Success is Making Your Dream Come True

Finding success is not a random act just as Amazon.com wasn't built in a day. 

Generated via Dall-E

What do successful people expend their time on to perpetuate the cycle of their successes? 

Feel free to share the habits and activities which have contributed to your success by posting to the comments section of this blog.

Click here for 10 things successful people always do in their free time, according to psychology as written by Lachlan Brown, which are summarised as follows:

1.    Successful people read

2.    They exercise regularly

3.    They value their relationships

4.    They engage in hobbies

5.    They practice mindfulness

6.    They give back to the community

7.    They pursue continuous learning

8.    They embrace downtime

9.    They set personal goals

10.  They prioritize self-care

For your refreshing, here is another take via ChatGPT:-

"Here are the top 10 things successful people consistently do in their free time, based on psychological principles, and how you can cultivate these habits in your life for success:

1. Read and Learn Continuously

Why they do it: Successful people view learning as an ongoing process. Reading, particularly non-fiction, allows them to stay informed, improve their skills, and fuel creativity. 

How to cultivate it: Set aside 20-30 minutes daily to read something that improves your knowledge or skills. It could be books, articles, or online courses. Start with topics that genuinely interest you.

2. Exercise Regularly

Why they do it: Physical activity boosts energy, mental clarity, and emotional well-being. It also improves productivity and decision-making. 

How to cultivate it: Incorporate regular exercise into your routine. Whether it’s a 20-minute walk, a gym session, or yoga, aim for at least 3-4 days a week. Find an activity you enjoy so it doesn’t feel like a chore.

3. Network and Build Relationships

Why they do it: Building a strong network opens up opportunities and keeps successful people grounded with fresh perspectives.

How to cultivate it: Dedicate time to meet new people or maintain relationships with those who inspire or challenge you. Attend events, reach out to colleagues, or engage on social media platforms like LinkedIn.

4. Reflect and Set Goals

Why they do it: Successful people frequently evaluate their progress, learn from mistakes, and plan ahead, ensuring their actions align with long-term objectives.

How to cultivate it: Set aside time each week to reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Write down your goals and break them into small, actionable steps. Use a journal or a digital tool to track progress.

5. Prioritize Mental Health

Why they do it: Mental health is foundational for success. Stress management and emotional resilience improve focus and decision-making.

How to cultivate it: Practice mindfulness, meditation, or simple breathing exercises to manage stress. Ensure you have a work-life balance, and make time for activities that bring you joy.

6. Practice Gratitude

Why they do it: Gratitude enhances well-being, builds positive thinking, and strengthens relationships.

How to cultivate it: Start or end your day by writing down 3 things you’re grateful for. It can be as simple as appreciating a small win or the support of friends and family.

7. Engage in Creative Hobbies

Why they do it: Creativity fuels problem-solving skills and innovation. It provides a mental break from routine tasks, leading to renewed energy.

How to cultivate it: Identify hobbies that allow you to express creativity—painting, writing, cooking, or even solving puzzles. Dedicate time to engage in these activities without any performance pressure.

8. Volunteer or Help Others

Why they do it: Helping others builds empathy, connects you to your community, and fosters a sense of purpose and fulfillment.

How to cultivate it: Look for opportunities to volunteer, either within your local community or remotely. Start small—help a friend, mentor someone, or participate in charity events.

9. Rest and Recharge

Why they do it: Rest is crucial for long-term productivity. Successful people understand the importance of balancing hard work with quality downtime.

How to cultivate it: Ensure you get enough sleep each night and take regular breaks throughout the day. Weekends should be reserved for relaxation, hobbies, or spending time with loved ones.

10. Stay Curious and Experiment

Why they do it: Successful individuals often push boundaries by trying new things. Curiosity keeps them adaptable and open to new opportunities.

How to cultivate it: Stay open to new experiences—whether it's learning a new skill, traveling, or exploring a new subject. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and see what resonates with you.

In Conclusion

Cultivating these habits requires consistency and mindfulness. Small changes made regularly over time will compound and lead to significant personal and professional growth. Start by incorporating one habit at a time into your routine, and gradually you’ll see positive shifts in your life."

Another habit could well be to engage the power of your God-given imagination to manifest your dreams. Believing is seeing (what is yet to be).

Click here for The Secret to Manifesting Your Dreams | Use This Biblical Strategy.

Thank you for reading Daily Refreshing.

How would you define success?

What is success and what does it mean to you?

Photo by Collins Lesulie on Unsplash

Success is a deeply personal and subjective concept. For some, it may be financial abundance, while for others, it could be about personal growth, societal impact, or the pursuit of a passion.

For your refreshing, here are some quotes from various accomplished individuals in different fields, each reflecting their own perspective on success and what it means to them.

Business People:

1. Jeff Bezos (Founder of Amazon):
   "Success is not about how many times you win, but about how you rise after you fall."
   
   

2. Warren Buffett (Investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway):
   "Success is having the ability to do what you want when you want to do it."
   
   

3. Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX and Tesla):
   "I think success is what you make of it. If you're happy, if you're solving problems that you care about, if you're spending time with people you care about, that to me is success."
   
