Passion Struck with John R. Miles - 9 Ways to Protect Your Success w/ John R. Miles EP 211

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

In this week's Momentum Friday episode of Passion Struck with John R. Miles, I share nine strategies to protect your success from yourself and those around you. Find out how to stay motivated, deal with setbacks, and prevent people from taking advantage of you. My advice will help you achieve your goals and protect your success from anyone trying to stop you. Tune in to learn what you need to do to maintain success! Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://passionstruck.com/9-ways-to-protect-your-success/  Brought to you by American Giant (get 20% off using code PassionStruck at https://www.american-giant.com/) and InsideTracker (get 20% off the entire InsideTracker store https://info.insidetracker.com/passionstruck). What I Discuss About Why You Need to Protect Your Success No one is immune to the dangers of success, and it's essential to be aware of the threats to your success if you want to stay focused on your mission. I provide you with nine strategies to help you protect yourself and your success from the dangers of self-doubt and criticism to external factors like temperamental coworkers and competitors. --► For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to: https://passionstruck.com/deals/  --► Prefer to watch this interview: https://youtu.be/FJQ5aprZ6Bg  Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter or Instagram handle so we can thank you personally! --► Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnRMiles Want to find your purpose in life? I provide my six simple steps to achieving it - passionstruck.com/5-simple-steps-to-find-your-passion-in-life/ Did you hear my interview with Robin Sharma, a multiple-time #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of the leading experts on personal mastery and leadership? Catch up with episode 209:  ===== FOLLOW ON THE SOCIALS ===== * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnrmiles.c0m  * Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/passion_sruck_podcast Learn more about John: https://johnrmiles.com/ 

coming up next on the Passion Struck Podcast. If you're like most people, you aspire to have success in life, but what got you to where you are today and the success that you have is not likely what will bring you success in the future. Maintaining our success is a difficult thing to do. And if you're like most people, the very thought of changing your approach is the last thing in the world that you want to do. Long-term success and any endeavor requires two things, getting something and keeping it. Welcome to PassionStruct. Hi, I'm your host, John Armiles, and on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice

for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long-form interviews the rest of the week with guest-ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become PassionStruck. Hello everyone, and welcome back to Momentum Friday, an episode 211 of PassionStruck. Recently ranked as one of the top 50 most inspirational podcasts of 2022.

Thank you to each and every one of you who come back weekly to listen and learn and to live better, be better, and impact the world. And if you're new to the show and you'd prefer to watch these episodes, please go and check out our YouTube channel at John Armiles where we have over 400 videos including exclusive content. Go there and subscribe. In case you missed my episodes from earlier in the week, we had two great ones. The first featured multiple number one, New York Times best selling author, Robin Sharma,

and we cover his brand new book, The Everyday Hero Manifesto. And I also had on Juliette Fund, and we discussed her book a minute to think. And why creating white space in your life and career is so important. Please go check them both out. I also wanted to acknowledge our fan of the week, Elena Hewitt, who writes, My Go To Podcast. I've been listening to the PassionStrike podcast for close to a year now. I started listening about the time when my career started to fall apart. This podcast has been instrumental to getting me to where I am today,

emotionally, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. It is one of the best podcasts out there for real advice on behavioral change, with experts in the field. The great insights from John and his guests have helped me grow and view my life and career differently. I find myself often reading books from his guests, and he has a great book list on the Passion Struck website.

Thank you for everything that you do, and for leading me down the path of creating an intentional life. Alaina, thank you so much for that review. They go such a long way in helping us improve the popularity of this show, but most importantly, creating a motivated group of people who aspire to be Passion Struck. Now let's talk about today's episode. We all desire to be successful. We long to succeed or surpass a goal or expectation that we have set for ourselves.

It is a significant aim for anyone in life, and achieving it requires a lot of grit and intentional effort. But achieving success is only one side of the overall equation. That is because we devote so much of our time and effort to learning how to succeed that we forget something just as vital, success itself. We overlook protecting our success once we have it. Success is a progressive, continuous journey and is never a stagnant state of existence. But some factors can sabotage and make it retrogressive. I've often talked about how we can become visionary arsonists and burn down the very lives we have driven to build. That is because we are often our most worst enemies.

When it comes to success, no one can stand in our way better than ourselves. In today's episode, I will start by telling you a simple fable. I will then draw your attention to the need to stay vigilant and prevent unfavorable factors from causing you to lose your success. I will highlight these adverse factors and provide you with 9 action points that you can implement to guard yourself against them and continuously be successful. Thank you for choosing Passion Struck and choosing me to be your host and guide

on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now, let that journey begin. Once upon a time, there was a very diligent farmer committed to his work. He had a teenage son who would soon become an adult, and knowing the realities ahead for his son, he decided to teach him a practical lesson that would benefit him through all his life. The farmer gave him some corn seeds, and told him to plant, nurture, and grow them, and then later harvest them for the farmer to see.

