For things to get better, you must get better.

Every great success is the result of hundreds and even thousands of little efforts that no one ever sees or appreciates. The interesting fact is that the law of probabilities determines your success as much as anything else. The more that you do the things that other successful people do, over and over, the more probable it is that you will get the success that successful people enjoy. It is not a miracle. It is not luck; it is merely law, the law of probabilities.

Interestingly enough, when it comes to success, achievement, and wealth creation, nature has no favorites. Nature doesn’t really care. Nature is neutral. Nature operates on the iron law of the universe, the law of cause and effect. If you put in the causes, you will eventually get out the effects. And if you don’t, you won’t.

Perhaps the most important mental law I have ever discovered is the law of correspondence. This law says that your outer world is a mirror-image reflection of your inner world. If you want to change anything in your outer world, your health, relationships, income or success of any kind, you must first begin by changing yourself on the inside.

They say that everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Everyone wants to be successful, but very few people want to put in the many months and years of hard work necessary to achieve it. But you cannot accomplish something on the outside that you have not prepared yourself for on the inside. That is why we say that, “To achieve something that you have never achieved before, you must become someone that you have never been before.”

We are living in a turbulent and challenging world today. And if anything, the achievement of the success you desire will be more difficult and challenging in the months and years ahead than it has ever been before. You need everything possible going for you if you are going to survive and thrive in the “new reality” in which we live today.

The most important quality of successful people is “action-orientation.” When they hear an idea or get an opportunity, they move fast. They develop a “sense of urgency.” They are constantly in motion. They are proactive rather than passive. As a result, they take and keep complete control of their destiny.

You must do the same. Each time you get an idea for an action you can take, implement it immediately. Don’t delay. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t put it off until another day, or until everything is “just right.” Your future destiny is in your hands, and you can step on the accelerator of your potential and accomplish more in the weeks and months ahead than most people will accomplish in many years.

by Brian Tracy