   

4. Oprah Winfrey (Media Mogul):
   "Success is to live your life with love, and with compassion, and with no regrets."
   
   

5. Richard Branson (Founder of Virgin Group):
   "The definition of success is to create something that has an impact on the world, and in turn, has an impact on you."
   
   

Entrepreneurs:

1. Steve Jobs (Co-Founder of Apple Inc.):
   "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."
   
   

2. Sara Blakely (Founder of Spanx):
   "Success is not about being perfect. It’s about embracing your imperfections and learning from them."
   
   

3. Mark Zuckerberg (Co-Founder of Facebook):
   "The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."
   
   

4. Barbara Corcoran (Businesswoman and Investor):
   "Don’t you dare underestimate the power of your own instinct."
   
   

5. Jack Ma (Founder of Alibaba Group):
   "Success is not in what you have, but who you are."
   
   

Investors:

1. George Soros (Investor and Philanthropist):
   "The market is not a place, it's a state of mind. And if you can grasp that, you're on your way to success."
   
   

2. Ray Dalio (Founder of Bridgewater Associates):
   "The biggest mistake investors make is trying to make their lives look perfect."
   
   

3. Carl Icahn (Investor and Business Magnate):
   "I don’t believe in success based on circumstances. You make your own luck. You create your own future."
   
   

4. Jim Rogers (Investor and Author):
   "The secret to success is to be in the right place at the right time and to be prepared when that moment comes."
   
   

5. Venture capitalist Reid Hoffman:
   "Success is learning to bounce back after failure."
   
   

Actors/TV Personalities:

1. Will Smith (Actor):
   "You don’t make movies for yourself. You make movies for other people. That’s success."
   
   

2. Denzel Washington (Actor):
   "True success is not about wealth or fame. It’s about how you live your life and how you leave this world."
   
   

3. Ellen DeGeneres (TV Host and Comedian):
   "Success is not about being liked. Success is being able to love yourself and other people."
   
   

4. Meryl Streep (Actress):
   "The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy."
   
   

5. Johnny Depp (Actor):
   "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
   
   

Sports Persons:

1. Michael Jordan (Basketball Legend):
   "I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."
   
   

2. Serena Williams (Tennis Champion):
   "Success is not about being the best. It’s about always getting better."
   
   

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Football Player):
   "Your love makes me strong. Your hate makes me unstoppable."
   
   

4. Muhammad Ali (Boxing Legend):
   "I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was."
   
   

5. Usain Bolt (Olympic Sprinter):
   "I believe that we are all capable of greatness."
   
   

Writers/Journalists:

1. J.K. Rowling (Author of Harry Potter series):
   "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
   
   

2. Ernest Hemingway (Author):
   "There is no friend as loyal as a book."
   
   

3. Maya Angelou (Poet and Author):
   "Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it."
   
   

4. Malcolm Gladwell (Journalist and Author):
   "Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities."
   
   

5. Stephen King (Author):
   "The road to hell is paved with adverbs."
   
   

Politicians:

1. Nelson Mandela (Former President of South Africa):
   "I never lose. I either win or learn."
   
   

2. Winston Churchill (Former Prime Minister of the UK):
   "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
   
   

3. Barack Obama (Former President of the United States):
   "Success is not about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives."
   
   

4. Margaret Thatcher (Former Prime Minister of the UK):
   "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t."
   
   

5. Abraham Lincoln (16th U.S. President):
   "The best way to predict your future is to create it."
   
   

May these quotes spur you to focus and attain greater success in what you are already pursuing passionately or with some degree of passion.

Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash

Thank you for reading Daily Refreshing.

The Path to SUCCESS

With each new day, based on what your have learned from experiences in the University of Life, you are one step closer to graduating with success.

Chew on these and be refreshed:

   SUCCESS is the result of good judgment.

   GOOD JUDGMENT is the result of experience.

   EXPERIENCE is the result of bad judgment.

In essence, your setbacks can path your comebacks towards success. So, don't ever give up and work on till you are happy with your endeavours even when the going gets tough. 

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by being happy and pumping up positive energy.

Open The Door To Your Success

At www.success.com, there are precious many refreshing articles to boost your mental strength and stretch your adaptability to lead a successful life such as the following for starters:- 

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1. Food, Sleep, Exercise: Why You Seriously Need All 3 to Be Successful
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2. What's the Secret of the Best Places to Work? Compassion and Connection
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3. 6 Tips to Create a Balanced Life
   by Mark Victor Hansen

When a Thing is a Think!

"No two people see the external world in exactly the same way. To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is -- in other words, not a thing, but a think." -- Penelope Fitzgerald

Remember, our ancestors thought that the world was flat, without fuller exploration.

So, when we say we can't, we can't. On the other hand, "They can because they think they can." -- Virgil

"It is the mind that maketh good or ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor." -- Edmund Spenser

According to Anthony Robbins in his book "Unlimited Power", we create our own realities based on the positive and negative internal representations or beliefs which we have created. 

And, he has identified the following seven beliefs which have helped many people to find success (think thinking your way to success):

1) Everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves us.

