7 Steps That Lead To A Bold And Successful Life

bold and successful life

Lately I’ve felt tired, down and fearful, anything but bold and successful. For many years, I didn’t allow myself to feel those emotions. I thought of them as negative energy. I pushed through things no matter what.

Now I know that they offer me the opportunity to slow down, go within and reflect on my life. In giving them my attention, they lose their power over me.

Now I see these feelings and emotions as experiences bearing gifts. They bring me back to connectedness, aliveness and joy.

If you want to live a bold and successful life, it’s important to acknowledge and feel all of your emotions. All 7.2 billion people on the planet have them. You are not alone.

A bold and successful life isn’t all about happiness, rainbows and unicorns. It’s necessary to learn to relax, lean into your fear and breathe through your sadness.

The following steps will help you be bold and successful: Think in terms of success.

It was Paul Brandt who said: “Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.” The only limits that exist are the ones you create in your mind. Create positive expectations and stretch to a new place. When fear and doubt arise, ask yourself, “What if this works out?” “What if the answer is yes?” “What if I get invited to come back?”

Create a spectacular future. The choices I make today design my tomorrows. If I want something different, I need to do something different. If you spend eight hours a day at work, seven hours sleeping, three hours cooking and eating, and one hour exercising, you still have five hours to dedicate to your dream.

That’s 35 hours a week! Stop your excuses, quiet your fears and get started today.

Design your dream life. If your life is the same in one year as it is now can you be okay with that? Know what you want. Write down a plan for each area of your life: physical, emotional, spiritual, work, relationships, travel, etc. Set goals. Take action. Begin where you are with what you have. Your destiny is in your hands.

It was Jesse Owens, son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave who said, “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” Get started on your dream life today!

Commit to doing the difficult things. Learn a language. Invent something new. Hire a coach. Introduce yourself to new people. Get your creative energy into overdrive. Shake things up. A Napalese proverb sums it up best, “When two paths open before you, take the harder one.” No whining or complaining. Take 100% responsibility for your amazing life.

Learn through adversity. When things go well, I can get lazy and complacent. I can believe my own hype and stroke my own ego. Challenging times force me out of my comfort zone. Adversity propels me forward. I grow in ways that I previously thought impossible.

No one articulates this better than Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 

Leave a legacy. Our culture leads us to believe that self-worth comes from acquisition and consumption. Our true worth comes from how we add value to the world. My legacy is about service, contribution, love and the relationships I have with my family, friends and community. Musician Bob Marley suggests that you “open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”

Become grateful in advance.  No matter what is going on in your life today, become grateful in advance. There is a natural order to things in the world. When you believe things will work out, they do. Act as if there were nothing wrong with your life. Believe that the universe is plotting to do you good. 

Catholic Benedictine monk, David Steindl-Rast believes, “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.” 

 

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Sandra Pawula August 31, 2014, 9:38 pm

    Dear Tess,

    I was so surprised by your first line. I hope you’re feeling better. But, I know what you say is totally true. Difficult emotions are going to arise at times. If we just suppress them, we’ll be miserable. I think you have the perfect take for flowing with whatever emotions arise.

    You do great math! There really are no excuses! There’s always some time to devote to our dream.

    • Tess September 3, 2014, 5:58 am

      Thanks Sandra! I do feel better. Back to my silly happy self. Thanks for your input. I appreciate you.

  • Elle September 1, 2014, 12:24 pm

    Hope by now you’ve felt those feelings, breathed through them and moved into your next state Tess.

    I’ve found for myself when moments like this arise, it’s usually because I’m on the cusp of something wonderful showing up. So I choose to believe that’s what’s happening for you.

    Can’t wait to hear your wonderful news. 🙂

    Blessings, Elle.

    • Tess September 3, 2014, 5:59 am

      Hey Elle,
      I love that thinking. I’m back to me;) I appreciate you holding the wonderful vision for me!

    • Tess September 3, 2014, 6:01 am

      Hey Elle,
      I love that thinking. I’m back to me;) I appreciate you holding the wonderful vision for me! Love it and love you!

  • Sebastian Aiden Daniels September 2, 2014, 12:55 pm

    I am glad you validate your “negativE” feelings also. It is so essential to validate all of what we are feeling because it helps us have a full and rich life and it does allow us to go within and see what the emotion is trying to tell us.

    I agree that it is important to take the harder path. In the long run it will make us grow more and will make us more proud of ourselves hopefully.

    Adversity is the best way to learn new things : D. I will pin this helpful article for you.

    • Tess September 3, 2014, 6:01 am

      Sebastian,

      I so appreciate your thoughts, wisdom and support. Thanks for the pin!

  • sherill September 3, 2014, 8:34 pm

    Hi, a very motivating article. It is essential that we should slow down and reflect on our life, that way, we learn to feel life itself, being aware of our own true self will lead us to a bold and successful life. Thanks for sharing. Great post.

Next Post:

Previous Post: