Just kidding, there is no one way to be successful.

Your path to “success” will never look exactly like someone else’s. There are hundreds of people online who try and convince you daily that if you do it like them, it will work the same for you. Guess what? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. You actually have no idea what will work for you until you try something. That something doesn’t have to be the recipe for success laid out by an influencer. It can be whatever you want it to be. A collage of ideas from many people, and most importantly, YOUR ideas. Own your journey.

Noise. It will always be there. The white noise of other people telling you how to live your personal and professional life. It comes in the form of content you consume, and voices you allow in your life. This pervasive constant can be cut through by choosing to live your life according to your own values. A common bit of noise is if you don’t post on LinkedIn everyday your brand will disappear. It won’t. Choose the amount of time you’ll invest in virtual reality and actual life. You’ll find things quiet down when you take control.

Don’t ever discount your ability to create your own success. You define success, you can create it for yourself. Find a process that works for you, and stick to your process. Use it as a fall back when things seem out of control. It takes self discipline to move forward. You have all the tools, skills, and know how to push yourself to the next level. Clearly define what success looks like for you. If it’s more money, great. How much more and what will you use it for? What’s the purpose? If it’s becoming a leader in your industry, what’s your next step to move up? If you don’t know the answer, who will you ask? Close your excuse factory, and do it. It’s hard work so it’s going to feel hard. Lean into the challenge, shift your mindset to welcome it, and push yourself.

You choose who you compare yourself to and you also choose why you use them as a comparison. When is the last time you wrote out a list of people you follow and why you’re using them to benchmark your life? We hear it all the time, “comparison is the thief of joy”, it’s true. What would happen if you removed all the people you’re “looking up to” right now? Incredibly enough, I wonder if you’d look around and discover so much open space to succeed. No longer cluttered by the lives of people you don’t know, and wish you could be. There is only a herd standing in the way of your goal because you’re allowing them to be there.

Being afraid of failure will keep you stagnant more than anything else in life. You’re going to fail. Accept it. Once you accept that it will happen, it alleviates the dark clouds above you, and the stress of wondering when it’s going to pour down rain upon you. Grab your wellies and your gloucester, because good captains didn’t learn to sail on calm seas. Open up to the idea of failure and start thinking about your next steps when it happens. A good friend of mine is a scuba diver, she religiously runs through drills for when a failure will occur. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. She drills her response to failure so much, that there won’t be a moment of hesitation, just action when things go wrong. Practice like you play, accept failure will come, and be prepared when it does.

Don’t try and skip steps. Where you are in this moment is exactly where you’re supposed to be, for what you need right now in your life. Lessons are available at all times, it’s up to you to learn from them. Once in a while you’ll get a ladder not a step and be placed in a position that you weren’t expecting. This place will challenge you to grow faster and find the knowledge you need to make up for the jump. Remain open to the idea that although you might not have the skills, you can acquire the knowledge to give it a good freaking try. This is where surrounding yourself with people who have done the job will help. Follow their steps and you’ll gain the experience you need to move forward.

At no point do you ever have to go it alone. I talk about mentorship at scale and actively try to do it in my Patreon group Thursday Night Sales and now with my University of Sales coursework. There are always mentors in your life. Familial mentors [hopefully] will be around for a lifetime and their love and concern for you will never change. Internal mentors will be around for a season and their concern for you will often and likely end once you are no longer working together. If their concern for you continues, they have crossed over into a familial mentor or become an external mentor. External mentors are around for a reason and the reason is to help you get to where you are trying to go. The challenge with external mentors is finding the right one[s] and knowing what you want them for.

You are not required to be like anyone else in order to be successful. You have everything you need already to chart your course and learn to sail. All that remains is getting on the ship and doing it. Cut out the noise, define success for yourself, stop comparing yourself to others, don’t be afraid of failure, be prepared for it, learn the lessons around you now, and remember you’re not alone.

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A FEW THINGS I WANNA MENTION HERE TODAY:

– My guy ⁦Jon Stern is doing big things with his new company Ringpin. You can add these in your profiles, in emails, as QR codes in books and more. Here is mine. Check Ringpin out and see if you can get involved too.

– University of Sales had a really good kickoff week. Check it out and would love any help spreading the word.

– Jobs! I have a Dir of Partnerships role and a Sales Trainer role [must be in Austin though]; multiple AE and SDRs roles at companies like Vidyard, Talroo, FitGrid, UpEquity, Qualia, Chili Piper, Lessonly, Servicecore, Tradewing and more. If you need any help with these or others you are chasing down – hit me up.

– Don’t forget Tequila Tuesday #19 is tonight at 8pm EST / 5pm PST. I’ll be doing a live call studio where I breakdown your pitch and your emails.

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Podcast Appearances:
Endless Pain to Endless Success | Scott Leese — Career Meets World