Food For Thought: SEVEN STEPS TO SUCCESS

1. Make a commitment to grow daily. One of the greatest mistakes people make is that they have the wrong focus. Success doesn't come from acquiring, achieving, or advancing. It comes only as the result of growing. If you make it your goal to grow a little everyday, it won't be long before you begin to see positive results in your life. As the poet Robert Browning said: "why stay on earth except to grow?"

2. Value the process more than events. Specific life events are good for making decisions, but its the process of change and growth that has lasting value. If you want to go to the next level, strive for continual improvement.

3. Don't wait for inspiration. Basketball great Jerry West said, "You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good." The people who go far do so because they motivate themselves and give life their best, regardless of how they feel. To be succesful, persevere.

4. Be willing to sacrifice pleasure for opportunity. One of the greatest lessons to learn is pay now, plat later. For everything in life, you pay a price. You choose whether you will pay it on the front end or the back end. If you pay first, you will enjog greater rewards in the end - and those rewards taste sweeter.

5. Dream big. It doesn't pay to dream small. Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patier, authors of If it ain't broke, break it, asserts, "We don't have a clue as to what people's limits are. All the tests, stopwatches, and finish time in the world can't measure human potential. When someone is pursuing their dreams, they'll go beyonf what seems to be their limitations. The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped. When you think of limits, you create them."

6. Plan your priorities. One thing that all successful people have in common is that they have mastered the ability to manage their time. First and foremost, they have organised themselves. Henry Kaiser, founder of Kaiser Aluminium and Kaiser Permanente Health Care, says, "Every minute spent in planning will save you two in execution." You never regain lost time, so make the most of every moment.

7. Give up to go up. Nothing of value comes without sacrifice. Life is filled with critical moments when you will have the opportunity to trade one thing you value for another. Keep your eyes open for such moments - and always be sure to trade up, not down.

If you dedicate yourself to these seven steps, then you will keep improving - and you will be successful. Your growth may not be obvious to others all at once, but you will see your progress almost immediately. And though recognition from others may comes slowly, don't lose heart. Keep working at it. You will succeed in the end.

- Abstract from "SUCCESS, one day at a time" by John C. Maxwell