Donald Trump used to say that success is harder to keep than to achieve. And we should never forget that whatever takes us to the top is precisely what keeps us there. It is a very basic principle that, as we explained in our article “The weight of success”, some people forget.
The first rule of success is very obvious. In fact, there is no successful businessperson without it. We’re talking about…
1. Discipline
You have to keep the same attitude in good times and bad. If every day you do what you know how to do, as well as you know how to do it, and you keep learning and improving every day, you will always get good results. The good runs will continue and the bad runs will get shorter.
You have to be disciplined, above all, in your attitude of carrying on no matter what happens. Long holidays, alcohol and drugs are among the most damaging things there are for discipline. They also make us lose focus and don’t help us make good decisions.
These substances have wiped out the hard work behind promising professions and successful careers, as well as great business empires.
2. Be honest
What is right is right even if nobody does it. What is wrong is wrong even if everybody does it. Even though you live in an increasingly dishonest world, always be honest.
One of the few people I admired and respected used to say that “a person has only two things: their word and their honour. If you lose either of them, you stop being a person and become a piece of crap.”
See also: Taking apart a scientific study on personal and professional success
If you have to deceive someone to make money, it isn’t worth it. In business, you and your reputation are worth more than any amount of money you could make that way. In the long run, people who don’t play straight end up losing everything or not being able to enjoy it.
As I always say at this point, make sure that tomorrow you can explain to your children how you achieved success, without having to lie to them and without feeling ashamed. Success begins with trust. If people don’t trust you, you won’t get to success. And if, once you’ve achieved it, you stop being honest and earn people’s distrust, your success will collapse.
On this point, in business we also need to know how to surround ourselves with honest people.
3. You can’t do it alone
Nobody achieves anything valuable and lasting without help. To succeed in business you need to work with other people and delegate.
You are not smart enough to know everything or to be an expert in five different areas, but you can work with people who have the knowledge you need. Look for the best in their field, people of integrity whom you trust. And once you have them, remember what Steve Jobs said: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do.”
He may be the best example we can give, because although people remember Jobs as a loner with few friends, the truth is that Apple is where it is because Jobs worked with the best, with people who were able to turn one man’s vision into a product.
Trump and Richard Branson are examples of how you can grow a business by putting trusted professionals (also called “generals”) in key positions, so that they look after the business as the owners themselves would.
And if you have a mentor when you are starting out, the road to success can be a little easier.
Once you achieve success, don’t forget the people who helped you get there, or those who stood by you when everything was doubt and uncertainty about the future. When you forget where you come from, you lose sight of where you are going.
4. Balance your personal and working life
There is a very fine line between working hard and being a neurotic who thinks only about work. We need to be flexible with our time. Although discipline in business requires a planned schedule so as not to waste too much time, we must also devote hours to what really matters.
We can temporarily shut ourselves away in a project and neglect friends and family (only temporarily), but afterwards we have to come back to reality, or we may forget why we are fighting and what really matters.
Our discipline should include switching off from work. That way we avoid emotional burnout.
See also: The 6 areas you need to master to control your destiny
5. Contribute to society
Whatever you do, make sure you contribute and give something back to others. As Richard Branson put it, a business that only makes money is a bad business. A person remembered only for having amassed a lot of money, with nobody knowing what they did for people and for the world, doesn’t have much of a legacy to leave.
That’s why, when I see the criticism aimed at Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Amancio Ortega and others, I can’t quite understand which part of what these billionaires have done for society their critics have failed to grasp.
Their fortune is simply the reward for their contribution to society.
Creating value, creating jobs, helping others prosper, teaching and so on: helping others, in one way or another, brings a sense of fulfilment unlike anything you have achieved before. That was the gist of what Arnold Schwarzenegger said in “his rules for success“.
See also: James Altucher’s 32 rules for becoming a successful entrepreneur
Featured image: Mattsjc, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
