Six Tips for Creating a Successful Life and Career

As a career mentor, I am always on the lookout for solid career advice from successful people. That’s why I was pleased to come across an article in which Kevin Costner, a pretty successful guy, laid out his rules for successful living. Check them out…

• Know Yourself
• Hang Tough
• Try, Try Again
• Stay Curious
• Honor Your Commitments
• Assume You’ll Win

Six great pieces of career success advice. Here’s my take on each of them.

Know Yourself – the better you know yourself, the easier it is for you to figure out how you are similar or different from others. Armed with this information you can adapt your communication style to each individual in order to make sure that you are as influential as possible.

Hang Tough – you will fail. You will get knocked down. Successful people are resilient. They bounce back from failures. If you want to create the successful life and career you deserve, you need to hang tough. You need to learn what you can from your failures and use them to move forward.

Try, Try Again – this is similar to hanging tough. Don’t take no for an answer the first time you ask a question. Figure out what you can do to change that “no” to a “yes.” Common sales wisdom says that it takes seven contacts to close a sale. Yet many salespeople give up after two or three tries. Go the distance. Make those seven contacts. And if they don’t work, give it an eighth try.

Stay Curious – the world is a wonderful place. It’s full of interesting people places and things. Be open to them. Learn all you can from every person you meet and everything you do. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it makes for successful human beings.

Honor Your Commitments – do what you say you’ll do. You’ll surprise many people and astonish some. People have become accustomed to other folks not delivering on what they say they will do. You’ll set yourself apart merely by following through on your commitments.

Assume You’ll Win – don’t let fear of failing or losing stop you from trying. Be willing to take your shot – and assume that it will go in. You will surprise yourself at how often you will succeed.

Put these six tips into play in your life and watch your career take flight.

Your career mentor,

Bud