Key Elements That Led To My Success

Today I spoke at a business leaders conference where I was asked to speak on how my values helped me succeed in business. The fact is that my values didn’t just help me succeed, they are the very reason FOR my success. Because when you know who you are, and what you are going to stand for, it takes the guesswork out of things – decisions become far easier when you know what your values are. Success starts with values. Then beyond my values there are six other key elements I attribute my success to:

My faith.  Without question the core of how I guide my life is my faith in God.  Let me express very clearly on this point that I respect that everyone has the right to believe or not believe whatever they choose to when it comes to religion.  I think religion is a deeply personal decision that no one has the right to make for anyone else.  So please don’t interpret what I will share in this section as some sort of judgment on religion or beliefs, I am solely sharing something about me personally that has made me who I am.  I believe in God as my Heavenly Father who loves me and wants me to become the best person that I can possibly become.  I have faith that God has a plan for me.  I genuinely believe that he cares about each of us personally and that everything that we face in life is meant to help us become a better, kinder, more loving person.  I try to live my life in a way that I would make Heavenly Father proud of me and that is the very core of how I try to make decisions in my life  – would what I am doing today or is the way I am handling this situation such that God would be proud of me?    I think much of my life success as a person and a professional is attributable to my faith and my actions taken because of that faith.

My belief that there is no such thing as Coincidence.  I believe strongly that nothing happens by coincidence and that we should pay attention to the people brought into our lives and the positives we can learn from them and the way we might be able to bless their lives.  I think that much of the time God answers prayers through someone he brings into our lives at different times, and by that same token I think that God expects us to be the answer to other people’s prayers when he needs us to – so it’s up to us to be mindful of those opportunities and to be looking for ways we can serve and help others.   I think that living my life looking for the meaning in everything around me has helped me tremendously in my quest for success.

My Goals.   I am a HUGE believer in setting goals, writing them down, and having a goal poster.  I believe in this more than I even know how to express in a blog.    I have always set goals for myself and I have always let my kids see how important my goals are to me.  I think my dedication to setting and achieving my goals has helped me in business, and it has helped me to be a better mother because I now see that the same importance of setting and achieving goals has been passed on to my children and they have made goals important in their own lives.

Always trying to beat my personal best.  I am a person who competes against myself.  I don’t let myself focus on competing with someone else.  I force myself to focus on always trying to beat my personal best. In doing that I find myself always putting 110% into everything I do.  I always want to feel like I did the absolute best I could do in every situation.  I think that has served me well in accomplishing things both personally and professionally.    I never want to look back and regret having only given a partial effort to anything.  I want to know that whether I succeed or fail that I put 110% of me into trying.  I never allow myself to feel complacent about things.  I always stay focused on what I can still improve or what I can still do better.  That keeps me focused on continuing to do better at everything I do every day.

My thirst for knowledge.  I   love to learn.  I always want to be learning and growing.  I read a tremendous amount. I research things and study things.  I ask tons of questions.  I ask the why in everything to try and understand it.  I ask people to teach me things I don’t know.  I watch people I admire at things to see how I can improve myself.  I never get tired of learning.

My desire to help others to excel.  One of the things that helps me the most in my life to be a more successful person in life is my desire to help everyone around me to excel.  I realize that the best way I can achieve my own full potential is to first help others to achieve their full potential.  I believe that helps me to be more successful in every aspect of my life, as a wife, a mother, a sibling, a friend, a professional, a daughter…it helps me in every way!

The pathway to finding success in any area of your life, be it professional or personal, starts with deciding the core values that you are going to live your life by. Then don’t ever accept anything in your own behavior that goes against those values. Add to that the elements of faith, belief, setting goals, always giving your very best, a thirst for knowledge, and serving others, and you are on your way to accomplishing success beyond measure.

Have an amazing weekend everyone!

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life

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