Excitedly, his son took the seeds and planted them in a small portion of the land that his father had prepared for him. It was the dry season, so he adequately watered the seeds and constantly did all that was needed for the plant to grow. After three weeks of planting and constant care, the corn plant began to bud. And as the days went by, the corn plant continued to grow. After three weeks of planting and constant care, the corn plant began to bud. And as the days went by, the corn plant continued to grow. Two months after planting, the corn cobs were now

personally starting to form. Seeing this, the farmer's son became very excited, but then he made a decision that he would come to regret. He decided that since the corn plant had already started to produce corn cobs, he would no longer look after them, but simply wait to the end of the remaining two weeks when they would be due for harvesting. He went on to spend time with his friends and engaged in other leisure activities, leaving the corn crops to themselves, then the expected day of the harvest came. And when he got to the piece of land, he simply didn't find any corn to harvest.

Shocked and disappointed, he moved around the ground and discovered that most of the crops had wilted due to a lack of water and plant disease. The ones that did manage to grow were eaten by animals, and the other corn stalks were trampled on. There was not a single corn remaining. Sad and disappointed, he went to his father. Who would ask him to show him his harvest, but the son told him that he had nothing to present. His father, aware that the son had not constantly kept up with the crop. After they started producing

cobs, sat him down and advised him. He explained that was not enough that the corn had germinated and that it had produced cobs, but that he needed to watch over it to the end when it was ripe enough for harvest. He told him of the roaming animals, the weeds, the required nutrients, the plant diseases, and the other conditions that could stop the plant from reaching full maturity, which he needed to guard against. He then likened this to life as a whole and pointed out the need to protect one success at all levels, so that one wouldn't lose it to harmful factors. With this, the farmer hoped that his son would apply this lesson as he progressed in his life's journey.

As illustrated in the preceding story, certain factors pose a serious threat to the success that you achieve in life. These factors can generally be grouped into two major buckets based on their source. They can either be internal or external factors. Internal factors are those things that you control. They come from within you and they're influenced by your thoughts and your feelings, which can be positive or negative. But when the internal factors become weaknesses, that directly impacts our success. For example, the farmer's sons failure to water or weed the plants and stay consistent and looking out for their well-being. These internal factors come about when you complete a step

towards a set goal and then stop putting to practice the very qualities that helped you achieve that success. And instead, you begin to exhibit negative behavior such as laziness, complacency, indifference, or health habits, or financial habits, and so on. So now that we've talked about internal factors, how do they differ from external factors? External factors include everything that's beyond your immediate control that could adversely affect your success, such as opposing forces and people out to directly hinder your success. As in the earlier story, these threats included the animals that came to eat the growing corn

cobs, the plant disease, the unavailability of water, as well as other needed nutrients. External factors may include expectations from your family, or friends, cultural and gender stereotypes, as well as family responsibilities. These factors can influence decision-making in a positive or negative way, but the important thing here to realize is that both internal and external factors can impact your success. It's essential that you understand how they affect you and the steps that you can take to mitigate your risk. The road to success can be a very long and difficult one, with numerous obstacles along the way. As you learn to succeed,

it requires that you grow and change. Sometimes you feel like it's easier to give up because change can be difficult and painful. However, you must never forget that life is a marathon and success is a lifelong journey. You simply can't afford to give up. You must press on as long as possible to reach your goals. When you begin to feel like throwing in the towel, doubting your capabilities or blaming others, those are all signs that it's time to start protecting your success. You can implement nine practical steps to guard your success against negative influences. The first is to maintain the right mindset. James Allen once said, you are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

Your mindset has helped you achieve your success. And the continuity of that success will be determined from this moment on. And as we learned, the farmer's son started out with the right mindset, and that allowed him to take actions that led to the growth of the corn plant. But when his mindset became indifferent, he suffered a loss of his progress. In like manner, you must always keep your thoughts right to take the necessary actions to protect your success. Second, never stop improving.

Mercedes Benz uses the words never stop improving in one of its campaign ads, denoting the attitude of never resting on their laurels, but proving innovative force repeatedly. Little wonder why they remain one of the best automobile companies in the entire world for over a century now. The world as we know it today

isn't what it was yesterday. Things are constantly changing daily and we have to stay caught up. Lifelong learning is the only guarantee to lasting success. So you've got to remain updated and continuously committed to improving yourself and all that you do. Third, be focused and disciplined. Nothing worthwhile can be achieved without the core values of focus and discipline.

It is through focus and discipline that you achieve success. And it is these attributes that will help keep you successful. Focus will enable you to pay attention to only things that matter to your success, avoid distractions, and quickly detect the things that could harm you. Discipline will enable you to stay committed to doing all that is necessary, protect your achievements. Do not neglect what you have achieved, like the farmer's son, and become too relaxed. Keep your focus on the important things, and stay disciplined to enjoy lasting success.

Fourth, be flexible and adaptable. The only constant thing in life is change. If you're too rigid and fixed in your ways, you won't be able to adapt to the necessary changes to ensure your continued success. Take for example a writer who is used to writing with ink on paper, deciding that they wouldn't learn how to type on a computer. This will obviously stifle the writer's growth and ultimately harm their ability to be successful. Now, being flexible doesn't just mean you go with the flow. You still need to have principles that give you a solid base and keep you within safe confines while you adapt to new things. Essentially, you have to stay open for trying out new things. We're doing things in new ways, as long as they are right and within safe confines.

