Self confidence is one of the keys to career success in my Career Success GPS System.  If you want to become self confident you need to do three things.  1) Become an optimist.  2) Face your fears and act.  3) Surround yourself with positive people.

Fear is the enemy of self confidence – and success.  Most people fear failure, criticism and rejection.  It’s only normal.  We all want to feel good about ourselves.  Failure, criticism and rejection are not pleasant experiences.  They lower our self esteem and make us feel bad about ourselves, so we often avoid doing things that we think might lead to failure, criticism or rejection.  As a career success coach, I advise my clients to have to have the courage to do things that might result in failure, criticism or rejection.

Failure, criticism and rejection provide you with the opportunity to grow and develop – to become a career success.   You can’t take failure, criticism and rejection personally.  Failure, criticism and rejection are outcomes.  They are a result of things you have done.   They are not who you are.  Remember that.  We all make mistakes and fail on occasion.  We all do things that cause others to criticize or reject us.  This doesn’t mean that we are failures.  It means that we have made some poor choices and done some dumb things.

Failure, criticism and rejection provide the opportunity to start over – hopefully a little smarter.  Buckminster Fuller once said, “Whatever humans have learned had to be learned as a consequence of trial and error experience.  Humans have learned only through mistakes.”  As a career success coach I agree with him.

That’s why fear is the enemy of self confidence and career success.  If your fear of failure and criticism, and rejection paralyzes you to the point where you aren’t willing to take calculated risks, you’ll never learn anything or accomplish any of your goals.

Don’t be too hard on yourself when you fail, or when others criticize or reject you.  Instead, put your energy into figuring out why you failed and then do something different.  Here are my four career success coach questions to ask yourself the next time you fail, or get criticized or rejected.

1. Why did I fail?  Why did I get criticized or rejected?  What did I do to cause the failure, criticism or rejection?
2. What could I have done to prevent the failure, criticism or rejection?
3. What have I learned from this situation? 
4. What will I do differently the next time?

If you do this, you’ll be using failure, criticism and rejection to your advantage.  In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says, “Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.”  ‘

I know it’s hard to see the benefit or opportunity in failure, criticism and rejection.  But it’s there – you just have to look hard enough.  But it all begins by facing your fear and acting.

A year ago, my niece Brett and her move from Florida to San Diego.  She left a good job in Florida.  She had no job lined up in San Diego when she moved.  Several people criticized her for making such an audacious move.  I thought that she demonstrated amazing optimism in making such a long move in such a difficult economy.  I’m happy to report that 17 days after she arrived in San Diego Brett landed a job as an account manager for an athletic apparel manufacturer.  She has received two promotions since.  I’m proud of her.  She didn’t let her fear of failure, criticism or rejection stop her from pursuing her dreams.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are self confident.  Self confident people face their fears and act.  Our most common fears are failure, criticism and rejection.  However, if you choose to find and use the learning opportunity in failure, criticism and rejection you will not only become more self confident, you will become more successful.   It’s sad but true – failure, criticism and rejection are the price you pay for becoming a personal and professional success.  Facing your fear of failure, criticism and rejection and acting will pay big dividends in your life and career.

That’s my take on the importance of facing your fears and acting.  What’s yours?  What have you learned from facing your fears?  How has it helped you become more self confident?  Please leave a comment sharing your story with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Self confidence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that is part of my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart your Professional Success. 

You can become self confident by doing three things.  First, choose optimism.  Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today.  Second, face your fears and act.  Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence.  Action cures fear.  Third, surround yourself with positive people.  Don’t let the naysayers into your life.  Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general.

I have learned that self confidence is an upward spiral.  Self confidence leads to professional success, which in turn leads to increased self confidence, which leads to higher levels of success, and so on.

You might be saying, “That’s great, but how do I become self confident if I’m new in my job or career and haven’t had a lot of success to bolster my self confidence?”  There’s an old saying that applies here: “Fake it till you make it.” In other words, act as if you’re successful. This will help you succeed. Your success will help you build your self confidence.

How, do you “fake it, will you make it?”  Begin with affirmations. If you’re in a new job, tell yourself something like, “I have the skills and desire to succeed in this job,” several times a day. If you repeat this to yourself often enough, you will begin to believe it. This will help you perform at the level necessary in order to actually succeed in your job.

