Blog Post of Interest: Success By Choice

As Heidi Grant Halvorson asks, "Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others?"  Ever wonder?  Then this blog post is for you:  "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently."

One of my personal favorites is No. 4:

Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure. 

And Dr. Halvorson should know a thing or two about how to succeed:

Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist and author of the HBR Single Nine Things Successful People Do Differently and the book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals (Hudson Street Press, 2011). Her personal blog, The Science of Success, can be found at www.heidigranthalvorson.com.  Follow her on Twitter @hghalvorson.