
A good friend recently asked to me speak at his business training event in Atlanta. The audience was business owners and real estate investors. The group was diverse but the common thread was that each business person had a desire to inject some growth into their business. And with growth they most likely wanted more profit. There are times when people get more than they bargained for.
I always enjoy sharing with a group or audience. While I primarily consider myself a coach, I am also passionate about teaching, training and preaching.
My process for preparing to speak or train is never the same. There are times where the topic is obvious and notes just begin to flow. There are other times when I can reach into my archives and pull something out to rework or combine with other items.
And then there are the incredibly beautiful situations where new ideas and creative topics are divinely inspired. They just drop into my mind or spirit and all the points and words just flow.
This was one of those times.
I rarely wake up in the middle of the night. There have been times in my entrepreneurial journey where I have slept like a baby - waking up every two hours crying. But I have matured and can now sleep well most nights.
But shortly after my friend asked me to speak at his event, I awoke at 2 am one night and the entire 5 point talk flooded into my mind. Always a good idea to keep pen and paper by the bed.
As the event approached, I realized that I must share this information in articles and possibly a book. It looks different on paper and I am unable to share some of the stories and examples that emphasized the points, but the basics are still powerful.
Now that you have the background.....
Here are 5 foundational success principles that are absolutely without a doubt required to create AND maintain success. Bold statement I know. But as you read each one think about people you know or situations where you have achieved a high level of success and you will be nodding in agreement as you read the paragraphs below. Or, you may disagree and if so you can prove me wrong in the comments below.
Effort - Nothing happens without some effort being exerted. Some may have titled this work, but our society often confuses work with a job or just being busy. When combined with the other items in this article, focused and inspired effort can lead to productivity beyond anything that we can imagine. But when we are busy and "just putting our nose to the grindstone", we may see limited results that appear to be success that will be short lived or worse have negative consequences. My experience and observations have convinced me that the other 4 items in this article combined with steady and consistent impassioned effort will outproduce hair-on-fire mach-speed busyness every time.
Expectation - Faith or fear? How do most people live? They live in fear with an expectation that something bad is going to happen. If your thoughts go unchecked and untrained the chances are very high that you will cultivate a negative outlook that attracts negative circumstances. Stop doing that! Start using your faith muscles and expect that great things will happen in every situation in your life. Positive expectation combined with inspired effort beats fear-based, calendar packed activity every single time.
Rest - Just like the word "work" can be confusing at times in our modern society, rest can also be used to describe laziness or sleep. That is not what I am referring to. Even though I do believe that physical rest and naps are not the enemy of success, I am talking about a mental and spiritual peace that everything is going to be OK. No worries, positive expectations and exerting effort knowing that you are focusing on those things that will be rewarded. If you have positive expectations and faith in your decisions, then measured effort will be peaceful and allow you to operate from a position of rest instead of being restless.
Micro Decisions - Life includes many small decisions that may seem insignificant. Things like what you eat for lunch, watching a 30 minute show on TV every week, and what you do with your spare time on a Saturday afternoon. But if micro or mini decisions begin to become habits, or if those decisions are haphazard and lack focus, they can be detrimental. For example, eating an unhealthy fast food lunch once a month may not have a significant impact on one's health. But eating processed, junky fast food every day will most likely have a negative effect on a person's health and even life expectancy. Watching one TV show may not impact thought process. But watching 20 hours of mindless entertainment every week can deaden braincells and may even have other mental and physical side effects. On the flip side, a mini decision to read a book or attend a seminar or say hello to a stranger may be a small step that has larger implications over time.
Macro Decisions - If you guessed that these should be the big, life altering decisions that we make in life...or at times we are forced to make, then you would be correct. Most people will only have a few of these over the course of their life. For me I can only think of a few. The decision to marry my wife. A life altering spiritual decision. Starting a business a few years after being married and making the decision to start a new company 15 years ago. There are times that we make these big, macro decisions and we understand their significance. But then we may only realize the importance days, months or years later. One of life's great challenges is knowing when and how to quickly make decisions about the little, micro stuff and when to pause and ponder the big, macro stuff.
Now, there are a few additional points that must be made.
First, the items above are not steps or standalone principals. There is no defined order because they are interconnected and woven together. Plus one or more without all combined could be ineffective.
Second, these principals do not follow a linear and clean timeline. And there is not a definitive formula. They are more like a bubbling witches brew that requires all the ingredients to be effective. There are times when one ingredient will be required more than the others. And some people may require a heavier brew to be effective. Mix them all together and drink down the potion until you see the results your desire.
Finally, don't stress over the 5 points. Just get started if you feel as if you are off track. Make some positive micro decisions, have faith in yourself and what you are doing, expect great results and be prepared for those big, life altering, macro decisions.