Affirmations are positive self talk. The idea behind affirmations is that when you think of the things to which you aspire, like becoming a success, and then tell yourself that you are a professional success, you will believe that you can become successful. More importantly, you will be more likely to do the work it takes to make that aspiration come true.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a book called Star Power, Common Sense ideas for Career and Life Success. I used a star to depict this model. I urged readers to think of themselves as a star and to aspire to becoming a career and life star. I like the star metaphor. Daily, I repeat the following affirmation to myself: “Bud Bilanich is a star.”

I’ve done a lot of working in making this affirmation a reality – redoing my website, developing better promotional materials, speaking, writing books, blogging.

I’ve also done something a little unusual. A few years ago, right after Star Power was published, I went to the “Name a Star” website and named a star after myself. Now I can say “Bud Bilanich is a star” and really believe it, because Bud Bilanich really is a star.

Bud Bilanich the star, is Catalog Number TYC  868-1011-1 in the constellation Leo. Bud Bilanich has a Visual Magnitude indicator of 11.2. Right Ascension is 11h 58m 21s. Declination is 11degrees, 43,’18.”

I don’t have a clue what all of these things mean, except the constellation Leo, which I chose because my birthday is August 14. But I do know one thing. Bud Bilanich is a star!

How’s that for an affirmation?

Affirmations work. I have become a minor star in the career and life success world.  You don’t need to go to the lengths I did to make them work either. Just decide what you want, visualize yourself as having it, and tell yourself you have it. Then do whatever it takes to make your affirmation come true.

Affirmations alone, however, are not enough to guarantee your professional success. You have to do the work. Spend the time necessary to accomplish your goals. Volunteer for projects that will get you noticed. Become an expert on your company, its competitors, and your industry. In other words, bust your butt, and you will succeed.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are self confident.  If you want to become self confident, you need to become an optimist, face your fears and act and hang around with self confident people.  Your self confidence will improve as you build a successful life and career. The self confidence => success =>self confidence cycle is an upward spiral. You have to enter the cycle somewhere. Most of us don’t have a strong track record as we begin our careers, move into a new job, or start a business. Therefore, you have to “fake it till you make it” by “acting as if” you are a success.  Find ways to bolster your self confidence until you have some real successes on which you can build.  Affirmations are a great tool for helping you “fake it till you make it.”

That’s my take on self confidence and faking it till you make it.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Self confidence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that is part of my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart your Professional Success. 

You can become self confident by doing three things.  First, choose optimism.  Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today.  Second, face your fears and act.  Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence.  Action cures fear.  Third, surround yourself with positive people.  Don’t let the naysayers into your life.  Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general.

When I was a young guy, I participated in the Optimist International oratory contest.  The topic that year was, “Optimism, Youth’s Greatest Asset;” which is hard enough for a ninth grader to say, (Think Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinnie.) let alone to write and deliver a 10 minute talk.  It was a great experience for me; one that gave me some of the confidence I needed to become a professional speaker. 

Optimist International is a great service organization.  Their mission is to bring out the best in kids; and to help them develop to their full potential by providing hope and positive vision. 

The Optimist Creed is their touchstone.  It some of the best common sense advice I’ve ever seen.  I have a copy of it posted in my office.  See for yourself.

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself:

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Friday night, I saw a great example of optimism in action.  Cathy and I watched the Hope for Haiti Now telethon.  There were some great performances.  I particularly liked Cheryl Crowe, Keith Urban and Kid Rock doing “Lean on Me,” and Jennifer Hudson singing “Let it Be.”  I downloaded both of them to my iPod. 

Besides the musical performances, the show told the story of many people involved in the tragedy in Haiti.  Most of the pictures and stories were devastatingly sad.  Some were happy.  One man survived ten days in a collapsed building.  Another survived 11 before he was pulled from the rubble.  Unfortunately there were more sad stories than happy endings. Yet, the people in Haiti seemed to be as upbeat, positive and optimistic as possible given the situation.  Haiti is a poor country and it has always suffered from natural disasters – none of the magnitude of this earthquake though. 

Don’t worry.  I’m not going to ask you to donate to help the people of Haiti.  I’m sure that if you’re going to, you’ve already done so by now.  But I do want to comment on the spirit of optimism that came through on the television a couple of nights ago.  If the Haitian people can persist, if they can be optimistic in the midst of such devastation, you and I can too. 

As I write this, I’m reminded of one of Humphrey Bogart’s famous lines in Casablanca, one of my favorite movies….

“It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”

And that’s the way I look at it.  When I see the devastation in Haiti, people in the US losing their jobs and homes, people losing their lives in wars, I realize that my problems and troubles are small in comparison.  I bet if you look at your problems and troubles and compare them to what’s happening in this “crazy world,” you’ll agree.

