I have not been able to focus on writing since my Dad passed away two weeks ago. My dear friend Sylviane Nuccio has very kindly written this guest post for me. I am honored to have Sylviane do this as she is very busy running her three blogs and working as a Life Coach and Freelance Writer.
So take it away Sylviane ……
What Are The 3 Signs Of Success And 3 Signs Of Failure ?
Thomas Edison failed some 8,000 times before he was able to come up with the electric light bulb. Imagine if he had given up after just only a handful tries? However, what’s even more interesting is that he didn’t call these 8,000 tries “failures”, but 8,000 proofs that showed him that it didn’t work.
How many times do you try before you declare yourself a failure? Do you have the same mindset as Edison did? If not, then you need to look at yourself and reevaluate where you stand when it comes to success and failure.
In this post we are going to analyze what are the 3 signs of success and what the signs of failure. As a sneak peak, let me tell you that they are closely related. So, let see what they are.
#1 Sign of Success – Persistence
Looking at Thomas Edison’s example above, persistence had a lot to do with his success, didn’t it? Imagine if Edison had not been persistent with his many tries and failures? We might still be lighting up with candles. Well, someone else might have eventually come up with a similar invention you might say. Yes, probably, but this wouldn’t have made Thomas Edison successful, would it? His persistence is what made him successful, and we today are taking advantage of his success.
Success often shows up at the end of a long tunnel of persistence.
# 1 Sign of Failure – Lack of Persistence
Lack of persistence is one of the most important signs of failure. There is very little chance that you’ll be able to succeed if you are lacking this vital quality called persistence.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that successful people had it made and that everything came easy to them. Most successful people had to show a great deal of persistence at one point or another, and it’s only because of such persistence that they’ve succeeded.
How Can you Improve your Persistence Level?
- Tell yourself that you won’t give up until you succeed (make a pact with yourself)
- Don’t see a step back as a failure but as a way to learn from like Edison did
- Surround yourself with successful people and ask them what they did to get where they are
- Write down each of your goals step by step
- Visualize your accomplished goals
- Keep record of each small successes as you go along
#2 Sign of Success – Positive Mindset
Successful people have a positive mindset, no matter what happens to them. Sue has recently written an article about mindset that you could go read if you need to understand what mindset is.
Your mindset is pretty much what’s been embedded in your subconscious mind as you were growing up. That’s why it’s not easy to go against your mindset, and that’s why you might not understand the way someone reacts to certain things or circumstances that may be happening to them.
For example, you may see someone reacting differently to bad news about their health or the death of someone they love than you would. You might even judge that person depending on how different they are from you. What you need to understand is that how they react is strongly based on their mindset. Different mindset provokes different reactions and emotions.
A positive mindset is vital if you want to be successful in life. If you feel that you don’t have a positive mindset you should take actions to change that.
How can you Change your Mindset?
- Read personal development material
- Read about stories from people who have managed to beat great odds
- Meditate
- Practice positive thinking
- Avoid people who have a negative mindset
#2 Sign of Failure – Negative Mindset
A negative mindset will lead you to failure almost automatically by default, just like a computer that’s got a virus will make that computer not work right. It is essential that you make sure that you cultivate a positive mindset. A positive mindset will help you to be more willing, more persistent , more patient, more able, happier, healthier, wealthier and overall more successful.
#3 Sign of Success – Building Relationships
What type of people are you surrounding yourself with? I’m sure you’ve heard before that statistics show that you make about the same salary as the 5 people closest to you. Maybe that’s why most rich people don’t marry poor people, and vice versa. They tend to stay within their income bracket when it comes to fall in love and marry, don’t they?
It goes without saying that such people are also looking for partners who have the same mindset as theirs, and they know that wealthy people usually don’t have the same mindset as poor people do. That’s just the way it is.
Rich and wealthy people understand that money is part of their life. They respect money and attract it. Poor people tend to say things such as “the love of money is bad”, “money is evil”, and so forth and so on.
Yet, as Zig Zigglar once said, “money is pretty much like oxygen, you’ve got to have it”. Can you deny that?
Poor people tend to gather and talk about lack, while rich people tend to gather and talk about their successes. That’s why you need to surround yourself with successful people. Analyze your relationships and see who you are hanging out with.
How Can you Build Relationships with Successful People?
