The Seven Pillars

“There are seven pillars to a successful life,” he said. “Seven pillars standing strong and solid,” he continued. “If you live your life based upon these seven pillars, then you will have a successful and satisfying life,” my mentor concluded.

More years ago, more than I can even remember, I had a sage mentor. One of many that I have been very blessed to have. You wouldn’t know him if I said his name. He was just someone who came into my life at the right place and time. His insight and wisdom still resonate with me today, maybe even more potent than when I first heard it.

I recently had some time on my hands and was going through old notebooks when I came across my notes from this encounter so many years ago. I had forgotten that I still had these notes, even though I always remember the seven pillars like the conversation that happened yesterday. Here are my friends Seven Pillars to a Successful Life.

To have a successful like, you must surround yourself with,

1. Positive Self-talk. We become what we think about most of the time. I still love Henry Fords’ great statement, “If you think you can, or you can’t, you are right!”
2. Positive Mental Food. Read or listen to positive things every day. With all the time we spend in the car or sitting in front of the television, we have plenty of opportunities to feed ourselves material for growth rather than meaningless noise.
3. Positive Imaging. We must see ourselves positively. If we see ourselves as overweight, we sometimes become ok with that image and yet be unsatisfied with it. See yourself as lean and mean, and when you do, we tend to work towards that image.
4. Positive people. You cannot hang around negative people and expect to be positive. We must shed our negative contacts and reach out and discover people of like mind and spirit.
5. Positive health habits. We must eat healthily and exercise regularly.
6. Positive training and development. My friend and personal and professional development expert Brian Tracy told me once that if you read one hour a day in your field that you would read fifty books a year, 500 books in ten years. Your actions would then put you in the top 10% of anyone in the world in your field.
7. Positive attitude. Have a bias for action. Get things done and don’t be afraid of failure. Remember, it’s not a failure if you learned something from your experience.

It is hard to stay positive sometimes in the world in which we live. But one trait that the “winners” have over everyone else has always been and will always be their discipline of staying positive. Another valued mentor once told me, “You know, I get up every morning, and I have two decisions to make. One is that I can choose to be happy, or, Two, I can choose to be VERY happy.” He’s right, you know. It is a decision. What’s yours?