That’s why I think that The Optimist Creed is so important.  Optimism is the foundation on which all self confidence is built.  And self confidence is an important key to creating the successful life and career you want and deserve.  So become an optimist.  When things start to get you down and you feel overwhelmed, “Promise yourself to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, to strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.”

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are self confident.  Optimism is the key to self confidence.  The Hope for Haiti Now telethon showed the resilience and optimism of the Haitian people.  When I see the optimism of the Haitian people in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, I’m reminded that my troubles and problems are small in comparison.  That’s why I keep a copy of The Optimist Creed hanging right above my desk.  I read it and think about it when I begin to feel overwhelmed.  If you would like a copy of The Optimist Creed to frame and hang in your office, go to http://budbilanich.com/optimist.  Choose optimism.  Believe that today will be better than yesterday and that tomorrow will be better than today.  Then do whatever it takes to create the successful life and career you want and deserve and to “make your optimism come true.”

That’s my take on the disaster in Haiti, optimism and success.  What’s yours?  Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

PS: If you liked this post, you’ll love my free 90 minute DVD on career and life success.  To get your free copy, go to www.CareerSuccessDVD.com.  That’s www.CareerSuccessDVD.com.  Go there now and get started creating the successful life and career you want and deserve.

Self confidence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that is part of my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart your Professional Success. 

You can become self confident by doing three things.  First, choose optimism.  Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today.  Second, face your fears and act.  Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence.  Action cures fear.  Third, surround yourself with positive people.  Don’t let the naysayers into your life.  Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general.

Yesterday I blogged about a book called The Help.  The Help is a lot of things, but above all, it is a story about hope and self confidence.  This past weekend, I saw two movies that are also about hope and confidence.  Hope is a powerful component of self confidence.  Self confident people are hopeful.  They look forward to the future with great expectations, knowing that if they work hard enough, good things are likely to happen.

Precious is a tough movie to watch.  It is the story of a 350-pound illiterate teenage girl.  She is pregnant for the second time.  But as she says at one point in the film, “I never even had a boyfriend.”  Her father abused her sexually and is the father of her children.  She is verbally and physically abused by her mother.  Nobody likes Precious.  She is obese and has little or no self confidence.  But a couple of people give her hope.

When he school Principal learns that Precious is pregnant, she helps her get into a special school.  There, one of the teachers helps her learn, and a social worker helps her deal with her home situation.  With their help, she blossoms.  This is a hopeful movie.  It shows how a teacher and social worker help build Precious’ self esteem and give her the courage to live life on her own.  At the end of the movie, Precious is walking down the street with her two children, determined to get her GED and go on to college. 

Precious received a 15-minute standing ovation when it was shown at Cannes.   I wanted to clap when it was over too.

The Blind Side is another movie about hope.  It is the true life story of Michael Oher, a professional football player for the Baltimore Ravens.  He was a very large black teenager living on the streets when he was welcomed into the home of a white conservative suburban family.  Sandra Bullock plays the mother – and she is great in the role. 

Michael and the family both grow over the course of the film.  He eventually gets a football scholarship to the University of Mississippi where he becomes and All-American player and a first round draft choice in the NFL.  It too, is a hopeful story.  It shows how one person, or one family, can make all the difference in another person’s life.  Michael Oher had great athletic talent that would have been wasted were it not for someone showing him some compassion and giving him some hope.

As these two movies show us, hope is powerful.  In The Audacity of Hope, President Obama (written before he became president) says…

“The audacity of hope.  That was the best of the American spirit, I thought – having the audacity to believe despite all evidence to the contrary that we could restore a sense of community to a nation torn by conflict; the gall to believe that despite personal setbacks, the loss of a job or an illness in the family or a childhood mired in poverty, we had some control – and therefore responsibility – over our own fate.  It was that audacity, I thought, that joined us as one people.”

This Thanksgiving I choose hope.  I am thankful for many things, but I am most thankful for my powerful self confidence.  It gave me the hope to start a consulting business 21 years ago and the hope to expand my business via the internet.  I choose hope.  I choose to be audacious, moving to a new business model when many people my age are retiring.  I urge you to be audacious and choose hope.  Hope begins with being aware of and thankful for all you have.  It helps you move forward by building on those things for which you are thankful.

I also urge you to do whatever you can to give hope to others – your family, your friends, your co-workers, people at your place of worship, strangers.  Hopeful and kind words can make a difference in the lives of people around you. 

