What does success look like to you? Before you can build and refine your personal brand, you must know what constitutes your brand of success. When you know what you're working toward, you can better navigate the path.

Author and CEO Ngan Nguyen says that when you define your personal version of success, you've taken the first step at building a successful and fulfilling career. We discuss Nguyen's thoughts on how to define personal success in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.

Get unstuck by unleashing your inner self. Nguyen says that people feel stuck when there is a lack of clarity and the path ahead is not aligned with their authenticity. Stagnancy and negative happenings force us to look inside ourselves at who we really are and what we really want. Detail those things and you'll have the blueprint to create change and growth. Getting clear on this enables us to lead ourselves and our business to forge ahead on a new path.

Act on your new authenticity. Our full potential comes out when we are fully committed to creating a result that expresses who we are and what we love, according to Nguyen. Without that clarity and without acting upon our newly discovered authentic selves, there will always be a bit of reservation. And with that reservation comes lackluster results that are not a reflection of our true potential.

Keep the vision in mind. Nguyen says much of our untapped potential lies in untapped intelligence. Leaders who leverage their vision can effectively navigate a path to success in a competitive marketplace. The question is how to go about influencing our subconscious in the right way so that it serves us. We do this by holding and keeping an image of a life we desire and feeding it through repetition long enough that our mind goes to work to aid us in creating it.

Make your passion your fuel. The power to create extraordinary results requires this critical ingredient, according to Nguyen. Passion is contagious, ignites the heart and motivates the team. It energizes and sparks the pull forward through all barriers, uncertainty and challenges.

Have the will to make decisions that move toward your dream. Nguyen says the difference between those who make their dreams happen and those who don't isn't always a matter of intelligence but often is a matter of consistent will in decision-making. Nguyen says that you must have the intention to keep moving forward. There is an energy shift that is experienced in the decision-making process, where a desire goes from wanting to being because you've concluded that the dream must come true no matter what.

If you don't feel like you're reaching your full potential, you might just need to consider where you want to go. Use the advice above to reflect on your personal version of success and how you can attain it for yourself.

Source: Ngan Nguyen is the author of Self-Defined Success: You Have Everything It Takes and the founder/CEO of Cintamani Group, an executive coaching and consulting firm. Nguyen coaches on leadership and empowers entrepreneurs as an intuitive strategist.