This will ensure that you stay relevant and stay in tune with the advancement in the world. Fifth, surround yourself with the right people. In my interview earlier this week with Rob and Sharma, he suggested that you must release the energy vampires and the dream stealers from your life. There's a famous saying that no man is an island. Use to express that no one is self-sufficient, and that relationships with others are an inevitable part of our existence. We can either change the world or allow ourselves to be around negative people. You simply cannot do both. So the kind of people you form relationships with will either make you or marry you. Furthermore, your team of the right

friends will be able to shield you and defend you from threats that you might not be aware of. Six, establish and maintain healthy boundaries. As individuals, we all have certain things that favor our physical, mental, and emotional health, and those that don't. Therefore, you must set healthy boundaries around you so that people learn to respect you and adjust their behavior to what you're okay with. Establishing boundaries will further ensure that you keep people from manipulating you or taking advantage of you. Have a clear sense of identity and healthy self-esteem so that you can clearly define what you want and don't. It's your life.

You don't have to lower your values to please anyone. You don't have to feel guilty about setting healthy boundaries. Seven, change your perspective. Chris Pine said, the only thing that you sometimes have control over is your perspective. You don't have control over your situation, but you have a choice about how you view it. Just because the phrase, change your perspective, sounds simple, doesn't mean that it's easy. We find ourselves stuck, trying to get over something that causes us real fear or anxiety.

Perspective is powerful, and changing how you look at people and events can make the entire difference between becoming passion struck or staying stuck. When you change your perspective, you have upgraded your story and protected your success. 8. Be and stay humble. American basketball coach Rick Patino said, humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and over-indulge in the fruit of success.

Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success. From this statement, it's clear that humility is a vital quality that you must have if you want to keep being successful. Humility will help you stay open to learning and prevent you from taking prideful steps that could lead to your fall.

And finally, ninth, seek help when you need it. President Barack Obama once said, don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help is an assign of weakness. It's a sign of strength. We all need the help and support of others along different points of our life's journey.

Protecting your success is only something that you can do with the help of others. You may need the help of a partner, a friend, a family member, and sometimes even a stranger. So, in your everyday journey, make sure that you reach out for assistance from others. So, I've talked about a lot today, so let me sum this all up for you. Winston Churchill said, success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. The point that he was trying to make with this statement is that being successful is not something that you do once and you're done. You have to keep at it and continue to do the things

that brought you that level of success in the first place. If you're like most people, you aspire to have success in life, but what got you to where you are today and the success that you have is not what will likely bring you success in the future. Maintaining our success is a difficult thing to do. And if you're like most people, the very thought of changing your approach is the last thing that you want to do. Long-term success and any endeavor requires two things, getting something and keeping it, getting what you want in life and in your career is not easy. Maintaining what you've got is even harder.

Getting something often requires a lot of risks. Keeping it may require contradictory skills, discipline, making room for error and even more risk-taking. When you begin to identify the success that you've had in your life, you can pinpoint the steps that have gotten you to where you are. But remember, success is a never-ending journey. Your new aspirations will take you where your old ones couldn't, and you've just protected your success from your own worst enemy, you. At the end of your time here, you want to leave a legacy, something for future generations.

Let this understanding remain within you, as you strive daily towards reaching your goals, as well as achieving success. So guard your success with all diligence, and assure that you give your all to making it lasting. I hope that you all enjoyed today's show, and I wanted to thank everyone who wrote in this week, and especially those who tuned in and listened to this episode. Thank you so much. A link to the transcript will be in the show notes. Evertiser deals and discount codes are in one convenient place at passionstruck.com slash deals.

I'm at John Aramiles. I'm both Twitter and Instagram, and you can also find me on LinkedIn. And if you're new to the show, and this is your first time being here, thank you so much, or you would like to share this with a friend or family member, we now have episode stutter packs both on Spotify or on the PassionStruck website at passionstruck.com slash stutter packs. And these are collections of our fans favorite episodes. We organize into convenient topics to give any new listener a great way to get acquainted to everything we do here on the show. You're about to hear a preview of the PassionStruckruck podcast interview I did with Jeff Stricker, who is a pastor, veteran,

podcaster, author, and speaker. Jeff Stricker leads the unbeatable army. He's a decorated soldier who enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 18 and retired after almost 23 years of service. In 2017, he was inducted into the US Army Ranger Hall of Fame. I don't mean this as an exaggeration. I have told people for 30 years, the toughest job in the military

is serving as a private in the Ranger Regiment. It's not getting into the unit that alone as an extremely high attrition rate, but the first year in that unit is brutal. And there's well over 100% turnover that first year because the leaders of that unit don't really know what they're getting until they start to put into the test in that first year. Remember, we rise by lifting others, so share this show with those that you love or care about. And if you found today's episode particularly useful,

please share it with someone else who could use this advice on how you protect your success. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show, so that you can live what you listen. And until next time, live life passion struck. you