Most people think that people who are successful and people who are failures are both on opposite sides of the spectrum. Well my friends, you’d be suprised how close failure and success are close to each other. Its like walking a thin line and its a very narrow one.  You can walk a fine line between sheer success and utter failure.

See the thing is, the longer you walk that line, the larger the gap between the two becomes. Let me give you a simple definition for both failure and success. This way you can easily use this to assess what you are doing in your own life and help yourself get on the “good” side.

What is failure?
People thing failure is a single occurance. FALSE!.  Failure is the combination of chronic errors made over time.

For example, if you don’t clean your room one day, that is not failure. It might be an error or even a lack of attention. However, if you don’t clean your room 30 days in a row and your room becomes a big mess, then it’s no longer an error, but a FAILURE. Usually, this is what causes people to experience failure whether it’s in their personal life or professional one. They repeat the same error day in and day out, and the sum of the errors just pile on until it’s a complete failure. Here is another example. You could eat junk food one day, but if you eat it every single day, then you suffer the consequences of such continuous errors with poor health and poor body image. What about if you put off doing a task for one day? What if you put it off every single day? I see this all too often in my line of work (software development), where the accumulation of errors builds into failure, which then builds into disaster!

Think about certain bad decisions or choices that you have been making in your life lately. Make the promise to yourself right now not to repeat this every day or too often. One trait that I have noticed with high achievers, is that they are able to correct an error extremely quickly. If you want a chance to succeed, you need to learn from your errors and correct them FAST. The quicker you learn from your errors and avoid repeating them, the better you can avoid any failure, and the faster you can achieve success.

What is success?
Enough about failure. On the opposite side of the spectrum, success is the accumulation of good decisions made continuously over a period of time.

For example, if you work out one day, you won’t see any result or success. But if you work out every day for 5 months, you will see noticeable and measurable results, and that is real, tangible success. If you write one page a day for a year, you have a book. If you eat good healthy food every single day of your life, you will have a healthier body. Success is quite simply managing to accomplish good disciplines on a daily basis. The reason why the majority of people do not achieve a high level of success is the lack of consistency. They will eat well 3-4 days out of 7, and work out 1 or 2 days per week. They will complete their tasks 3 times out of 10. Mediocre consistency creates mediocre results. If you want to experience life on a whole other level of personal success, you need to be the most consistent person possible. Be consistent. Have discipline and be motivated.

As you can see, the line between success and failure is very thin. Sometimes it’s not obvious that we are doing something that is wrong, so it’s crucial to have an open mind and be critical of oneself. But it’s the act of doing things a certain way over a period of time that widens the gap between success and failure so tremendously. The key here is to spot your errors early, learn from them, and fix them. Then, whatever you are doing that works, keep doing it every single day by developing the habit of consistency. This is an absolute sure-fire way to obtain massive amounts of success. Remember if its hard to do at first, then its probably the road to success. Laziness is easy. Running for 30 min a day is hard.  The kite rises its highest against the wind

How can people know you if you don’t know your self?

How can people know you if you are constantly growing?

The more you learn about your self the more you grow, thus change.

Why do people get mad when you don’t act the way they expected you to?

Because they think they know you.

Most of what they know are your habits-Your Fears.

As a Society, we don’t embrace Growth/ change. We rebel against it

- Jason Johnson

keep it real!

However, lately, I have started to live without goals for the most part. I have to tell you, its ABSOLUTELY liberating. Also, contrary to what most think, it absolutely does not mean you stop achieving things. This just means you stop letting yourself be limited by goals.

We all have been told at one point or another “You’ll never get anywhere in life unless you know where you’re going.” This seems so common. However, this is not true if you stop thinking about it.

Let me make a simple example: Many people go outside of their homes on saturday mornings and take the same walk path they have been for many years. Their goal is to get to a destination and come back. Now, how about they go outside and walk in a random direction, and feel free to change directions randomly at any time. After 30 minute or whenever, they will be somewhere thats most likely new to them. Only thing is that you didnt know they were going to be there. However, they have discovered something NEW.

Here is the new fact: you have to open your mind to going places you never expected to go. If you live without goals, you’ll explore new territory. You’ll learn some unexpected things. You’ll end up in surprising places. That’s the beauty of this philosophy, but it’s also a difficult transition.

Today, I try to mostly live without goals. I come up with concrete goals now and then but I let most go. Living without goals has never been a goal of mine but its something i’m learning and that makes me feel free.

The problem with goals

In the past, I’d set a goal or three for the year, and then sub-goals for each month. Then I’d figure out what action steps to take each week and each day, and try to focus my day on those steps.

Unfortunately, it never, ever works out this neatly. You all know this. You know you need to work on an action step, and you try to keep the end goal in mind to motivate yourself. But this action step might be something you dread, and so you procrastinate. You do other work, or you check email or Facebook, or you goof off.

And so your weekly goals and monthly goals get pushed back or side-tracked, and you get discouraged because you have no discipline. And goals are too hard to achieve. So now what? Well, you review your goals and reset them. You create a new set of sub-goals and action plans. You know where you’re going, because you have goals!

Of course, you don’t actually end up getting there. Sometimes you achieve the goal and then you feel amazing. But most of the time you don’t achieve them and you blame it on yourself.

Here’s the secret: the problem isn’t you, it’s the system! Goals as a system are set up for failure.

Even when you do things exactly right, it’s not ideal. NOTHING IS EVER 100%.

Here’s why: you are extremely limited in your actions. When you don’t feel like doing something, you have to force yourself to do it. Your path is chosen, so you don’t have room to explore new territory. You have to follow the plan, even when you’re passionate about something else.

