It’s a good question – here are my thoughts…

1. Have a plan and stay the course
   

   I’ve come to realise that you can pretty much have anything you want, you just need to have a burning desire for it, not just think it would be nice! The next step is to develop a plan to achieve it. I believe more people would be successful if they had a plan and worked it, what tends to happen is that they give up to soon – you have to be resilient and persevere even when things are not going smoothly and that’s where a burning desire will keep you committed and a plan will keep you doing what is needed.

2. Be independent of the good opinion of others.

   By setting yourself ambitious targets you probably won’t fit in. My head teacher suggested to me that I would never amount to anything and that I would probably end up in trouble! This inspired me to be more successful than him financially – something that didn’t take me too long.

3. Learn from your mistakes and the tough times.

   I nearly lost a business when two of my ‘trusted’ business partner ran off with some of my best clients. This taught me two things – to always look for the best in people but also to protect your own interests. No-one will ever look after you as well as you will, you must take on that responsibility and then protect what you have. In my personal life my divorce was challenging – it’s difficult to make significant personal changes but you do come out the other side.

4. There aren’t any short cuts.

   I really love the 10,000 hour concept – that it takes anyone 10,000 hours to become really great at what they do. So I greatly admire a strong work ethic as well energy, enthusiasm, honesty and empathy and of course a positive attitude. Embody all those qualities and success will be yours for the taking.

5. Avoid unnecessary worrying.

   They say that worrying is planning for a future event that you don’t want! This is a time to practise managing your thinking! I certainly don’t waste time worry about things that I I have little or no control over – Brexit for example or the price of something, or dare I say – who is in power.

6. Control your destiny.

   Being a Dad to two sons has given me more pleasure than I can possibly describe. I’ve always instilled into them the importance of controlling their own destiny, following their dreams and to be decent, honest and positive in all that they do. I also encourage them to ‘make things happen’, there are no free lunches or hand-outs and, in the words of Elvis ‘Life is not a dress rehearsal’.

7. Make time for your important relationships.

   The down-side to ambition is that sometimes you can become too focused on work – I’ve learned to make time for those I love, not something that I always did in the past; relationships should be at the heart of our lives not peripheral.