A few months back Tyler and I were on the way to school (he’s in 3rd Grade) and we were talking about some of the things that made people happy & successful.  When I picked Tyler up at the end of the day he was still thinking about our morning conversation and started talking about things that he thought people should do or the way people should act if they want to be both happy and successful.

By the end of the conversation Tyler had come up with 5 of these things people should do – and the more I thought about the list I realized that it was about as powerful a success checklist as any I’d ever seen.  And let me be clear – while I helped Tyler occasionally with how he could concisely define the traits he was talking about – they were his ideas.  After a few months of giving them even more thought, I’ve decided that they were clearly worth sharing with you – so here are Tyler’s 5 Golden Rules:

1. Be Nice – While this may be the most obvious of his Golden Rules – it’s also the one that probably gets overlooked the most.  Zig Ziglar is fond of saying ‘help enough people get what they want and in turn you’ll get what you want.‘  Pretty tough logic to argue with.

   The more emphasis you place on helping your clients achieve what they want and have a better experience – the better your business will become.  The more you help the people in your network and in your community, the faster your business will grow. It sounds simple – but sometimes the simplest things are the most powerful ones.

   And beyond simple business building – have you ever met someone that was consistently nice that wasn’t happy?  I’m pretty sure I haven’t.

2. Be Early – Being early allows you to prepare.  To set yourself up for success.  No stress, no rushing.  But maybe even more importantly – it shows a respect for others’ time.  By being late you’re basically saying ‘my time is more valuable than yours.’  Probably not the best way to start or strengthen a business relationship.

   And have you ever noticed that people who are perpetually late are also the ones that are the least organized, the ones always putting out fires and the ones that are the least likely to take responsibility?

   If you want to lay the foundation for success – be early.  Get things done early.  Again – very simple, but very powerful.

3. Pay Attention – Another way of saying it could be ‘be in the moment.’  If you’re in a conversation, listen intently instead of just waiting to talk.  If you’re working on something – don’t multi-task and lose focus.  Be attentive to details.  Ignoring the little problems lead to big problems. 

   But Paying Attention also means being aware.  Being aware of the opportunities around you.  Most people go through life ignoring 95% of the opportunities available to them, but if you’re paying attention you won’t.

4. Do Your Best – That’s all you can ask.  Not perfection – just your best effort.  But if you do your best time after time you’ll undoubtedly be a top achiever because so very few do. 

   Think about it.  Did you give your best effort marketing your business today?  Did you put everything you had into running every session you delivered?  Did you give each person you interacted with the very best you could?

   It’s a really tough standard.  Not one that anyone is going to meet every time.  But it’s certainly worth striving for because the more of your actions that you can define as ‘best efforts’, the faster you’ll reach all of your goals.

5. Dream Big – This may very well be my favorite of Tyler’s 5.  As kids we all Dream Big.  Right now Tyler wants to be a Major League Baseball player.  He’s not thinking about settling for just making his high school team.  Somewhere along the way most people lose that ability to Dream Big. 

   They start settling.

   Instead of the career they want – they settle for something more easily attained.  Instead of going the places they want to go or doing the things they want to do – they settle for watching a little more TV because it’s cheaper and easier. 

   My suggestion is start thinking a little more like a child and instead of believing ‘I could never do that…’ start saying ‘Why not me?’  There’s someone out there doing all the things that you dream about doing – so why shouldn’t it be you?

There you have it – Tyler’s 5 Golden Rules.  Pretty heady stuff for a 9 year old, but maybe that’s the secret.  He’s too young to have started overcomplicating things.  If you want people to be nice to you, be nice to them.  If you want to be successful, do your best.  Stuff like that might not be ‘sexy’ or seem complicated enough to be effective – but I’d be willing to bet that anyone that adhered to these 5 Rules would be much, much more successful in anything they pursued.

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.  I’d love to hear your thoughts below.   

Dedicated to Your Success,

Pat