One of my personal development goals is to meet with at least one of my Hope Partners each week. If you don’t know what a Hope Partners is, then pick up a copy of my first book and check it out.
Last week I met with a man whose held CEO positions at four different companies, has written a book about networking and is currently working with top level executives showing them how to make the most of their influence. As we discussed Hope is Alive Ministries, technology and life, he told me about his four keys to success. I wrote them down and thought I’d share them with you along with some of my own personal commentary. I hope they help you as much as they’ve helped me.
- Be a lifelong learner – Read something informational or educational everyday. Seek out mentors that can teach you something, accept that you will never know everything, so you must always be teachable. Find mentors in all walks of life that are willing to push you to grow and learn. Learning doesn’t stop at a certain age or educational achievement, those who are always growing are always learning.
- Be a hard worker – As I look back on my life so far it’s easy to see the correlation between success and hard work. When my work ethic was strong I was promoted faster, given more raises and generally more successful. When I was lazy, apathetic and lacked initiative, my life plateaued. And this is true for your spiritual life, your recovery, your physical health as well as your professional and personal development.
- Be a good friend – This is an area of my life that I still need a lot of improvement. For so long I was only out for one person…. ME! Everything revolved around what I wanted. The popular recovery phrase, “I want what I want, when I want it” certainly applied to me. Today, I’m a different person, but I still have to fight selfish tendencies. So I am constantly working on being a better friend by calling people back when I’m supposed to, telling people thank you, opening doors for strangers, randomly texting friends to encourage them and most importantly praying for others during my nightly prayer time.
- Be patient – This one is really tough for me. I like to go go go!! Let’s get it done right now! But as I get older and hopefully more mature, I am beginning to see the virtues of patience. I’ve watched the mentors in my life slowly make big decisions, seek out wise counsel and patiently wait for new opportunities to bloom. This helps me to see that success in all areas of life takes time, discipline and a big dose of patience.
Challenge: Whether these are news thoughts to you or not, I challenge you to pick out a trait that most needs development in your life. Jot it down right now and think about what you are going to do to take a step towards improvement.
Hope is Alive!