Build your personal brand by paying attention to your internet presence. Focus on the “three C’s” – Clarity, Consistency, and Constancy when building your brand on line. Besides that, use your common sense. Be judicious in what you post on line. Don’t make social network posts that you wouldn’t want a prospective employer to see. Get active on LinkedIn – it’s the best social network for professionals. There are over 100 million LinkedIn users. These folks can help you create the life and career success you want and deserve; but only if you demonstrate your willingness to help them first. 42 Rules for 24 Hour Success on LinkedIn is the best book I know for leveraging the power of LinkedIn.

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat it helped her create the life and career success she deserves. Successful people are curious. They want to learn everything they can about the important things that affect their life and career success. Be curious. Learn something new as often as you can. Put these learnings to work in your life and career and you’ll succeed. I guarantee it – after all it’s only common sense.

Successful build strong relationships with the important people in their work lives. They adopt an interaction style that facilitates, rather than hinders their relationships. They follow the career advice in Tweet 123 in Success Tweets. “Use every social interaction to build and strengthen relationships. Strong relationships are your ticket to success.” Build and strengthen relationships by sweating the small stuff. Focus sending positive micro messages – the small things that show another person that you value him or her. Avoid “micro-inequities” – behaviors that demean people in small ways. Instead, focus on “micro-affirmations” – behaviors that encourage others and build their self-esteem.

Successful people are outstanding performers. Outstanding performers are well-organized; they manage their time, life and stress well. Follow the advice in Tweet 88 in Success Tweets. “Get organized. Organize your time, life and workspace. Sweat the small stuff. Success is in the execution. Execution is in the details.” You can get a head start on managing your time and life well by following the advice Paulette Ensign presents in her great little booklet 110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life. You can pick up a copy at http://www.tipsbooklets.com. Get Paulette’s booklet and follow her common sense advice. It will give you a leg-up on your competition and lead to your life and career success.

Successful people think big. They ground themselves in a mighty purpose. In the movie Hugo, young Hugo was searching for his purpose. He knew there was a reason he was put on this earth – he just needed to figure it out. Tweet 3 in Success Tweets says, “Think of your purpose as your personal mission; why you are on this earth.” Tweet 4 says, “The mightier your purpose, the more likely you are to succeed. It will give you a strong foundation when the winds of change shift.” Take this advice to heart. Ground yourself with a mighty purpose. It’s better to aim too high and fall a little short than it is to aim too low and reach your goal. Or, as Mario Andretti once said, “If you’re in complete control, you’re probably not going fast enough.” Think about it.

Successful people are lifelong learners. They continually expand their knowledge in order to get out in front of the pack and stay there. They follow the career advice in Tweet 82 in Success Tweets. “Learn faster than the world changes. In a world that never stops changing, you can never stop learning and growing.” Begin your lifelong learning journey by focusing on your strengths and working to improve them every day. Building on your strengths is easier than overcoming your weaknesses. When you build on your strengths you can make incremental improvements. However, if you have a glaring gap in your skills, address it now. Don’t wait to take necessary quantum leaps. What do you need to learn to create the life and career success you want and deserve? How do you plan on learning it? Remember what Ben Franklin had to say, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Happy New Year. I hope that 2012 is your best year ever – that you become the life and career success you want to be and more important, deserve to be. Here are my seven best pieces of life and career success for 2012.