Some goal systems are more flexible, but nothing is as flexible as having no goals.

How having no goals works

So what does a life without goals look like? In theory it might look like a waste of time and in practice, it’s very different than one with goals.

You don’t set a goal for the year, nor for the month, nor for the week or day. You don’t obsess about tracking, or actionable steps. You don’t even need a to-do list, though it doesn’t hurt to write down reminders if you like.

What do you do, then? Lay around on the couch all day, sleeping and watching TV and eating chips? No, you simply do. You find something you’re passionate about, and do it. Just because you don’t have goals doesn’t mean you do nothing — you can create, you can produce, you can follow your passion.

And in practice, this is a wonderful thing. You wake up and do what you’re passionate about. For me, that’s usually developing, bloggin, and as crazy as it sounds, I like to work on my relationship with my fiancee, but it can be writing my first book to help others. There’s no limit, because I’m free.

In the end, I usually end up achieving more than if I had goals, because I’m always doing something I’m excited about! But whether I achieve or not isn’t the point at all. All that matters is that i’m doing something I enjoy and love

I end up in places that are wonderful, new, surprising, great. I just didn’t know I would get there when I started.

Tips for living without goals

I’m not going to sit here and give you a manual on how to live without goals. But I can only share somethings I’m learning in hopes that it will help you.

• Start small. Just go a few hours without predetermined goals or actions. Follow your passion for those hours. Even an hour will do.
• Grow. As you get better at this, start allowing yourself go and be free for longer periods — half a day or a whole day or several days. Eventually you’ll feel confident enough to give up on certain goals and just do what you love.
• Not just work. Giving up goals works in any area of your life. Take health and fitness: I used to constantly set crazy goals of lowering my body fat percentage or increasing my bench press or run five miles. Now, I just workout because I enjoy it and it relaxes my mind and body.
• Let go of plans. Plans are not really different than goals. They set you on a predetermined path. But it’s incredibly difficult to let go of living with plans, especially if you’re a meticulous planner like I am. So allow yourself to plan, when you feel you need to, but slowly feel free to let go of this habit and go with the flow.
• Don’t worry about mistakes. If you start setting goals, that’s OK. There are no mistakes on this journey — it’s just a learning experience. If you live without goals and end up failing, as yourself if it’s really a failure. You only fail if you don’t get to where you wanted to go — but if you don’t have a destination in mind, there’s no failure.
• It’s all good. No matter what path you find, no matter where you end up, it’s beautiful. There is no bad path, no bad destination. ITS YOUR DESTINATION. It’s only different, and different is wonderful. Don’t judge, but experience.
• Keep it real. Be real with yourself. Don t become careless, but be carefree. Don’t be ignorant but learn to ignore things that don’t work your way. Don’t be uptight but be upright about things.

Be free, this is a journey, the destination will always be in your favor at the end.

The way he goes about his business is very interesting. He first checks out everyone that comes in the car wash whether they are wearing leather or not. Then he goes up each of them and strikes up a conversation. After 5 minutes, he says “you wanna go to my chair and I’ll shine your shoes”. Some of the clients accept, others decline

His tactic is very similar to a stripper’s which I find funny.

I was in his office where we start talking about how my life and his life is going and about our goals in life. I told him how badly I want to be successful in life and eventually have my own company. Basically small talk. During our conversation, he said something that really stuck with me.  Motivation is Overrated.

After thinking this over a bit, I agree with this. He basically said motivation is irrelevant if you don’t have commitment. Think of this doctor of mine, and the amount of hours he has put to study, take the MCAT, do his residency. All to become a doctor. He  truly has to be committed to put in the mind-numbing hours and hours as well as sleepless night after night to get to his goal.

Now I know a bunch of people will say you have to be motivated as well as committed but I don’t think motivation really plays that much of a role. I already believe that the most important characteristic to have as an entrepreneur is perseverance. However, a major part of perseverance is commitment and much less so motivation as commitment inevitably leads to motivation. Commitment is what gives you direction. Motivation is simply the “energy” which occurs while pursuing a goal.

Unfortunately I know a ton of people who are highly motivated yet they still don’t really seem to succeed much. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I fear someone who is motivated but doesn’t show strong commitment in their past. Be this the job hopper who never sticks to one job for long or the developer who can’t complete one project before moving on to another. They are not necessarily working “less hard” than other people but they keep getting sidetracked or distracted. There is a lot of “unfinished business” in their tracks.

Give me the option of a committed entrepreneur or employee verses a highly motivated one and I will always pick the one who’s shown commitment. You can motivate people but you can’t make them commit. Somehow commitment is something you can’t “teach” anyone. They either have it or they don’t.

Secrets are a sin
So is holding back the truth

I’m talking from experience
And ur eyes are the proof

I got instincts
Just like ladies do
U can keep it cool from me
But we both know I know the truth

So when I ask for the facts
State them like the constitution
Lying will corrupt my head
And make this relation a pollution

Ur the grey clouds
The fact is the moon

Keep raining on me
The moon will show its face soon

So it really is about learning to appreciate everything we have this very moment. Not tomorrow or even in an hour, but right now.

This is your life and it is ending one minute at a time.

Its the desire to feel important that motivates a poverty striken clerk to go to school. Its this desire that motivates a kid to join a gang. Its this desire that makes you want to buy the newest cars and wear the latest fashion.

We want to be noticed, appreciated and loved.

You want your way in life? Give people honest compliments. Truly appreciate them. Make them feel important and worth value. And I promise you things will go your way.