10 Rules of Success According to Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek is a best-selling author and well known motivational speaker who educates people to live more successful lives. He is famous for his unconventional approach and has written numerous books on successful leadership. He has has shared his 10 rules for success, illustrating his insights with compelling stories. They can inspire you to make changes in your life to become more successful. Here are Simon Sinek’s 10 rules for success.
Rule Number 1: Break the Rules.
Simon recounted a story where he and his friend are out in a park when they come across a stand distributing free bagels. It had a long line. Simon suggested getting a bagel but his friend disagreed on the grounds that the queue was too long. Simon walked to the top of the queue slipped his hand through the gap and took a bagel. The lesson he drew from the experience was that some people will only see the line, or the barrier to success, while some will only see the bagel, or the prize. He concludes its good to break the rules. You don’t have to do play by the rules as long as you are not denying anyone else success.
Rule Number 2: Train your mind.
He reflected on the experience of athletes and how they interpret anxiety. He suggests recasting the feelings of anxiety that you have in anticipation of something stressful as excitement. Simply by telling your mind to interpret the signals of anxiousness as signals of excitement you can change your outlook and turn your anxiety into excitement.
Rule Number 3: Be patient.
Simon Sinek advocates patience in your endeavors. He believes that millennials are quick to give up and move on to the next thing. Success requires patience and graft to stick with the challenges and to see the journey through.
Rule Number 4: Be accountable.
Simon Sinek recounted the story of vast numbers of women in the 19th century who died shortly after childbirth. The doctors were puzzled and perplexed and sought answers. One doctor figured out that the doctors were not washing their hands between autopsy and delivering babies. They were causing the problem. The medical community didn’t take him seriously for 30 years. When they did, when they accepted that they, the doctors, were the problem the women survived. The problem disappeared. Sometimes you are the problem the secret to success requires that you are accountable.
Rule Number 5: Outdo yourself.
The goal is not to outdo your competition but to be better than yourself. He says in order to succeed you need to play the infinite game where you are not making comparisons between yourself and others but rather you are trying to beat yourself
Rule Number 6: Stack the Deck.
Simon says that the key to success is to stack the deck in your own favour. You need to choose situations to be in and people to be around that are likely to turn out positively for yourself.
Rule Number 7: Be the Last to Speak.
Simon cites the role model of Nelson Mandela as someone we universally acknowledge as a great leader. He took rule number seven from Mandela who had learned it from his father a tribal leader. Mandela’s father would attend meetings sat in a circle, hear all the perspectives and was always the last to speak. Simon offers guidance to all leaders to allow everyone to give their input and only then the successful leadership will speak. That way people feel heard and you also you get to learn before offering ideas.
Rule Number 8: Be Authentic
Simon used the example of Tiger Woods to illustrate the eight rule of success. By being inauthentic the golfer told us what we wanted to hear and played the role of the squeaky clean hero. People were repelled from him not because he wasn’t squeaky clean but because he had deceived the public and assumed an inauthentic role. The lesson here is for success and to maintain success you have to be yourself.
Rule Number 9: Find Your Passion.
He recommends finding your passion to be successful. You should be excited to do everything you do and would do them for free in order to be successful. You should take time to find your passion and what you love.
Rule Number 10: Start with Why.
Simon’s tenth rule and the title of one of his books is “Start with Why”. He has explained that the uniting pattern to all successful people, which he has called the golden circle, is that they begin with why. The center of the circle is “why?” People who communicate from the inside out, who are driven by the essential sense of purpose that is driven by asking why we do what we do, are the most successful. He says that people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. You need a dream not a plan.
Simon Sinek’s 10 rules for success are a surefire recipe for triumph. His optimistic outlook serves as a great role model for those aspiring to great accomplishments.
