Have you ever heard the phrase, “there are no lukewarm winners?”  Anything worth doing in life is going to be an uphill habit which just means it’s going to take a lot of work.  It takes tremendous effort to be successful, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.

I recently discovered Justin Prince; an entrepreneur who has built multiple multi-million-dollar businesses even though his first business at age 25 failed.  He says, "if you see yourself as a loser, you won’t play like a winner and if you see yourself as a winner, you won’t play like a loser.”  I find that incredibly profound, don’t you?  That’s how he overcame the failure of his first business.  Here’s another powerful phrase of his.  “You are not what you did: you are what you repeatedly do.”  We all make mistakes, don’t focus on them.  Learn from them and repeat the good habits that allow you to succeed.

Justin just finished writing his first book called “Be the One: The Universal Roadmap to Create, Design and Live an Unforgettable Life.  I recently found him online and was incredibly impressed by the simplicity of what he calls a success loop that focuses on the six C’s.  Here’s how it works.

He believes CONFIDENCE is the foundation to success, but before you get confidence you need COURAGE.  You need the courage to take a step in the direction of your dreams and that courage breeds confidence and leads to COMMITMENT.  There is no commitment where there’s no confidence.  You need to stick to a task until it sticks to you and that commitment leads to CLARITY, which helps you see the path forward. You need to be a person of CHARACTER.  Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “you should care more about your character than your reputation.  Your reputation is who everyone thinks you are.  Your character is who you really are.”  Character leads to COMPETENCY.  You’ve got to build your skills.  Whatever skills are necessary in your field of work, work hard to develop them.  The more competent you are the more confidence you’ll have, and the circle repeats itself over and over again and leads you smack dab into success.

I’ve never heard it broken down that way.  I wish I knew this strategy when I was younger.  I think I fumbled my way to success because I never gave up.  I live by my favorite Winston Churchill quote, “never, ever, ever give up.”  There have been plenty of days in my life where I didn’t feel very confident and I struggled to find the courage to take the next step, but commitment has been the thing that has been the easiest for me.  If I’m going to do anything, I’m going to be ALL in.  I don’t believe in halfway or coasting.  It’s just not part of my DNA.  I’ve often called character/integrity my most prized possession.  It’s hard to keep and easy to lose.  Finally, I’ve found competency comes with time.  I share a lot about my mentor, New York Times Bestselling author John C. Maxwell.  He says, “you’re NEVER good the first time.”  No matter what you set out to do, it’s going to take time to get good but when it happens nothing can stop you.  The six C’s to success loop is a great tool that can help you get where you want to go professionally.