Five ‘success skills’ to drive you forward

 

Matt Bull is CEO & Founder of your success : made simple (ys:ms) who coach, educate and motivate businesses and people to achieve the success they want. Matt spent over a decade working in professional services, eight of those with PwC in the Midlands. After leaving PwC, he spent two years as Head of Finance and Commercial at a Midlands based global SME before setting up ys-ms in 2016.

If you work in professional services, there’s loads of information out there about options available to you as your career progresses. Companies like Adlestrop Consulting produce great content summing up what options are available to you so you can plan the next steps in your career.

As well as the obvious need to excel at your role and network as much as possible, what is talked about less is how professionals can develop what we at your success: made simple call ‘Success Skills’.

Set out below are our five Success Skills that we believe aspiring professionals should work on developing as you look to build your career.

 

1. Your mind-set

Mind-set is one of the most simple and obvious areas that drives result. Your mind-set determines your behaviour, your behaviour drives your results, your results impact your mind-set and so this cycl continues. 

So what is a success mind-set?

i. Responsibility – don’t blame people or circumstance for your results. The
success mind-set addresses a poor result and makes changes to ensure it
doesn’t happen again.

ii. Determination – are you doing whatever it takes to get your desired result?

iii.Self-belief – have belief in your ability to make things happen and achieve the success you want.

iv. Commitment – 100% to the desired result. No excuses, just passion and focused energy.

v. Optimism – this helps you deal with difficulties, see the positives and learn lessons from adversity.

vi. Continued growth – you should see unlimited possibility and a clear path from where you are now to where you want to be.

vii.Action – nothing happens without action. Take calculated risks based on solid information.

 

2. Your energy

Success is not easy.

But what energy do you need to be successful?

i. Physical energy – make sure you eat well, sleep well and exercise regularly.

ii. Mental energy – this helps you deal with challenges as they arise and keeps
you focused. Meditation is great for improving your mental energy.

iii. Emotional energy – learn what excites you and what upsets you. Become
proactive, not reactive, in your thoughts.

iv. Spiritual energy – these are the beliefs and values that centre your ambition
and motivation. Do you know your values?

 

3. Your discipline

You must have positive habits that you consistently apply to help you achieve your goals. Time management is critical here. Do you know when you are most productive? Do you make time to exercise and meditate? Do you ever just step back and think?

 

4. Your influence

Establishing rapport and building trust are critical to your success. There are two main areas to focus on here: -

i. Build trust by being open minded and having confidence in other people’s integrity and abilities

ii. Establish rapport and adjust your style as needed to help you engage with as many people as possible.

 

5. Your authenticity

To be successful, you must truly be yourself. Few people have achieved success by copying others. There are three areas to focus on to ensure you are being authentic:

i. Your purpose – are you absolutely passionate about what you are doing? Do you have a set of values by which you live day to day that drive your behaviour?

ii. Your vision and goals – where exactly do you see yourself in 20 years and what goals do you need to meet to get there? 5 year / 3 year / 1 year and quarterly goals should be a minimum.

iii. Your self- awareness – do you know yourself and know truly what excites and motivates you?

As Dax Moy said, “never try to be more than you are, just try and be all that you are”.

So, take action and start to focus on these Success Skills and how you are going to be successful, rather than simply thinking about what your next role looks like.