I always enjoy sharing with a group or audience. While I primarily consider myself a coach, I am also passionate about teaching, training and preaching.
My process for preparing to speak or train is never the same. There are times where the topic is obvious and notes just begin to flow. There are other times when I can reach into my archives and pull something out to rework or combine with other items.
And then there are the incredibly beautiful situations where new ideas and creative topics are divinely inspired. They just drop into my mind or spirit and all the points and words just flow.
This was one of those times.
I rarely wake up in the middle of the night. There have been times in my entrepreneurial journey where I have slept like a baby - waking up every two hours crying. But I have matured and can now sleep well most nights.
But shortly after my friend asked me to speak at his event, I awoke at 2 am one night and the entire 5 point talk flooded into my mind. Always a good idea to keep pen and paper by the bed.
As the event approached, I realized that I must share this information in articles and possibly a book. It looks different on paper and I am unable to share some of the stories and examples that emphasized the points, but the basics are still powerful.
Now that you have the background.....
Here are 5 foundational success principles that are absolutely without a doubt required to create AND maintain success. Bold statement I know. But as you read each one think about people you know or situations where you have achieved a high level of success and you will be nodding in agreement as you read the paragraphs below. Or, you may disagree and if so you can prove me wrong in the comments below.
Effort - Nothing happens without some effort being exerted. Some may have titled this work, but our society often confuses work with a job or just being busy. When combined with the other items in this article, focused and inspired effort can lead to productivity beyond anything that we can imagine. But when we are busy and "just putting our nose to the grindstone", we may see limited results that appear to be success that will be short lived or worse have negative consequences. My experience and observations have convinced me that the other 4 items in this article combined with steady and consistent impassioned effort will outproduce hair-on-fire mach-speed busyness every time.
Expectation - Faith or fear? How do most people live? They live in fear with an expectation that something bad is going to happen. If your thoughts go unchecked and untrained the chances are very high that you will cultivate a negative outlook that attracts negative circumstances. Stop doing that! Start using your faith muscles and expect that great things will happen in every situation in your life. Positive expectation combined with inspired effort beats fear-based, calendar packed activity every single time.
Rest - Just like the word "work" can be confusing at times in our modern society, rest can also be used to describe laziness or sleep. That is not what I am referring to. Even though I do believe that physical rest and naps are not the enemy of success, I am talking about a mental and spiritual peace that everything is going to be OK. No worries, positive expectations and exerting effort knowing that you are focusing on those things that will be rewarded. If you have positive expectations and faith in your decisions, then measured effort will be peaceful and allow you to operate from a position of rest instead of being restless.
Micro Decisions - Life includes many small decisions that may seem insignificant. Things like what you eat for lunch, watching a 30 minute show on TV every week, and what you do with your spare time on a Saturday afternoon. But if micro or mini decisions begin to become habits, or if those decisions are haphazard and lack focus, they can be detrimental. For example, eating an unhealthy fast food lunch once a month may not have a significant impact on one's health. But eating processed, junky fast food every day will most likely have a negative effect on a person's health and even life expectancy. Watching one TV show may not impact thought process. But watching 20 hours of mindless entertainment every week can deaden braincells and may even have other mental and physical side effects. On the flip side, a mini decision to read a book or attend a seminar or say hello to a stranger may be a small step that has larger implications over time.
Macro Decisions - If you guessed that these should be the big, life altering decisions that we make in life...or at times we are forced to make, then you would be correct. Most people will only have a few of these over the course of their life. For me I can only think of a few. The decision to marry my wife. A life altering spiritual decision. Starting a business a few years after being married and making the decision to start a new company 15 years ago. There are times that we make these big, macro decisions and we understand their significance. But then we may only realize the importance days, months or years later. One of life's great challenges is knowing when and how to quickly make decisions about the little, micro stuff and when to pause and ponder the big, macro stuff.
Now, there are a few additional points that must be made.
First, the items above are not steps or standalone principals. There is no defined order because they are interconnected and woven together. Plus one or more without all combined could be ineffective.
Second, these principals do not follow a linear and clean timeline. And there is not a definitive formula. They are more like a bubbling witches brew that requires all the ingredients to be effective. There are times when one ingredient will be required more than the others. And some people may require a heavier brew to be effective. Mix them all together and drink down the potion until you see the results your desire.
Finally, don't stress over the 5 points. Just get started if you feel as if you are off track. Make some positive micro decisions, have faith in yourself and what you are doing, expect great results and be prepared for those big, life altering, macro decisions.

Tim Winders has over 25 years experience as a business owner, entrepreneur, coach and consultant. He specializes in helping businesses, organizations and individuals grow and expand. If it is time for you or your business to get unstuck and experience increase, CLICK HERE to schedule a FREE Growth Assessment and Strategy Call with Tim.