You are successful because you inspire OTHERS to dream more, learn more, do more, and BECOME more. This is my definition of success.

Below are my top Five things that every successful person does:

1. CARE

Successful people truly CARE about the needs and desires of their customers/clients. They care about how they are feeling. Their intention is not a self centered desire to just rise to the top. Instead they ask themselves questions like ‘how can I alleviate this problem for my customer?’ Even if you don’t have your own business this is the mindset of a successful person. Successful people care about OTHERS.

Tip: Ask others how they are. Take seriously how people feel. This is the core of excellent customer service – making sure people feel special, heard, seen, and essentially loved. My tip for you is to center into how others feel and this week reach out to one person and ask them how they are doing and really connect at the heart and listen to what they are saying. Practicing being present to other’s feelings allows you to practice caring deeper. Success is about truly helping people’s lives. Whether you are in sales, a mom, an entrepreneur, a carpenter – it’s all about caring for others.  Every service or product at it’s core is about helping people to fix a problem. Put more care into your life and expect more success!

2. CONNECT

Connecting is described in wikipedia as “to bring together or into contact so that a real or notional link is established.” I find the three areas below are key things to connect with:

• A deeper WHY– A DEEPER PURPOSE. Your why is the reason, the deep reason why you do the work you do. A WHY for a mother can be: to give my child the most love I possibly can so she can grow up feeling so safe, secure, and confident! Your WHY can be: to alleviate suffering in the latino population. Your WHY can be: to retire your parents comfortably. My WHY in the work I do: is to help people truly remember their inherent worth. Take a moment now to write down. What is your WHY?  Share with me by leaving a comment below, I want to know!
• Other’s need’s. This goes back to tip # one! Tune into what people are truly asking for. My tip for you here is to take a deep breath before you connect with someone, center into your heart, and connect to their pain source like: “I am feeling lonely,” “I am frustrated” with x,y,z. Truly listen and connect to their needs. Listening is the first key in someone already feeling that they have been serviced no matter what field you are in. So listen with love!
• Others who inspire you. Find a tribe of people who are doing great things in the world. Write a list of three people or organizations that you love, admire, and are inspired by. Research (google is your best friend!) about them. In today’s social media age, we have access to tons of information on the people we admire. Read books or blogs they have written. Listen to audios or watch them speaking. See when they are going to be live in an area near you. Email them! CONNECT and NETWORK. The majority of the success I have today is because I made it a conscious action to constantly be writing down and researching people that inspire me. I then make a conscious action to inform myself on them. Lastly, I reach out to them and ask to be of service. Retweeting things, liking their posts, asking to volunteer! These are all ways to get closer to those people that inspire you. Meet other like minded people by joining similar interests groups. The more you network the more you will be in the frequency of that which you desire. So go out there and connect to people that inspire you!

3. COMMIT

Commitment is key. Showing up every day even when and especially when you don’t want to is not the easiest feat. Digging into your core WHY, remembering to care about how you truly are affecting someone’s life are ways to keep you inspired to commit. Commitment means that you SHOW UP, and you don’t show up a little, you show up FULL on. Commitment means you make a promise to yourself and to the other’s that you are serving, to be reliable and engaged. I like to make non negotiables for myself in my life and my business that allow me to commit to things that are going to better my life and better the lives of others around me.

For example: Here are some non-negotiables in my business:

• Send a weekly newsletter every Sunday
• Pitch to three places to speak or offer a workshop (daily M-F)
• Post on FB daily

Another thing that I commit to is personal development. The leading key factor in success is not intelligence but emotional intelligence. Commit to reading, listening to, or watching at least twenty minutes of personal development a day. Success Magazine is a great resource for this. When you commit to your personal growth you also are committing to being a better person and interacting with others in a healthier way, and that is always a smart and rewarding choice. What can you commit to doing to up your success game?

