I recently attended a business success seminar. It was a jam-packed three days and a lot of what I learned about running a successful business applies to living a successful life.  Today I want to share just three points that were made at that seminar on being wildly successful that I hope that you will find useful:

1.  Invest in yourself.

To be successful in life, it is critical to continue to invest in your education. This can be courses and seminars related to having success in your business, your career or to living a more fulfilling and satisfying life. There are programs that work from the inside out (such as the Millionaire Mind Intensive, the Landmark Forum and many others) and programs that work from the outside in. Both approaches are necessary.

2.  Look for inspiration rather than motivation.

Motivating ourselves is like giving ourselves a push to do something. Motivation often involves a reward of some kind. For example, you might be motivated to perform well at your job in order to get a raise or a promotion. Motivation has to be continually renewed. Inspiration involves a vision of something you want to create, such as a work of art, a beautiful home or a better world. The vision excites you and pulls you to action.

3.  Be productive--not busy.

Many of us spend a lot of time doing things that make us feel as though we are getting somewhere while, in fact, we are just keeping ourselves busy. Instead, focus yourself on being productive. Each evening, make a list of what you want to get accomplished the following day.  Next  place the list in priority order with the most important first.  Start the next morning with the most important item on your list. When you are finished, move on to the next most important.

Schedule specific times when you will check email, preferably only twice a day. Don’t answer the telephone for unscheduled calls. Let your voicemail pick up and return calls at the end of the day. Any time you let yourself be distracted from something you are working on, it takes you about 15 minutes to get back to the same level of focus. If that happens four times in one workday, you have wasted a full hour.

I learned many more nuggets of wisdom about being wildly successful in whatever area you want. I will share more of those with you in the future.

In the meantime, please share your thoughts about these suggestions as well as ways that you have helped yourself at being wildly successful.