- Go online and look for successful people through social media and blogs
- Look for master mind groups of success minded people
- Start you own success minded mastermind group
- Avoid building relationships with people who are not where you want to be
# 3 Sign of Failure – Bad Relationships
When I’m talking about bad relationships I’m not talking about romance here, I’m talking about the people that surround you on a daily basis and the type of influence they have on you.
For example, for 10 years of my life I was influenced by people who looked at rich people and money in a negative way and they discouraged me to seek a successful career. This, of course has affected me in more ways than one, and more than I would have ever imagined. At the end of those 10 years I was a total failure financially, and emotionally. I’m still recuperating from that.
That’s why it’s extremely importance to surround yourself with positive people that will be encouraging you all the way, and have a positive mindset.
There you have it; the 3 signs of success and the 3 signs of failure; persistence and lack thereof, Positive mindset and lack thereof, and up building relationships or lack thereof. Those can make a huge difference in your life.
Please leave us your comments below and share with your friends.
Sylviane Nuccio
Sylviane Nuccio is a professional Freelance Writer and a Life Coach.
You can find her 3 blogs at Sylviane Nuccio.com , Understanding Your Subconscious Mind and France Travel And Food
Kevin Martin says
I agree with you, Sylviane. Surrounding yourself with the people who you want to be like is a great start to success.
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for coming here over a Sue and read my post.
Indeed it’s very important to surround oneself with like minded people, but we need to make sure that it’s all positive and up-building.
Nice meeting you and thank you for coming.
Sue Price says
Hi Kevin
Thanks for visiting my blog. I agree with you both. I have been very fortunate to have worked with some very successful people and spending time with them has taught me a lot.
Have a great week Kevin.
Sue
Lisa says
Sylviane, great post. What if you are persistent but the results are not coming? Do you stop and move on to something else?
Love the story about Thomas Edison and many others like him who kept on going in the direction that they so knew about. That is very inspiring. I like surrounding yourself with positive people, not always easy but it sure does help one to remain positive.
Sue Price says
Hi Lisa
That is a good question and I am looking forward to seeing how Sylviane responds to it. I think it depends how long someone has been persistent without results. For me when I am not getting results I look at what I should be doing differently. Some things need time and sometimes we need to tweak what we are doing. But let’s see what Sylviane has to say.
I also love the story of Thomas Edison Lisa. Very inspiring.
Thanks for your comment. Have a great day.
Sue
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Lisa,
I guess that if Edison I’d thought this will never work, let me do something else, he would have never invented the light bulb, would he?
I think that there’s something in all of us that let us know if we are on the right track or not, no matter how many times we have to go at it until we get it right. Don’t you think so?
Lisa says
Sylviane, maybe that is the KEY to success, knowing it will work. Interesting 🙂
Sue Price says
That seems spot on to me Lisa 🙂
Barbara Charles says
Excellent points. I like that you give the failure, the reason and how to fix it. Brilliantly written sylviane. Thanks for helping Sue out as well.
Barbara
Sylviane Nuccio says
Thanks Barbara,
It was my pleasure giving a hand to Sue. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Sue Price says
Thanks Barbara
Sylviane was such a help I really appreciate it and I love the post.
See you tomorrow.
Sue
Adrienne says
Now that was darn spot on Sylviane! Amen sister!!!
I learned some time back that failure is only if you quit. Just because we haven’t reached what we want to achieve doesn’t mean we won’t. Just like Edison, he was bound and determined to figure that out. So it took him over 8,000 tries… It’s like blogging, we don’t put one up and expect instant success. We have to learn the ropes, how to get traffic, how to connect with people, how to grow our list, how to create a product our list wants, etc. etc. etc…
I love that you showed us the tips to success, how to be better and then why you’ll never get there.
Great share and thank you for helping Sue out. I know you’ve been busy and had a hard week last week so I appreciate that. Sylviane to the rescue and what a great job you did.
Now, you ladies enjoy your week and see you tomorrow.
~Adrienne
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Adrienne,
I like how you compare Edison tries to blogging. A lot of newbies have the wrong impression that they are going to set up a blog and that people will be rushing to it, but that’s not how it works. You and I know that, don’t we? It does take some darn work on our part.
Thanks for sharing this, Adrienne.
Sue Price says
Hi Adrienne
Sylviane did do a great job didn’t she? I so appreciated it.