2) There is no such thing as failure. (Failing is not the same thing as being a failure! Consider, President Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Edison.)

3) Whatever happens, take responsibility.

4) It's not necessary to understand everything to be able to use everything (such as our brain!).

5) People are your greatest resource.

6) Work is play. "The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation." -- Mark Twain

7) There's no abiding success without commitment.

Note: I couldn't resist putting my own comments in brackets.


That said, it is time for us to think better and higher thoughts for our own success. 

"The ancestor of every action is a thought." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The great end of life is not knowledge but action." -- Thomas Henry Huxley

"If you can dream it, you can do it." Enzo Ferrari

On that note, I wish you more brainpower for a better and greater tomorrow!

P.L.A.N. for Your Success

A goal without any plan is wishful thinking. There is no such thing as an accidental success. One could, for instance, win the lottery without a plan on how to handle it and lose all the winnings in no time. A talent or an opportunity is not a guarantee for success. Deliberate and determined actions are still required in order for us to head towards our goals.

With time as a constraint, it is a necessity for us to PRIORITIZE what we value the most as our goals or desired outcomes (e.g., health, wealth, relationship and self-actualization). And, within each category of goals, we can further list our priorities (e.g., healthy mind, strong bones, etc.) 

How do we know what are our priorities? There is a simple test for this: Ask ourselves what are the first things and the last things that we think about every day -- the things that make us happy (pinky health and Trojan-sized piggy bank filled with gold bars), the things that trouble us (prime candidates for a solution) or clueless (this problem is in a different class of its own)?

Once we know our priorities and the sub-priorities, we can write them out on paper and pen (if still using conventional stationeries) or e-note then on whatever gizmos that can do the trick. We can then review and visualize them every day and then we will really zoom-in and synchronize our life with our distilled priorities at this time and season of our life, subject to future fluctuations and variations. But, at least for the now-moment, we can really, really focus on our known priorities and lead a productive, passionate and purposeful life and out-manoeuvre the ho-hum and humdrum trap of mere-existence without planning.

While it is not always advisable to follow what others are doing, there is much we can LEARN from the insights and successes of other people. As we learn more, we can then discover and assimilate what would work best for us, as well. But, we have to be realistic here so as not to set a goal that is way off. We can, however, set incremental goals that are achievable so that we can come up surely and steadily. For example, we can learn a new language by studying just one word a day via an App, incrementally.

To really get things moving after we have set our priorities and done some research on how to go about achieving our dream goals, we need to take ACTIONS. This is a crucial stage that will really bring us a step closer to our goal -- no matter how distant it may be. If we could keep at it and keep pace consistently, we will advance with growing confidence.

As we journey towards our dreams, we might face some distractions, obstacles, set-backs and challenges. But, as our goals have stayed true with us and would not stray from our minds after having reviewed, visualized and affirmed them daily, we will have to dig-in and stay in the trench and NEVER GIVE UP. Just picture a bulldog with a made-up mind and never, ever give up!

What Does Success Mean To You?

There are many possible definitions of success. Success could mean having the resources to do the things that we want. Better still, success could mean having the capability to pursue personal interests apart from the usual obligations and duties, enjoy the finer things in life and live the life we have been dreaming about.

Success is a matter of degree, relativity and diversity. For every level of success, there is a higher level of success to be attained. We can be successful in one area (e.g., business) but not in another area (e.g., family), or we can be successful in many areas but not as much and varied as another person.


Then, there are those whose achievements or contributions are recognized by others and become recipients of accolades, giving them the aura of success. Success then breeds success, and one’s fame becomes a buoy for waves of media coverage over a good stretch of time in the sea of life. 

By the by, other people begin to see you as a success and you become a celebrity of sorts. Such a favourable vibe may indeed serve as a reasonable gauge of your success. That said, one can also be a pure success minus the trappings and remain small in your own eyes without having to blow any trumpets, so to speak.

Here are some rambling on success for your reading pleasure:

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell

“To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.” – Henry John Heinz

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” – Abraham Lincoln

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills

“Success is 99 percent failure.” – Sochira Honda

“Success is not perfection; success is slightly above average.”  - anonymous

“Every worthwhile accomplishment has a price tag attached to it. The question is always whether you are willing to pay the price to attain it – in hard work, sacrifice, patience, faith, and endurance.” – John C. Maxwell

“Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered, and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” – Charles Lindbergh

“Failure is really a matter of conceit. People don’t work hard because, in their conceit, they imagine they’ll succeed without ever making an effort. Most people believe that they’ll wake up some day and find themselves rich. Actually, they’ve got it half right, because eventually they do wake up.” – Thomas Edison

‘There are two types of people who never achieve much in their lifetime. The person who don’t do what he is told, and the person who does no more than he is told.” – Andrew Carnegie

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and job to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” – Helen Keller

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden path, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeed.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

10,000 hours = success 
(According to the 10,000th rule in “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcom Gladwell)

Click here to read Q & A With Malcom Gladwell on Outliers: The Story of Success.

Hopefully, the aforesaid ideas and observations of success have given you some inspiration. Now, it’s your turn to define what success means to you.