4. COURAGE

Successful people must DARE to do things not when they are just READY to make the leap, but whilst they are STILL scared to make the leap. Now let me be clear, I am not saying to not prepare. Preparation is always advised. But, often times we wait to feel confident, successful enough, have enough education, press, (insert myriad number of excuses) and you don’t actually make the move. It takes courage to dare to do something new. You must risk failing to succeed. Most of the time, before I do anything new, especially things I am not yet experienced in, I am scared. I come up with the case of “I am not Good Enough” syndrome. This is totally normal. We just can’t let the case of “the I am not good enough” syndrome lead the way. We must act despite the fears. For example, I have been expanding my business and really stepping up my game as I call it. I have been entering new unchartered territories in my business.

For instance, the beginning of this year I decided I wanted to bring therapy in a hip modern voice, to mainstream TV and media. In order to do this, I knew I wanted to have a TV agent. I didn’t want a small one. I wanted to be with one of the best. So that required me to put together a TV REEL. WHAT? A TV REEL? I am not an actor. I hate the way I look on camera. I won’t be good.

These were all the fears that crept in. But you know what I did? I hired a videographer/editor. I got a makeup/hair artist. I researched other TV reels. I took notes. I studied what the format was. I wrote down what I wanted to talk about, aka my script. I picked a location. I set the date, and I showed up despite my fear. I contacted people that might know of a good agent, and I got an interview and got the agent. Now, I show up for auditions and am on the road to a new section in my business, all because I had the COURAGE to step outside my comfort zone. How can you do one thing to step outside your comfort zone, that will provide you with the success you know you are craving? 

5. CONSISTENCY

Lastly today, I want to take about consistency. This is a massive problem I see with many entrepreneurs in particular, and with anyone really trying to break out of old patterns and start new ones. What is that massive problem you ask? They don’t STICK with it CONSISTENTLY. Consistency is key. You must set a schedule and repeat it. It is the small consistent actions that build momentum and lasting sustainable success. Here are some of my consistent life+business things I do:

• Drink water (usually with some lemon)
• Brush teeth, take shower
• Get pretty (makeup and pretty outfit)
• Make my bed and tidy up house before leaving
• Write to do list night before, look at it, make sure I know what I am doing the next day, and make sure my assistant has it all in my calendar and that if I need to add something to my calendar with an alarm that I do it
• Write on FB daily for my business
• Pitch to three places (right now I am working on speaking tour) so I submit daily to three places I would want to speak at or offer a workshop to.
• Follow ups
• Look at my weekly excel calendar and make sure I check off tasks for the current projects that I am working on
• Daily personal development time with book, audio, video, mantra/meditation music

What can you repeat and do consistently each week to bring in more successful actions into your life?

Success happens by acting as a successful person does. Act as if. @CosmicChristine
(Click to Tweet!)

Above are the main actions and qualities that I have seen personally in my life that works and in countless other’s peoples lives that work. I encourage you to implement these tips today and I send massive light to you all, so that all your biggest wildest dreams come to fruition with your hard work!

As always, I love to hear from you so let me know how this was helpful for you. And some things you are going to do to take this from blog reading to implementation in your actual life. Leave comments below and I can’t wait to hear from you all!

With fierce love,
Christine

Christine Gutierrez is a psychotherapist, advice columnist, speaker, author, poet, and founder of CosmicLife.com, an online hub that features psychologically-savvy and soulful advice, articles, videos, private consultations, workshops, retreats (both live and virtual), radio appearances, and television projects. “Ancient wisdom with a modern twist” is the motto. She has been featured in TimeOut NY Magazine, Latina Magazine as “The Future 15: The Healer,” Yahoo Health, Ebony Magazine, Cosmopolitan for Latinas, The Conversation, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Ricki Lake, Lifetime TV, and more. You can also follow Christine on Twitter and Facebook.

Check out her newly launched virtual group coaching program: Fierce Love Fierce Life, where we are going to get super personal and discuss these deep patterns that perhaps you have felt shackled to.

Image courtesy of Flanzingo Photos.