Transcripts

Susan Ford Collins:
I don't think we're asked that question often enough as children, "What do you want?" We're more told what we're to want, so I think we are really discouraged from dreaming.

Susan Ford Collins, author of the book The Joy of Success, studied several highly successful people to discover what it is that makes them successful.

Most adults, I find, don't dream, but the successful people I followed were big dreamers. They believed in their dreams in moments when they were in doubt as opposed to other people who believed in their fears and turned back. That was a big distinction between highly successful people and people who were frustrated.

Susan says it's a very basic principle of success that you'll never get what you want if you don't know what you want.

I think asking yourself what you want for breakfast and what you want going into a meeting, what you want in your relationships, asking that basic question over and over allows you to get clear about what you want in general.

Susan believes successful people achieve their dreams because they're willing to do things that other people won't, and that is…

…committing to the outcome without knowing how. But you're willing to allow chance and serendipity and happenstance to guide you along the way because you're so committed to your outcome that you begin to notice opportunities you normally would miss.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net, I'm Mike Carruthers and that's "Something You Should Know.