LifeThought: People don’t become successful because they never decide to be

The primary reason for underachievement and failure is that the great majority of people don’t decide to be successful. — Brian Tracy

Are you successful? If so, you made a decision, at some point in your life, to take the necessary actions to become successful.

Success means different things to different people. It doesn’t matter, for the sake of this topic, how you define “success.” However, if you are successful at something, more than likely, it did not happen accidentally or by any passive process. Success is not bestowed. You made a conscious decision and took the actions necessary to earn your success!

Likewise, if you are not as successful as you want to be, there is a strong chance that, too, has not happened accidentally. It is likely the result of you not making the decision to take the actions necessary for success.

Most people have dreams and aspirations to do or be something “someday.” You may read books, take classes or attend seminars on how to be successful in a certain area of life. Wanting to be successful, thinking about success, studying the best methods for becoming successful are all very important ingredients for success, but these things will never make you successful until you make the decision to take the actions to implement them. Being a perpetual student of success will never make you successful. You must put your learning and planning into action!

It could be that you started out on the road to success with great hopes, plans, and training. It could be that you even took action and started to achieve the success you desired. Then life happened… something went wrong and derailed or distracted you from your goal and now, perhaps years later, you realize that you are no longer on the path that you wanted to be on. I know this scenario, first hand! I know what it’s like when just getting through the day is a good day, and those days can turn into months and years.

Today, however, is the day you can change your life. Today, you can make the decision (again, maybe) to be successful. Today you can decide “I am going to do it!” and take action to get the ball rolling. I hope that you will make that decision and take action. It will, most certainly, not be easy, but it will be worth it!

~You may enjoy hearing me speak more about this on the Life Is A Marathon podcast!


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Do you agree or disagree with what I’ve written? I’d love to hear your comments!