I laugh as the Edison blogging comparison. It is very true but I do not think I would still be blogging if I had written 8000 and no one came 🙂 Seriously though that type of perseverance is so admirable. I think that not too many people have that and that is why many people do not reach their dreams, or they stop dreaming.
Thanks for dropping by and for commenting Adrienne. I so appreciate you ladies. See you tomorrow
Sue
Donna Merrill says
Hi Sylviane,
I appreciate you pitching in on Sue’s blog when she needed it the most. I think we all turn to you to write because you are the best darn writer I know!
I like the way you started this blog with Thomas Edison’s story. He just kept on trying until it worked. A with most businesses it is true! Persistence is the key!
Somehow I don’t see things as failures, but just “going back to the drawing board” kind of thing. I like the ways you gave us of how to improve our persistence levels!
As for mindset, I truly believe that is EVERYTHING! It all starts there. If we are thinking negatively, we won’t go forward. We do need to keep our mindset positive. The examples you give how to change it is wonderful.
Always a great post,
Donna
Sue Price says
Hi Donna
It was great of Sylviane to help me out and I am very grateful. She is an excellent writer.
I too loved the way she started with the Thomas Edison story. Such a strong message. I do no think I could have been that persistent!
I too don’t see things as failures. To me they are all learning and part of our journey.
Thanks Donna for your feedback here.
Have a good rest of your week.
Sue
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Donna,
Well, thank you so much for your compliment. It really makes me so happy 🙂
Yes, I think that persistence and mindset is 99% of most people’s successes. Nothing comes free. There’s got to be a positive mindset behind any success and we must persist until it happens.
Thanks for coming here at Sue’s 🙂
Dan Black says
Great post and points Sue! Perseverance is key when it comes to being successful. It’s the people who have a never give up mindset who will eventually see success. They allow failures to be stepping stones forward.
The people around us greatly determine our future, it’s why we have to be careful about the people we have around us. I have learned to take time to connect with and build relationships with those who are like minded.
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Dan,
I’m glad you enjoy this post. Yes, those who never give up and show persistence are the ones who come out victorious!
Building relationships and the right ones, that is, is so important for success, indeed.
Thanks for coming by,
Sylviane
Sue Price says
Hi Dan
Yes I agree it is a great post Sylviane did here. I agree with you that the never give up mindset will eventually result in success. I think far too many people say things like “I will give it a go and see what happens” and of course success is not the result.
We sure do have to be careful who we have around us. It is so important to our success and besides it is just so much more pleasant to be around people with a similar mindset and who are positive.
Thanks for dropping by here and commenting Dan.
Have a great day.
Sue
Dan Black says
I’ve also heard many people say they would never give up only to give up when hard times come. I think knowing that hard or difficult seasons while happen can prepare us for them and allow us to move through them. Glad to be apart of your community.
Sue Price says
Hi Dan
I too have witnessed the same in people saying they will never give up only to do it. It is easy to say things when times are good but not everyone has the level of commitment needed to get through the tougher times and challenges. I agree if we know there will be tough times and that they are part of business and life then we are better equipped to get through those times.
It is a great community isn’t it Dan. I am grateful to be part of it too.
Have a wonderful day.
Sue
Dee Ann Rice says
Sue and Sylviane,
Sue, I am sorry to hear that your father passed away. I will be thinking of you.
Sylviane, I did not realize that you did 3 blogs. WOW, I really do not know how you keep up with all three. That is great.
You make some excellent points here and they are all so true. I really think the only people who make it online are those who do all three of the signs of success that you mention in the post.
If you are negative or are not persistent or do not build relationships you will not make it online or in most any entrepreneurial business.
Great post.
Dee Ann
Sue Price says
Hi Dee Ann
Thanks for your thoughts re my Dad. It was not unexpected but still difficult.
I am in awe of Sylviane doing three blogs and have no idea how she does it. Then she was kind enough to do this one for me.
I agree with you Dee Ann I think Sylviane really got to the core of what makes people successful online in this post.
Thanks for your comment Dee Ann.
Sue
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi DeeAnn,
Ah that’s why I just saw you on my travel blog! I thought it was the first time you’d been there. Hope to see you there again 🙂
Yes, those are vital ingredients of success, indeed. Without them, what you need is an inheritance, I guess.
