Les Brown is a motivational speaker, former U.S. politician, popular author, radio DJ, and former host of The Les Brown Show.
He has gone through a lot of hardships in life from being given away by his genetic mother, being adopted, being labelled educable mentally retarded. Being born in a low-income section of Miami, Florida, Les has risen to the top of the realm of public speaking and has inspired millions of people through his talks.
Here are the 10 success lessons from Les Brown – “It’s Possible” for entrepreneurs,
1. Have faith
“Whatever hard times you may be experiencing has not come to stay, it has come to pass”
Les Brown believes that the first step to achieving anything is to have faith. You must be able to call forth the things inside of you that is going to drive you to look past your current failures, unwanted qualities, or set-backs.
You must have faith that your present circumstances will hinder and not become a part of your future. Do not judge the appearances of your reality, or current situation, and look into the future with faith. Whatever hard times you may be experiencing has not come to stay, it has come to pass.
Les Brown tries to re-iterate that faith prevails by showing that his faith has helped him to be in the successful position he is in.
Les used to sleep on hotel bedroom floors and wash-up in public bathrooms as he faced financial difficulties, but he did not believe that his current circumstance would become a part of his future reality. You have to remember that no matter how bad it is, or how bad it gets, you will make a better future for yourself. Have faith.
2. Twice every day
“Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them. Goals help you channel your energy into action.”
Place your goals in a place where you see them every day. If you don’t see them, you will forget about them. If you forget about them, it is self-evident that you will not achieve them. Place your top three goals in a place where you will see them every day.
3. Have patience
Les Brown thinks that patience and engaging in consistent action is another part of the process to improving your life. Nothing will come exactly when you want it to come. Les Brown once talked about a Chinese Bamboo tree.
The tree nut has to be watered for 5 years in the soil before it breaks through the surface. Once the tree breaks through the surface of the soil, the tree grows 90 feet tall in 6 weeks.
The morale of the story is that when you have patience and engage in consistent action, for years you may not see what you want to see, but you are building a foundation for something miraculous.
It took the Chinese Bamboo tree 5 years to break the surface, but once its foundation was strong enough the most spectacular thing took place, the tree grew 90 feet tall.
4. Stretch yourself
“If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone, then you are forced to expand your consciousness.”
To change your life, you must change the way you think. Stretch yourself, challenge yourself; challenge the way you think, challenge what you eat, what you read, how you spend your time – you change by stretching yourself.
5. Build a strong foundation
Building a strong foundation is important for your success in reaching your goals or achievements because you must build the habits and character of a successful person. If you reach a goal or a level of success that you are not ready for, your success will not last long.
This is because you may not have obtained mastery in your craft, you may not have built successful habits such as hard work, and you may not have the level of social competency and intelligence to sustain the improvements and success in your life.
You must build your overall self such as leadership skills, communicational skills, and character. You have so many people who have won the lottery, became the CEO of a company, or even became a doctor, but they don’t have the right foundation to sustain success.
6. It’s not over until you win
Much has been talked about Failure. We all have heard the story about Thomas Edison who failed 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb.
Edison said that he did not fail 10,000 times but had learned 10,000 ways of how it’s does not work. He knew he was running out of options on how it won’t work. This kept him motivated. You are never a Failure.
There is a difference between failing at something and being a Failure. You may fail many times in your pursuit but you will only become a failure when you give up and stop trying. You win because of what you knew.
You lose because of what you dint know. When you fail go back and find out what you dint know and learn it. Never ever give up on your dreams and keep working until you WIN. Quitters never WIN and Winners never Quit!
7. Land on your back
“When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up. Let your reason get you back up.”
You may have been knocked down, you may be convinced that you won’t succeed, but if you can look up, you can get up. Get up one more time! You are not your past mistakes; you have within you the ability to succeed, so look up!
8. If other can’t see it, it’s because it was given to you
When you are pursuing your dreams, you will find a lot of people who will just not see what you see. They won’t see the opportunities, the benefits, the market, the customers, the money, nothing.
Their first reaction would be to say “It won’t work” or ‘It’s not going to be easy” or “Be careful and don’t risk too much”. What these guys are essentially trying to say is that they can’t make it work, it won’t be easy for them and they are afraid to take risks.
While they don’t have any wrong intentions, comments like these can sometimes raise doubts in your mind. The fact is that what they are saying is probably true. But it’s true for them.
Each one of us are endowed with a set of skills, strengths and will which are designed to achieve something which was specifically designed for us. And this is why the same thing will be easy for you and you will make it work. The dream was given to you, not them.
9. Never be satisfied
We all know by now that there is never the right moment and you never will have all the answers. The biggest decision you can take is to take that first step and then subsequently engage in continuous action. No matter how small the action, don’t let a day go by without taking action. Avoid the procrastination trap and decide to do it NOW.
Not being satisfied does not mean you are not happy or are greedy. It simply means you develop a level of maturity to accept your results, be contended with what you have but always strive to improve what you have. That aligns with the basic law of Life.
10. Change
“You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your present circumstances unless you change.”
You have to make a decision, you have to decide to maximize your potential. Good is not good enough when you’re destined to be great. Get up, look up, and succeed!
