What separates a winner from a loser?  What is the difference between someone rich and the person that is lacking?  Why are some people slim and trim, while others are stuck carrying extra weight they wish would just disappear?

Well that’s thing, nothing just happens by chance.  For the most part, we all have the same goal.  We all want the same things, but only a few people do what needs to be done when it comes to winning, possessing wealth, losing weight, or anything else worth having.

I just started reading No Excuses: The Power of Self-Discipline by motivational speaker and self-development author Brian Tracy.  In this book Brian Tracy explains how about 80% of the world’s population lives on “Someday Isle.”

We all have been guilty of saying, “Someday I’ll do this or that.”  I think we have all been on the Someday Isle, but you shouldn’t find yourself stuck there.

With the “Someday I’ll” attitude, we may never accomplish anything.  I’ll do it someday usually turns into I’ll never do it.  Don’t believe the “I’ll do it” lie.

Step into the rare company of the 20% of people that say, “I’ll do it today.”  Here are 3 ways to join the 20% of people that don’t leave their success to chance.

1.    Define Your Success.

What does success look like for you?  There are some people that want to be successful, but they don’t have an ideal of what success would actually look like for them.  Ask yourself questions such as: 1) What does an ideal job, business, or career look like, 2) What would an ideal family life look like for me, 3) What would great health look like for me, and 4) What would an ideal financial situation look like for me?

If you don’t know what you want, you will never know if it is possible for you to receive it.  Once you have an idea of what you want, then you will be able to make steps towards achieving these goals.

2.    Be Resourceful.

Many times we think that our success is dependent on having things.  I have heard people say, “I don’t have time.”  Or we have all heard this one, “I don’t have the money.”  It is always good having resources, but not having resources should never be a reason to make excuses for why we cannot succeed.

In No Excuses, Brian Tracy names some of the wealthiest people in America, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, and Paul Allen.  He continues explaining how all these people are all first-generation multibillionaires.  Tracy said, “Fully 80 percent of millionaires and multimillionaires started with little money, often penniless, and sometimes deeply in debt and with few advantages, such as Sam Walton, who died worth more than $100 billion.”

So what’s your excuse?

3.    Work Hard.

You have heard the phrase, “Work smart, not hard.”  It sounds great, but let me tell you full truth about this phrase.  When you are doing something worth achieving, it will take hard work.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently.  Some of the wealthiest people in America aforementioned worked smart, but they also had to work hard.  Laziness and procrastination doesn’t bring about success.

I can tell you from experience that all that have has been a result of hard work.  I believe nothing worth achieving comes with sacrifice and hard work.  A great way to escape “Someday Isle” is by hard work.  What in your life needs your hard work?

None of these actions of defining your success, being resourceful, or working hard can about without self-discipline.  There aren’t any special secrets to being successful, but there is a key to success.  And the key to success is self-discipline.  It is doing what other will not do because others are tired, too busy, or have better things to do.

Let me leave you with a quote from No Excuses that Brian Tracy began the second chapter with.  The nineteenth century clergyman Henry Ward Beecher said, “Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you.  Never excuse yourself.  Never pity yourself.  Be a hard master to yourself and lenient to everyone else.”

Are you ready to be the rare exception?  You know what needs to be done.  What steps do you need to take to join the 20 percent of people who are enjoying the success of self-discipline?  Please leave a comment below, send me a tweet on Twitter, or leave a comment on Facebook.

Bryant

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