There is no secret to success

One of the biggest change we can make to our life is to internalize the fact that there is no secret to being successful. Each of us has the potential to be as successful as we desire in our chosen fields.
Of course, there is a lot of effort required to be successful. If we are willing to put in the required hard work, there is no reason why we cannot be successful.

Keep the momentum going

We usually start on a new task with enthusiasm. However, many times, as we go along, we lose our momentum and lose our efficiency.

We need to reaffirm the reasons why we were initially excited about the task. If we can remain motivated, we will keep the mometum going and successfully reach our goal.

Clear your to do list

Many of us always have multiple things on our head. Having a lot on things on our plates at all times increases stress and reduces our productivity.

We need to first get the small tasks done of our to do list. These small tasks clutter the mind. Once they are done, our efficiency will increase and we can introduce on the more important things.

Take care of your body

Our body is the most advanced instrument that we ever own. Yet many of us abuse it with excessive consumption of harmful substances and not taking proper care of it.

We should take time out to exercise and moderate our food intake. A healthy body is necessary to house a healthy mind.

Have courage to know yourself

Sometimes we do not know our true self completely because we have not taken time off alone to understand ourselves. It takes courage to acknowledge our true self because we may not like the person we are becoming or the direction our life is heading.

We need to take time to understand our deepest dreams. Once we understand ourselves completely, our lives will move in the direction we really want it to.

There is no hurry

Sometimes we get into a situation where we are hurrying to get everything done. We forget to differentiate between what is urgent and what is not.

We need to step back and relax. There are things which can wait. We need to realize that not everything has to be done today.

Get rid of stress

Stress is one of the biggest problems of modern day life. We need to consciously make an effort to not let stress creep into our daily lives.

We should realize when we are getting stressed. We can consciously try and relax by focusing on our breath. We will find ourselves feeling healthier and lighter if we deliberately attempt to make our lives stress-free.

Make home a peaceful island

There are times when all of us get stressed at work. There may also be times when we would have to carry work home.

But we have an option of carrying the stress home with us or not. We should consciosuly make sure that home is a place of relaxation for us where we forget all stress. It is a great feeling to come back home to rejuvenate and recharge ourselves.

Maintain a work life balance

A lot of us maintain long hours at work week after week. There is no greater service than hard work but we must make sure that we are able to strike a balance between work and home.

It is important to spend time with our loved ones and share in the happiness and the sorrow. A happy life outside work gives us the strength to achieve greater successes at work.

Appreciating other points of view

Many of us are often not fully open to points of view other than our own. We have been accustomed to the way we think and may have developed rigid views on some topics.

We need to put ourselves in the other persons shoes to understand his point of view. When we are able look at the same issue from different perspectives, we learn and grow as people.

Keep your feet on the ground

Most of us want to do bigger and greater things to feel a sense of achievement. It is a good thing to aim high but we must remember to keep our feet on the ground.

Being humble and modest helps us to deal betterwith the ups and downs in life. A humble and modest person also attracts friends and has meaningful relations.

Being Happy, Healthy and Hopeful

Be happy, healthy and hopeful is the biggest blessing we can give anybody. A happy, healthy and hopeful person has a truly fulfiling life.

The good thing is that being happy, healthy and hopeful is not dependent on any external factors. We can consciously choose to be all three and change our lives forever.

Celebrate more often

Most of us do not celebrate as often as we should. Our celebrations become limited to an occasion like a birthday, anniversary, promotion or a festival.

We need to find more occasions to celebrate. Life is a lot more fun when we find time to rejoice in everyday events which make us happy.

Get a daily dose of positivity

All of us want to be a happy and positive individual. Despite our best efforts, negativity may creep in when they face problems in our personal or professional lives.

We need to reinforce positive energy everyday in our life. This could done be by spending time alone or with positive people, by reading positive material or by other activity which energizes us. If we make this a practice, we will find ourselves much happier and optimistic people.

Listen attentively

Most of us lay more emphasis on getting our point across rather than understanding the other persons' point of view.One of the most under rated skills is the skill to listen attentively.

