Get into the Mindset for Success

Posted by Crystal on Jul 27, 2010 in Inspiration | 3 comments

You know what success means to you, and that definition can vary from person to person. Whether it means making enough money to travel the world, or being able to work comfortably from your home, success is something we all want, no matter how we define it.

Any kind of success is easy to come by. Anyone can achieve success, when they set their mind to it. Yet, many of us end up never reaching it, at least not according to our standards. Why is this? Earning success takes a certain mindset. In this post, we’re going to look into how freelancers can create a successful mindset for reaching their dreams.

Know that It Takes Hard Work

If you’ve ever had success in the past, you know it took a lot of hard work to get there. Yet, many people everyday are looking for the easy route into success — quick fixes, 100% outsourcing, get rich quick schemes — you name it, a system is out there for “100% effortless success.”

The truth is, though, that is doesn’t exist. If it did, everyone would be rich out of their minds and uber successful. Of course, though, that’s not the case. Only the hardest workers, the most dedicated workers, and the truly motivated succeed. There is no secret formula to success. The true recipe for success is just hard work on repeat.

Success Takes Time

When we are not reaching our goals, we may have days that make us seem useless, and make us seem like we’re not getting anywhere. How true is this though? Know that success takes time. Even if you are working hard for a year straight, you may only be beginning to see the rewards.

In order to combat negative thoughts, think back a year. Or, only think back six months. Where were you? What have you accomplished since? Putting things into perspective like this is a great way to see that you are indeed moving forward. Now project that same scale of upward mobility six months to a year into the future. Where can you realistically envision yourself?

Exciting, isn’t it?

Learning vs. Doing

What I see a lot of ‘wannabe successful people’ doing is a lot of learning and not enough doing. Don’t get me wrong, education is key to life and to the success of anyone and any business. However, it often crosses the point where an individual is constantly trying to learn new tips, tricks, and best practices, when all it really takes to get going is doing and gaining real-world experience. In hindsight, you’ll learn as your doing as well, so don’t waste all of your time on learning new material and not applying.

Work on creating something everyday. Create action; create something that other people can see and interact with.

Set Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly Goals

Set 5 goals today. It may be finishing that web design, checking out a new marketing method, or designing a new WordPress theme. Then, create weekly goals. It may be to get caught up with everything by the end of the week, start a new project, or finish something that’s been dwindling in your to-do list for quite some.

Finally, get into the bigger goals. Set monthly goals to grow yourself and your business. They can be personal or professional goals. Next, set yearly goals that can be accomplished by your monthly goals. For example, set a goal to make your first $5000 freelancing, or gain 20 clients by the end of the year.

Now here’s the trick: discipline and dedicate yourself to reaching every single one.

Know Yourself & Finish Everything You Start

We can feel inadequate when we see others work, and may often feel like scrapping and re-doing all work we initially try to accomplish. This is a recipe for failure, not success. Finish everything you start. Don’t begin a new web design, only to not finish it’s entire coding. Don’t dedicate yourself to a long-wanted personal project and scrap it to just keep restarting. Stop half-way redesigning your portfolio.

Perfection can’t be reached, so stop striving for it. The closest you can get to perfect is by finding your own personal style, embracing it, and stop comparing your work to others. Your work can never reach the level of your favorite designer’s, but that’s not a bad thing, because nobody can reach your personal level of experience either. Know your own style, and reward yourself for finishing each and every project or task.