3 steps to manage your life and set a course for success

To set and achieve goals, it is important to create a realistic and actionable vision for your life, said 16-year MDRT member Nobuhiro Otsuka of Tokyo, Japan, who is also a Top of the Table member. To do that, start with these three steps:

Step 1: Know where you are. When you participate in training, be sure to sit in the first row. You will learn more in the first row than in the last row. Not having knowledge or information could cost you a lot. Having good information can fundamentally change your life. Success comes from balancing the mind, knowledge and skills. My next step is to create the “life planner matrix” to make what I did more learnable so that I can mentor others. You need to think, set goals and have a good strategy to act differently. I decided to have a power walk early in the morning to clear my mind and concentrate on my thoughts. The by-product of the morning walk was that my daughter, then in the second grade, said, “I want to walk with Daddy,” so my daughter and I had a great time together.

Step 2: Be the best for others. Once I learned more about myself, things started to look different. I went through many cycles of regret and then made changes for remediation. After hours of thinking, I could finally see who I am and how I want to be. I want to be a good husband, a good father, a good friend and an outstandingly good life planner. I am fortunate to realize how I want to be.

Step 3: Love, appreciation and honesty. When you are asked to do something, devote 120 percent of what you have to get it done. Using the skills you learned to serve others makes them your own skills. It is no longer a learned skill but your own skill. When you are committed to be great, faithful, and committed to attaining your goal, you will be given bigger roles than you could bear. Challenges help people develop. There is no extraordinary person who has had no challenge in her or his life. When you face a challenge, appreciate it, because it will help you prosper.

This was excerpted from Otsuka’s 2013 Annual Meeting presentation “Your attitude determines your performance—principles to succeed.” For more ideas from MDRT members, visit the MDRT website.