Success is not something that just happens. Anyone that you can think of that is a success didn’t just wake up one day that way. There’s a lot of work involved in becoming successful in any endeavour. An overnight success is often 10 years (or more) in the making.

If you’re sitting there reading this wondering what it takes to be a success, here are two answers:

1. Study success and successful people
2. Never stop learning

The common complaint these days is “I don’t have enough time.” What a load of bollocks. You have the same amount of time as everyone else. Think of it this way, you have two ways you can use your time, you can:

1. Waste it, or
2. Invest it

What are you doing with your time? Either way you’re spending it and you can’t get it back. Are you wasting it watching the TV, or investing it in yourself (and your family)? Want to be a success? Spend your time wisely.

Not enough time to read? Can you find 15 minutes? Just 15 minutes every day? Sure you can. In one year that would mean you’ve read for over 90 hours! That’s more than 10 whole work days of learning. How many books could you read in that time?

Not enough time to do more than that? C’mon, yes you have. Do you drive or catch a train? Do you have an iPod (or similar)? I bet you do and you already use it on the train (or listen to the radio or CDs in the car). Here’s a thought: how about listening to business, motivation and self-help recordings when you’re on the go? Most people will travel an hour or more each day. Think about it! How much could you learn in an hour a day?

So, no more excuses! You’ve got the time. You just have to choose to allocate it smartly. This reminds me of something I once heard from Brad Sugars: “Rich people spend money to save time, poor people spend time to save money. What has that got to do with this topic? It’s another way to find more time. Do you mow your lawn, clean your house, wash your car, do you own bookkeeping? If so, you’re choosing to spend your time doing something that you could spend money on to regain some time. Imagine how much time you could re-allocate if you didn’t have to do these things. Once you choose to spend some money to gain some time you’ll have more time to use to learn or spend with your family or to relax (yes, you have to relax too).

I’ve spent the last 4-5 years living like a sponge. Every day, I read, listen and absorb more information about success. I know without any doubt that this will be the root of my long-term success. Another thing I heard from Brad Sugars: “The more you learn, the more you earn. When you learn more than me, you’ll earn more than me.” (FYI – Brad is a multi-millionaire from Brisbane now living in Las Vegas. He owns his own jet, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini and the world’s most successful business coaching business. Earning more the Brad wouldn’t be too bad, would it?)

Anyway, here are a few great titles that I’ve learned from:

• Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends & Influence People
• Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
• James Dale, The Obvious: All you need to know in business, Period.
• Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
• Mark Victor Hansen, The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth
• Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich
• Brian Sher, What Rich People Know & Desperately Want to Keep Secret
• Bradley J. Sugars, Billionaire In Training
• Brain Tracy, Eat That Frog

Please add any titles that you recommend as a comment. And tell me what you’re doing to succeed.

And remember: Success is a journey, not a destination!

We all ebb and flow through many aspects of our lives and the taking care of ourselves part is no exception. Sometimes we’re all over it, sometimes we just couldn’t give a hoot. I’d like to think that most of us really do care about our health and fitness but that is pain delusional (just look out the window if you need proof).

I make the bold assumption that as a reader of this blog you are interested (hopefully exceedingly so) in your health and fitness. I have been involved in the industry for a few years now and have seen far too many fads, ideas, plans and programs to remember let alone critique. Suffice to say most of these do not work for the simple reason that they are either not applied properly or are unsuitable to the individual in question.

Once you’ve made the commitment to training (and it is a commitment) you should expect results. If you are not getting results then something is wrong. Very wrong. Either you are doing something wrong, or you have the wrong information, or there’s a disconnect somewhere (your diet maybe). I hope you get my point.

Now, we finally get to the subject of the post (re-read the headline if I veered too far off course). Here are three ways to get the most out of every workout that you participate in:

Forget about the outside world

When you are training your entire consciousness should be focused upon yourself and your efforts in training. No thoughts should be wasted on what’s going on at work, what you have to prepare for dinner, why you can’t find that black sock. Your mind and body must be connected and in complete alignment for you to achieve amazing results. (Case in point: how many people do you know that read magazines whilst walking on a treadmill who are dramatically fitter in three months?)

Make your workouts a meditation. Strip away all the craziness of the outside world. Clear your mind. Focus completely on yourself. Be a little selfish.

Get your diet in order

I am sure you’ve heard this before. It does warrant a reminder though. Diet is the key to your success even in singular workouts. What you eat before and after your workouts have a direct correlation to how you perform during your workouts. That’s not rocket science, it’s just plain simple truth. Don’t for a second think that a post-workout recovery drink will suffice. You have to be on the ball all (or at least most) of the time.

Your degree of diligence in following a sensible nutrition plan (either the Paleo or Zone diet or both) will directly correlate to your performance. If you adhere 80% of the time you will get 80% of the rewards and so on.

Get competitive

Competition is an amazing motivator. Even those people who say they are not competitive really are, it’s just they compete differently to the rest of us. And even those people will get competitive in a group, it’s just human nature. No one likes to come last.

You don’t necessarily have to compete against anyone else. You can compete against yourself. All you need to do is record your workout results and always aim to do better next time. Always aiming to improve is competition against yourself. What greater motivation do you need than to do better than before or to beat the guy or girl next to you?