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are self confident.  Self confident people are optimistic; they face their fears and act; they surround themselves with positive people.  Self confident people are hopeful.  They look to the future realizing that they have control over their destiny and choose to accept the responsibility for creating the successful life and career that they want and deserve.  Choose hope for yourself this Thanksgiving.  Give hope to as many people as you can.

That’s my take on the importance of hope.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Self confidence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that is part of my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart your Professional Success. 

You can become self confident by doing three things.  First, choose optimism.  Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today.  Second, face your fears and act.  Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence.  Action cures fear.  Third, surround yourself with positive people.  Don’t let the naysayers into your life.  Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general.

Recently I had the good fortune to read a great book called The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  It’s set in the early 1960s in Mississippi set against the backdrop of the early days of the civil rights movement.  It’s the story of white society women in Jackson and the black women who work as domestics for them.  It’s a story about the complicated relationships between the races and between employer and employee.  It’s the story of how black women in that time and place took on child rearing duties for their employers.  It’s beautifully written.  I think it would be a great holiday present for anyone on your list who likes to read.

Aibileen is one of the main characters.  She has been a domestic all her life.  She loves raising children.  Mae Mobley is one of the children under her care in the book.  Mae Mobley is not a very attractive child.  Her mother doesn’t have a lot of time for her.  Aibileen worries about Mae Mobley’s self esteem.  She does whatever she can to help the little girl feel good about herself.

As the events of the book unfold, Aibileen is forced to leave the family and Mae Mobley.  Mae Mobley is devastated; Aibilieen more so.  She loves this child and worries what will happen to her once she is gone.  Here is a passage from the end of the book.  Aiblieen is speaking about Mae Mobley…

“I let her cry a minute on my chest and then I take her face into my hands again.  I take a deep breath and I tell her to do the same.

“‘Baby Girl,’ I say, ‘I need you to remember everything I told you.  Do you remember what I told you?’

“She is still crying steady, but the hiccups is gone.  ‘To wipe my bottom good when I’m done?’

“‘No baby, the other. About what you are.’

“I look into her deep brown eyes and she look into mine.  Law, she got old-soul eyes, like she done lived a thousand years.  And I swear I see, down inside, the woman she gone grow up to be.  A flash from the future.  She is tall and straight.   She is proud.  She got a better haircut.  And she is remembering the words I put in her head. Remembering as a full-grown woman.

“And then she say it, just like I need her to.  ‘You is kind,’ she say, ‘you is smart.’  You is important.’

“‘Oh Law.’  I hug her hot little body to me.  I feel like she done just given me a gift.  ‘Thank you Baby Girl.’”

“‘You’re welcome,’ she say, like I taught her to…

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA, I have a lot for which to be thankful.  It starts with my parents who always told me…“You are kind.  You are smart.  You are important.”  I know that there are lots of people in this world who don’t hear those words often enough.

So I ask a favor of you.  Be a positive person.  Give the gift of self esteem this holiday season.  Tell the people in your life – your children, your friends, your coworkers – that they are kind, smart and important.  Help them feel good about themselves.  People who feel good about themselves usually help others feel good about themselves – and they create the successful lives and careers they want and deserve.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are self confident.  Self confident people feel good about themselves, and they help build the self esteem of the people in their lives.  Take a few minutes this Thanksgiving week – and every week – to do what you can to help the people in your life feel good about themselves.  Tell them that they are kind, smart and important.  Be a positive person.  Start your own self esteem domino effect.  Because there is one thing I know for sure – a world of people who feel good about themselves would be a better place.  We can create that world if we are a little more positive and do just a little bit more to help others feel good about themselves.

That’s my take on the importance of world full of people with high self esteem and self confidence.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.  This Thanksgiving I am especially grateful for those of you who read what I have to say and give me your feedback.

Bud

Self confidence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that is part of my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart your Professional Success. 

You can become self confident by doing three things.  First, choose optimism.  Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today.  Second, face your fears and act.  Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence.  Action cures fear.  Third, surround yourself with positive people.  Don’t let the naysayers into your life.  Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general.

As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, optimism is the foundation of self confidence.  Following the advice in The Optimist Creed is a wonderful way to become more optimistic – and successful.  Today I’d like to focus on point 6 of The Optimist Creed.  If you want a copy of The Optimist Creed that you can frame and hang in your office go to http://budbilanich.com/optimist.

Point 6 of The Optimist Creed says…

“Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.”

