The Secret to Success

“Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God’s greatest gift to man. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give.”
David O. McKay

How do some people repeat success time and time again while others seem to never quite reach any sort of sustained success? The answer is simple and easy, however actually doing it has proved to be difficult.

In life, there are natural laws that govern our world. When we obey those laws and use them to our advantage, we become successful. (Does this sound like The Secret? Well, it should because much of what The Secret teaches us is true.)

In life, one of our greatest gifts is our ability to choose. And during each day, we make thousands of choices which shape our lives. These choices bundle together over the years and become who we are, and represent what we value.

Now although we have the ability to choose our actions, we cannot choose the consequences that follow. In fact, the consequences of our actions will be either good or bad based on a natural result of any choice we make. Therefore, if we learn to make wise choices more often than unwise ones, we will gain success.

So, the key to success is wise choices. So how do we consistently choose wisely? Through patterns in our lives or habits. When people are able to create good habits, they find success. On the other hand, when people fall into the trap of creating bad habits, they fail.

Our world today often entices us to create bad habits, to follow the crowd, to indulge ourselves, to take the easy road, and to not be too different. In fact this seduction is so intense we often see successful people, who once had great habits, replace those good habits for bad habits which inevitably leads to their downfall. Thus, once we are able to establish a pattern of good habits, we must always tenaciously stick with them while seeking better habits.

So, the key to success is developing good habits. Easy, right? It sure sounds easy, but it is not easily accomplished. It takes effort, discipline, desire, and determination to achieve good habits in our lives. Thus, creating good habits is easier said than done. The good news is, we all have the ability to choose our habits.

In my blog next week, I will offer some suggestions on how to motivate us to develop good habits. Until then, evaluate your patterns and habits in your life to see if the natural consequences of these habits result in good or bad outcomes. Then next week, we will focus on changing and developing good habits!