“Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you desire to achieve.”

– Wilferd A. Peterson

It’s the secret that everyone wants to know: How to achieve success. But unfortunately, there’s no magic pill or miraculous answer. As Wilferd Peterson tells us in this week’s featured quote, success comes when an individual focuses 100 percent of his or her energy on achieving a single goal. In other words, success takes an extreme amount of work. Here are a few tips to help get you started and keep you going.

10 Tips for Success:

1. Give people more than they expect, and do it cheerfully.
2. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
3. Have a grateful heart.
4. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
5. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
6. Be a self-starter.
7. Be bold, courageous and live without regret.
8. Be decisive even if it means you’ll sometimes be wrong.
9. Understand that happiness isn’t based on possessions, power or prestige but on solid relationships with people you love and respect.
10. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your mom proud.

In athletics, success is often equated with winning although there are certainly other measurements of success as well. Regardless, it’s important to have concrete goals to work toward, such as winning one game, a string of games or an entire championship. Here are a few more tips that can help you develop a winning attitude.

Attitudes for Success:

• Accept your fears, but refuse to let them control you.
• Be flexible. Realize there are multiple ways to achieve success and be willing to try them.
• When the going gets tough, refuse to give up.
• Don’t let a fall keep you from climbing.
• Understand that your goal is only as worthy as the effort you put in to achieve it.
• Turn ordinary experiences into extraordinary ones.
• Don’t blame fate for your failures or luck for your successes.
• Believe in the path you’ve chosen even when it’s difficult and even when others can’t see it.
• Think positively and find the good in everything.
• Respect your weaknesses and capitalize on your strengths.

There you have it—the secret to success! Follow the 10 tips for success and 10 tips for winning, and you will be well on your way to being a successful person.

About the Quote:

Wilferd A. Peterson was an American writer known for his inspirational books, The Art of Living, The Art of Creative Thinking and The Art of Marriage. Many of his inspirational words were used in a series of Hallmark greeting cards in the 1970s and ‘80s. Peterson’s pieces were also frequently featured in This Week, Science of Mind and Readers Digest magazines.

 

“Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it,” – Marva Collins

Do you have what it takes to be successful? As this week’s quote tells us, it’s imperative to success that you be a self-starter. The Mizzou Football Family values self-starters because talent can only get you so far. Here are 15 traits of a successful self-starter so that you can see if you have what it takes.

1. Competitive: Self-starters are motivated by challenges and go to great lengths to be the best.

2. Poised: Self-starters are relaxed enough in a stressful situation that they can do what needs to be done, whether it’s completing a pass, converting a play, tackling an opponent or acing a test.

3. Confident: Self-starters believe in themselves, their team and their abilities.

4. Conditioned: Self-starters are both physically and mentally fit. They exercise, eat right and get enough sleep. They have healthy relationships with their friends, family, teammates and coaches. They have ways of relieving stress outside of football and do well in school.

5. Skilled: Self-starters know the sport like the back of their hand. They’ve run the drills, memorized the fundamentals and learned the strategy.

6. Spirited: Self-starters are proud of their team and is willing to do almost anything in the name of the team.

7. Controlled: Self-starters are able to maintain their self-control and discipline in order to keep their emotions in check and their minds focused.

8. Alert: Self-starters are constantly ready, thinking, observing and improving.

9. Initiator: Self-starters can take the lead when necessary. They can make decisions independently or for the team.

10. Intent: Self-starters can set goals and concentrate on those goals consistently until they are realized.

11. Industrious: Self-starters put in the work without complaint.

12. A Friend: Self-starters respect their peers, teammates and friends and treat others will compassion and kindness. They work cooperatively with others toward success.

13. Loyal: Self-starters are undoubtedly loyal to themselves, their friends and their teammates.

14. Cooperative: Self-starters listen first and foremost. Then they respond appropriately and work together with others to find a compromise.

15. Enthusiastic: Self-starters truly love what they do each day. This passion inspires all else.

About the quote:

Marva Collins is an educator, writer and speaker. After teaching for more than a decade in the Chicago Public School system, she used her pension money to open a school in the second story of her home in Garfield Park, Chicago in 1975. Collins has developed her own methods of teaching based on the Socratic Method. Today she trains teachers on how to effectively use her curricula and is available for speaking engagements. Learn more about Collins at http://www.marvacollins.com/