Uncommon Success

One day I woke up and realized the only thing stopping me from having uncommon success was... me. That was the beginning of my new and improved life! ~ Stephanie Staples

Life is not that complicated, in fact it's fairly simple - not always easy - but fairly simple! When I woke up and realized a life full of uncommon success was not just for other people it was for me too, I began to apply these principles into my everyday life.

Awareness - If you don't get it, you can't change it. If you don't acknowledge it, you can't fix it. If you don't own it, you can't improve it. We have to take a good hard look in the mirror, acknowledge where we have room for improvement, recognize where we are making life harder than it needs to be and understand the impact of our thoughts and our actions on ourselves. It is then that we can begin to move from knowing to growing.

Accountability - If we are waiting for a better time, more money, different circumstances, or increased energy to improve our lives, we will wait a long time. If we are waiting to be older or thinner, waiting until we finish school, get married or retire to create a better life - we will have wasted a lot of time. If we are waiting for our boss, the government, our parents, our children, and/or our significant other to make us happy - we may just be in for a long wait. The decision to be happier, more content, more fulfilled, more anything is ours. It starts with a choice we make right here, right now. Being accountable is empowering!

Attitude - Having the attitude for success is mandatory. I have learned to find inspiration in amazing places, to collect tools to help me shift from negative feelings and behaviors in a very short time frame and to motivate myself into action.

I have chosen to be particular about who I spend my time with and what I nourish my brain with, replacing negative media with pro-active choices, exchanging music and entertainment that saps my energy with alternative entertainment that energizes me. All these things have a positive and lasting effect on my attitude and it is contagious. It makes me a better person and therefore makes every relationship I have better.

Appreciation - Learning to shift the focus from lack to abundance, from feeling like a 'have not' to knowing I am a 'have,' choosing to spend deliberate time showing appreciation to people who are a positive influence in my life. This also means acknowledging my own gifts so that I can look for opportunities to share them with the world. Coming from a place of appreciation changes the way you see the world and then it changes the way the world sees you.

Action - All the self-help books, audio-recordings and seminars in the world will not be worth a penny, if you do nothing with the information you have learned. We do not have to radically change our world, but we do have to make small choices regularly that will improve the quality of our lives and relationships. Every day commit to doing something that will lead you toward your ultimate goal. Uncommon Success! Live your life by these principles and success won't be so uncommon!