When we listen attentively, we comprehend fully the meaning of what is being said. When we listen to someone better, we also create a deeper bond based on mutual understanding.

Say a kind word

All of us should play our role in spreading happiness in this world. A simple way to spread joy is to say a kind word to someone everyday.

When we say a kind word of appreciation to someone, the person feels good about himself and spreads happiness through his words and action. It is a virtuous cycle started by a simple action of being kind and spreading happiness.

Don't kill anyones dreams

We all hold our dreams close to our hearts. When someone shares their dream with us, we should not try and run it own even if it seems improbable to us.

When we disregard someones dream, we are almost killing it. A better way is to logically discuss it with the other person. We should never demotivate someone if we can't motivate them.

Persist for some time longer

When things start going wrong, we all feel like giving up. It seems like the logical thing to do if nothing is working out.

But we must push ourselves to persist for some time longer as long as we have hope of succeeding. Just when it seems extremely difficult, a new door will open which will make it seem easy.

Look at things with the right lens

The way we look at things determines whether we will be happy or sad. The often repeated cliche about looking at a glass half full or half empty is true about different attitudes of people.

We must remember the fact that we can either find opportunities or problems in any situation. Our attitude will determine what we make of our circumstances.

Getting your career to take off

A lot of us feel that our careers are stagnating. This often causes us to lose interest in our work if we cannot change jobs.

We can avoid this stagnation by starting to love our work. If we do our work with all our heart, we will do very well in our careers.

Get comfortable with uncertainity

Many times things do not happen as we want them to. Our best-laid plans may not work out and we are uncertain about the future. This can be an uncomfortable situation for most of us.

We can get comfortable with this uncertainity when we internalize the fact that we have the power of guide our future. No matter what the situation is, we ourselves can decide the course of our life.

Keep expectations reasonable

One of the big reasons for our unhappiness is that our expectations are not met. This expectations can be from people or for rewards for our actions.

We must realize that unreasonably high expectations will only lead to disappointment. We need to put in our best efforts but keep our expectations moderate.

Be flexible with plans

Each of us makes certain plans to meet our short-term and long-term goals. Often the situations under which we created our plans change and we are at a loss on what to do.

Being rigid will not help us move forward. We need to embrace the fact that we need to be flexible as things change constantly.

Stand up for your rights

As good human being, we understand that we must never be unreasonable with others. Simillarly, it is equally important to not let anybody be unfair to us.

We must stand up for our rights when we feel that we are being exploited. Like exploiting others is wrong, being a knowing victim is also wrong.

Let go of greed

Sometimes we may tend to expect more than what we deserve. This greed is harmful to us in the long run as it leads to other negative emotions.

Our aim should be to get only what we deserve. Getting more than what we deserve makes us insecure about our possessions. If we feel that all we have is well-deserved, we feel a sense of comfort and security.

Keep an open mind

We often miss opportunities to learn important lessons in life by not keeping on open mind. Keeping an open mind means a willingness to learn from anybody and at any time.

Some of life's most valuable lessons come at unexpected times and from unexpected sources. Being open to learn helps us gain wisdom when we least expect it.

Clear the confusion about the aim of life

Many of us are confused about the aim of our life. We may have short-term goals but there is little clarity about what we want to achieve in the long term.

If we just aim to be a person we can be proud of in our own eyes, everything else will fall into place. Even our short-term goals will be validated in the light of this aim.

Become a person you respect

All of us strive to be people whom we can respect in our own eyes. In this quest, we can learn from people worthy of being our role models in our personal and professional life.

We need to identify the qualities we admire in the people whom we respect most. A conscious effort on our part to imbibe these qualities will help us in our personal growth.

Express Affection often

We may not express our affection to people who we love the most as often as we should. One of the reasons we may not express affection is because we feel that they know how important our relationship is to us.

Though these people know that we care dearly for them, communicating our feelings creates a feeling of closeness and happiness for all of us.

Practice forgiveness

In order to grow, we need to eliminate all anger in our heart. The easiest way is to forgive everybody who might have hurt us.

Not forgiving somebody is a huge baggage for us to carry. When we forgive somebody and wish them well in our heart, we feel lighter and grow as person.