What Does Success Look Like To You?
It's a great question.
Success for me?
Happiness.
If you'd asked me that same question 10 years ago, I'd have said a mansion, Lambo on the drive, fine dining, first class travel. You know, stuff. Stuff.
True success is being happy, healthy and having the money AND time to do what you want, when you want.
If you're pursuing the supercars/Rolex route, then you are going to have to trade in something else in your life in order to get it.
See, we can't all be Peter Jones, rushing from one high powered business meeting to the next before Lear-jetting off to his private island to have a couple of sets of tennis with Richard Branson.
That's the picture of SUCCESS that's projected onto us all, and lovely it is if you're Peter Jones and Richard Branson.
But we can't all be them.
Nor should we.
Be You
Please... let those words ring around your head a few times...
BE YOU
BE YOU
BE YOU
And if by BEING YOU, you really DO seek opulence and mega wealth in order to find your ideal of success, good luck to you. It sounds like I'm taking the piss but I'm not.
Your way of doing things may not be my way. And vice versa. I sought all that stuff, I did. I thought that pursuing that would give me contentment in my life. It didn't.
It was an unhealthy picture of success.
And as such I truly don't believe it's where you'll find your answer. I've never had mega wealth, but I do have many friends who have, and yet for some of them they are devoid of the very thing that no amount of money can buy.
True happiness. Wether it's happiness or contentment, however we each label it, this should be your goal on a daily basis.
So my recipe for success is really simple and it's attainable by us all. Don't worry, I'm not going to get all Thai bells and chakras on you.
In my latest book NOW WHAT?
and private mentoring group THE NOW WHAT? CLUB
I help people just like you to find their own version of success and happiness.
It's not just a case of saying "Hey, be happy, driven and content everyday".
I'm going to take you on my entrepreneurial journey and the life lessons I've learned along the way. My thoughts, experiences and decisions at these pivotal crossroads will help you to mentally unshackle any unhelpful thinking, so that you're free to take on new, more positive thoughts.
More positive thoughts = more positive outcomes
It'll be like chatting with a mentor or a mate over a couple of drinks in the pub, giving you the advice, the hope and importantly the courage and permission you need in order to take your next steps.
A wonderfully reassuring arm around your shoulder to help keep you on track, to know that everything is going to be alright, because it will be.
It always is... eventually.
It's about helping you take the steps needed to get your shit together and allowing you to recognise the crucial points along your way to ask "Now What?"
And to be confident enough that you actually have the start point of your answer.
I keep hearing people on my travels who say that I got luck. For those new to the school of Brad, I'll give you a quick overview of how "I got lucky" over the last 12 years.
In Feb 2006, I founded the business networking membership organisation, 4Newtorking. I had no money, a tiny team and the truth is, i was making it up as I went along...
But I had an almost misguided self-belief, a pseudo-religious type passion and an untested "daft idea" - to change the face of business networking, forever.
12 years on, we now run 5,000+ business networking meetings each year across the UK. Back then we were a fresh approach offering hope and a new style of networking and since that time people have responded in their tens of thousands.
Not bad for a "daft idea".
"He got lucky."
With 4 hit business books under my belt, I'm the UK's highest rated and reviewed Amazon business author.
"He got lucky."
I'm the UK's #1 motivational business speaker - it says so on my website, so it must be true. Since my last book I've spoken at thousands of events, including to globally known brands such as JCB, Bentley, Xero, Sage, the NHS and Costa.
"He got lucky."
Maybe I did get lucky, but three times? What's more likely is that my decisions over the last decade have made it easier for all those things to happen.
I promise you this, all of the above has been planned, even if at times loosely. Very loosely.
Creating the life and business you want, as in really want, takes time. It's a bit like wanting a boiled egg. It's gonna take time, you can have it scrambled, but it won't be your boiled egg.
Is that want you really wanted?
Too often in life, we rush the perfect recipe and complain when it doesn't taste the way we wanted.
So your mission to get lucky starts today, with Now What?
But this is only your next step, not the final one. Don't just focus on your big end-goal. There are thousands of micro decisions you are going to need to make in order to find your lucky. No spoilers. But there are going to be plot twists along your way, there always are.
Your perfect trajectory to success is going to be derailed along the way. But as long as you never lose sight of where you're going, you'll get there.
Eventually.
But even with all my luck I still have shit to deal with in my life. People who I consider to have "made it" still have constant "stuff" to deal with. It's more important to know this.
Even the most seemingly perfect lives aren't perfect. That's life. Things are going great, all nice and settled and then POW, more shit arrives.
That's life.
That's your life. It's about learning to adapt whilst learning the lessons. Always.
It's taken me 12 years to reach the clarity I now have about life/business. Now What?
Pretending to have all the answers when you don't will only keep you going for so long. Again, I know... I've tried.
But the first thing to do is to stop telling yourself you can't win. Start talking yourself into things, not out of them. This is how you'll grow in confidence - through momentum, decisions and successes.
Get mentored by me. There are a number of ways you can do this, to suit your schedule, your bank account, your desired results.
Email Pippa for info.
Now What?
CHANGE YOUR THINKING. CHANGE YOUR LIFE