Yesterday I did a post on the importance of trust and an abundance mentality in building strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.   Point 6 of The Optimist Creed captures the essence of an abundance mentality quite nicely.  Being enthusiastic about the success of others demonstrates that you engage with the world from an abundance, not scarcity mentality.  It demonstrates that you realize that there is enough success to go around – that someone else’s success in no way diminishes yours, or your ability to succeed.

I write books on success.  So do a lot of other people.  When someone writes a great book on success – Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It, Cathie Black’s Basic Black, Cynthia Brian’s Be the STAR You Are, Steve Ventura’s Work Right and John Wooden’s A Game Plan for Life come to mind immediately – I write about it on this blog.  I do everything I can to get as many people to read the books I like, because these books will help them create the successful lives and careers they want and deserve, but because in a small way, I can help other authors who are writing about things that interest me. 

Two of the authors I mentioned above, Cathie Black and John Wooden, don’t need my help.  They are well established, successful people.  Gary, Cynthia and Steve are not as well known, but they have some great things to say; and I want other people to hear their ideas.  I also want to help them succeed.

Some people might say that I am helping the competition.  I don’t see it that way.  People who read on self help or success book are likely to read several.  I come from an abundance mentality.  When Gary, Cathie, Cynthia, Steve and John succeed in getting their message out, their readers will be hungry for more information – and I might just sell a few more books.  Or maybe I won’t.  That’s OK too.  My audience will find me.

That’s why I’m a big believer in point 6 of The Optimist Creed.  “Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.”  I believe that success is catchy.  If I hang around (in person and on this blog) with other people who are successful, I will develop the self confidence that will help me become successful in helping others to succeed.  And, that’s what it’s all about.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are self confident.  Self confident people are optimistic.  The Optimist Creed offers great advice on how to become more optimistic.  Point 6 tells us to be enthusiastic about the success of others.  This is great advice.  When you are enthusiastic about the success of others, you come from an abundance mentality.  An abundance mentality helps you realize that there is more than enough success to go around.  You can succeed.  I can succeed.  Everybody else can succeed.  Success is not a fixed pie – it can expand to accommodate everyone who is willing to put in the time and effort to get there.

That’s my take on how an abundance mentality can help build your self confidence and help you succeed in your life and career.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

This blog, my Common Sense Success System and my books Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success, are designed to do one thing and one thing only – help you become the career and life success you deserve to be.  Today’s post is a quick summary of the things you need to do – a plan — to create your personal and professional success.

Your Success Plan

Success is the product of Four “Cs”:

• Clarity of purpose and direction,
• Commitment to taking personal responsibility for your success,
• Confidence in your ability to succeed,
• Competence in four key areas.

Things to Do…

• Clearly define what career and life success mean to you.

• Create a vivid mental image of your success.

• Clarify your personal values.  They are you anchors, and will help you make decisions in ambiguous situations.

• Commit to your success.  Figure out exactly what you need to do – then do it!

• Enthusiastically act on the things that will make you a success.

• Become an optimist.  Choose to react positively to the bad things that happen to you.  Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

• Identify your fears.  Admit them and embrace them.  Then act.  Don’t let your fears paralyze you.  Action is the antidote to fear.

• Identify the positive people in your life.  Hold them close.  Run from negative people – as fast as you can.

• Create positive personal impact:

o Build a strong, unique personal brand.
o Be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line.
o Always be a lady or gentleman

• Perform

o Become a lifelong learner.
o Set high goals – do whatever it takes to achieve them.
o Get organized – manage your time, life and stress well.

• Communicate

o Become a great conversationalist – ask questions, listen, respond appropriately.
o Write clearly and succinctly – use short sentences, and the smallest possible words that communicate exactly what you want to say.
o Develop your presentation skills – practice, practice, practice your talks.

• Build Relationships

o Get to know yourself.  Use this self knowledge to better understand others.
o Resolve conflict positively and with a minimal amount of disruption to your relationships.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people do four things really well.  1) They are clear about what they want out of life and how they are going to achieve it.  2) They are committed to taking personal responsibility for their lives and careers.  3) They actively build their self confidence.  4) They are competent in four areas: creating positive personal impact, their technical specialty, communication, and building relationships.   If you can master these Four Cs of Success – clarity, commitment, confidence and competence, you’ll be on your way to creating the successful life and career you want and deserve.

That’s my take on what it takes to succeed in your life and career.  What’s yours?  Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always thanks for reading.

Bud