Today, I’d like to explain how you can maximize your chances of succeeding in all your projects and endeavors.

How many times have you started a project and not seen it through to the end? Why don’t you dare to start the projects you have in mind? What’s stopping you from following through on your dreams?

In this article, I reveal 6 tips to increase your chances of successfully completing your projects…

We can all be entrepreneurs

Before revealing the tips, I’d like to come back to a limiting thought that many people have in common. It can be expressed in many ways: “I’ll never be able to do it”, “I don’t know how to do it”, “it’s not for me” and so on. If you have to remember just one idea, remember this one: we can all do something.

TALENT IS NOT INNATE
I’m convinced that talent isn’t innate. To be good at something, you have to devote a lot of time to it, and anyone can do it. To say that a person has succeeded in such and such a field because he or she was born for it is, most of the time, a false excuse to console oneself for not having acted.

Of course, as with everything, there are exceptions. High-level athletes who are born with exceptional biological abilities. Or people with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) who manage to develop extraordinary abilities. The example of high-functioning autistic people is the first that springs to mind as I write these lines.

But don’t lose sight of the fact that these cases are extremely rare, and don’t try to find false excuses when you think about them. Get rid of the idea that you can’t do it. Remove the word “failure” from your vocabulary and give it a try!

5 tips for success in everything you do

TIP N°1: YOU CAN’T SUCCEED AT EVERYTHING!
Granted, the title of this article is a bit misleading. Simply because it’s impossible to succeed at everything. And that’s something you need to be aware of! The best people, the people you admire, all those who have succeeded have gone through many trials and tribulations. I’m deliberately using the word “try” instead of “fail”, and I hope you’ll adopt this habit too.

When you admire someone because they’ve succeeded, you only see their success. Take Steve Jobs, the head of Apple, for example. Did you know that in 1985, the Apple Board of Directors relieved Steve Jobs of his responsibility, forcing him to resign?

A few years later, Steve Jobs declared:

“I didn’t understand it at the time, but being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to me. It freed me up to enter one of the most creative periods of my life”.

TIP N°2: HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF
If you have a project in mind, the first thing you want to do is talk about it with those closest to you. And that’s all very well! However, I must warn you about something fundamental: most of those close to you will try to discourage you!

“You won’t succeed”, “it’s too complicated”, “you don’t know what you’re doing”, etc.

If you’re here, it’s because you’re interested in personal development, but you should know that very few people are (and that’s a shame!).

What do people like best of all? A sense of security! Having your own little comfort, a salary that falls every month, and not trying new things for fear of failure. This attitude gives rise to one of the worst feelings you can have: frustration.

Don’t let your loved ones’ limiting thoughts rub off on you!

Only listen to people you feel are giving you good advice, and use your critical faculties to the full. Analyze the pros and cons and form an objective opinion of the situation. But above all: have confidence in yourself and go for it if you feel like it.

The frustration and regret of not trying are far worse than any failure!

Finally, don’t try to convince everyone you talk to that your project is a good one. You’d be wasting your time! Once you’ve got the first results, it’ll be much easier for you to talk about it with your friends!

TIP N°3: TAKE IT ONE STEP AT A TIME
I often see people in the press who have gone broke because they gave up everything for their project. Don’t do the same! Don’t take ill-considered risks!

There are two extremes: people who are frustrated and never do anything, and people who drop everything overnight. Both are very bad!

You have to find a happy medium and take small steps, slowly but surely. Do you have big plans? Do you want to succeed? Take your time, move forward little by little, and question your choices regularly. This is the only way that works! Because whatever project you embark on, you’re bound to make mistakes at first! Get it wrong, identify the causes of the mistake, then correct it. This is what we call continuous improvement, or a virtuous circle. Only in this way can you maximize your chances of achieving your goals.

Once a month, for example, review what you’ve done and try to figure out how to improve things.

TIP N°4: FREE YOUR MIND
This tip is very important: remember to free your mind! Don’t spend hours and hours on your project without getting away from it. Get some fresh air, think about something else, go out with friends, etc. When you come back to your project, you’ll naturally come up with new ideas and be more productive.

Always remember not to cut yourself off from the world around you. If one day something goes wrong, you’ll be glad to find your friends!

You can also take up a sporting activity. Sport is a great way to free your mind quickly.

TIP N°5: BE PASSIONATE
If you want to see your project through to the end, you absolutely must be passionate about it! This is especially true if you have a job on the side. You mustn’t see your project as a constraint. You have to love your project and enjoy doing it.

From this advice follows this very important idea: don’t do it just for the money or the fame!

Let’s take the example of a blog. You decide to make a great blog about sewing, and one day you plan to make a living from it. If you’re not really passionate about sewing, I can assure you that you won’t last three months! This advice can be applied to any field. Don’t start a project just for the goal. Start it for the road you’ll have to travel to get there.

TIP N°6: FORGET PERFECTIONISM
Perfectionism is a fault I’ve had for a very long time, and it’s a real handicap. That’s why I chose “Think and Act” as the name for this blog. Perfectionism is thinking but not acting.

Don’t try to do things perfectly the first time!

Let’s take the sewing blog example from the previous tip. Imagine that this person decided to write all the articles before creating the blog and then to publish them one by one. This is a very bad idea! Simply because, as Morpheus explains in the Matrix movie (and yes, it’s not just great philosophers you can quote):

“There’s a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path”.

And it’s precisely by walking the path that you’ll make progress and bring your project to fruition.

Accept imperfections, take action, be self-critical, then improve your work. Don’t try to achieve perfection at all costs. It’s impossible!

IT’S UP TO YOU!
I hope these tips will help you progress in whatever you do. Even better, perhaps this article will serve as a trigger for you to finally take action!

Do you know any other tips for increasing the chances of success for your projects?