Thank you for coming here and for your comment.
RobG says
Hello Sue, I’m truly sorry to hear about your day my condolences, we recently experienced the same thing a few weeks ago and lost my mother in-law.
The thing about being successful online or in business is it come slowly and sometimes take time. There are many things we need to consider and focus on to make things work.
Thanks so much for a great read very helpful. Have a wonderful day…..
Sue Price says
Hi Rob
Thanks for your thoughts on my Dad and I am also sorry to hear about your Mother-in law. For me even though it was expected it was difficult.
I agree building any type of business takes time and it certainly takes persistence.
Thanks for visiting here Rob and for your comment. You have a great day.
Sue
Radu says
I am sure that reading personal development materials alone will not improve the quality of our live unless we actually apply the sayings written in those books / brochures.
Please have my condolences.
Sue Price says
Hi Radu
Yes taking action is what makes the difference for sure.
Thanks for your condolences Radu, I appreciate that.
Sue
Tonya Stephens says
Hi Sue and Syvianne,
Sue, sorry to hear of your father’s passing. Hope you feel better soon.
Sylvianne,
I like your key points here about success vs failure.
I was listening to John C Maxwell the other day and he said one of the hardest principles of success is consistency. Once you are persistent in your goals and dreams then add a dash of consistency through daily activities to get you there.
Here’s to a positive mindset with loads of persistence and a great group to share it with.
Tonya
Sue Price says
Hi Tonya
Thanks for your thoughts re my father. I have been up and down but more ups than downs this week.
I have to agree with John C Maxwell on that point as I think consistency is the most difficult thing. I am not sure if it is for everyone but I know it is for me.
Thanks for visiting and commenting Tonya.
Sue
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Tonya,
Yes, I agree with that. Consistency is tough for most of us, because life gets in the way and takes us away from what we need to do.
Thanks for coming by my post at Sue’s place 🙂
Dana says
Thank-you for the reminder of the Edison “failure”. It’s always useful to remember that things aren’t necessarily designed to give you exactly what you want after the first – not the 1000th – attempt at success.
It’s like working out for a week and being discouraged that you aren’t 3 sizes smaller.
I stumbled across your site thanks to Adrienne’s.
Great post!
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Dana,
I’m glad you found Sue’s site through our common friend Adrienne. I’ve helped out Sue with her post this past week because her mind was not into writing as she had just lost her dad.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for coming.
Sue Price says
Hi Dana
Like Sylviane said I am glad you found my site through Adrienne. I think many of us meet through Adrienne.
Sylviane did a great post and I love that she started with the Edison story as it does put it into perspective. I also love workout analogy that is spot on. And sadly too many people stop because they have unrealistic expectations.
Thanks for visiting my blog Dana.
Sue
Jerry Handy says
So many powerful points that were mentioned here. I can say that most of you guys and gals are spot on when it comes to being consistent. I don’t know why that is so hard, but then again I guess I do. When I think about it, it boils down to having a vision of where you are going. When you have that out front, it makes it much easier to stick to your task at hand. I for one know what it’s like to get stumped, especially when it comes to losing a loved one. It’s not always easy to keep moving, but on the flip side, look at the beautiful things that come about from such loss. To have a fellow marketer and friend to step in for you speaks volumes and that is what it’s all about. Thanks for sharing and keep your head up.
Sue Price says
Hi Jerry
Thanks for your feedback here. I appreciate it. Being consistent should not be so hard but I think you are spot on when you say it is about having a vision of where we are going. That is very important as otherwise it is too easy to lose focus.
Losing a loved one is not easy as you know too but as you say there is good that comes out of these things. I am very fortunate and blessed to have had Sylviane step in for me. As you say it speaks volumes. Sylviane is also very busy so I was so grateful to her. Thank you again Sylviane.
Thanks again Jerry for your kind words. You have a great rest of your week.
Sue
Temilola Globalwalyy says
Hello Sue Price, this is my first time visiting your blog, and i just landed on the right discussion…
this world is all about word and opposite anyway, its either you win or you lose…
Nice points about success and failure
Sue Price says
Hi Temilola
Thanks for finding my blog. This is a great post written by my friend Sylviane Nuccio. I agree there are opposites for everything in the world. The good part though is that we can make changes.
Thanks for your comment.
Sue