9 Success Secrets from Frank Underwood - House of Cards

1.    Body language

Successful and Confident people have a different body language. They walk tall. They keep their head up. They look into the eyes of others. They also keep their body open. Frank Underwood epitomised that from the beginning from being a whip to the President.

Frank charmed everyone with his inviting eyes.

The importance of offering the right eye contact cannot be overstated. Eye contact is more than just a social convention. In fact, it is one of the most important ways humans connect with each other. Simply looking directly into another person’s eyes produces a biological reaction that our brain interprets as affection. So, if you want to make a stellar first impression, start by improving your eye contact skills.

Apart from eye contact, another way charismatic people exhibit their confidence, openness, and presence is through their posture.  Perfecting Your Posture. Posture is the way you carry yourself, hold your body and move through space. Your posture is a critical part of your body language. It can convey everything from personality traits like confidence and strength to emotions like sadness or excitement. In order to send the nonverbal messages you want to send when you walk into a room or take a seat at the table, you need to understand how your posture affects people’s perception of you. Once you understand the posture-perception connection, you can use it to your advantage.

Charismatic Successful people always Stand up Straight & Sit up Straight Too Posture. It exudes confidence. Frank had great body language. He always looked you in the eye. His shoulders never slouched. It chin was always up.

2.     Take care of yourself:

Frank focussed on this a lot. He ran and also worked out heavily. This helps to boost your self-confidence as looking good makes you feel good about yourself also. Moreover, exercise and work out releases more hormones and neurotransmitters that affect the brain positively. Exercising releases endorphins that are natural antidepressants and help to elevate your mood and confidence drastically. More muscle mass also helps your body produce more testosterone that makes you more focused and more confident. If any of you is like a "wallflower", they should try adding muscle mass to their bodies to help them become more charismatic.

3. They Work VERY HARD

Before the fighters go on stage, there will be some video clips showing us how they have trained and a short interview. They don’t just train for fighting – they are training to be champions. They work extremely hard, demanding “ridiculous” expectation on their bodies to perform.

Today, most people have forgotten that the secret to success has to do with hard work. Yes, there are a lot of shortcuts, but these shortcuts are not substitutes for working. Inspite of playing Politics, Frank worked extremely hard. He left no stone unturned to reach the top. There were long hours and lot of humiliations along the way.

4. There Is No Second Place

When the bell rings, there’s only one person standing. And that’s the champion. By being the champion, he’s glorified with attention and prizes. But interestingly, the one who’s defeated was not a poor fighter, he’s definitely a worthwhile opponent. But the camera’s not at him anymore and nobody “cares” about the the fighter’s who’s on the floor lying down.

For Frank Underwood there was no second place. He was fighter who loved his Cameras. Had to be in news. Remember Out of sight is Out of mind.

If you want to achieve success, aim at being a champion. Because the hard work of being #1 or #2 are almost the same; but the reward of a winner is MANY TIMES more than the second place

5. Decide, Really Decide, What You Want

Frank was very clear from the beginning on what he wanted. He wanted to be the President. That was his single Goal. No Family, No Kids. Rest all were second. He was very clear on what he wanted.

First of all, decide—really decide—what it is that you want. Write it down. By writing it down, you force yourself to state in clear and specific terms your wants as well as start formulating the steps to get there. But what does it mean to really decide? You already know. There are the decisions you make that you relinquish after a few weeks. Then, there are the ones that truly matter to you. You feel in your gut and know that you will chase after them, no matter what the cost. It’s the same feeling you had when you decided—really decided—to embark on an exercise program to gain 10 pounds of muscle in 12 months and stick with it. A year and a half later, you are still hitting the gym at least 3 times a week.

When you really decide on something, you know you are now on the road to great things. You are committed. You will persist and persevere in your decision towards the attainment of your goals.

6. Do Things That Are Unpleasant

Successful people do things that normal people do not like to do because they know that they have to do them as part of the plan. Frank and Claire knew that it is a necessary part of being successful. This could mean taking on the Raymond Tusk, President Garrett Walker Confidante.

7. Go After Big Rather Than Mediocre Goals

The majority of people set goals that they already know how to accomplish. There is no glory, joy, or sense of accomplishment in this. Frank and Claire set goals that were much greater than themselves and that they may not necessarily know how to accomplish. It is in putting themselves outside their comfort zones that the fulfilment their goals lead to real growth. That growth prepares them for the next great challenge. They went on to dream even bigger dreams as a result of that experience.

They also realized that they may fail many, many, many times before achieving their goals. So, they reframed failures as just learning experiences. Think about it this way: When you are doing something that you are truly passionate about and enjoy wholeheartedly, do you think of every mistake and failure as a mistake and failure? Do you give up after a few times or keep hacking at it until you get it? If you are truly passionate, then you will just think of them as learning experiences. You will also plow through hundreds of mistakes, taking note of what does not work and learning from those mistakes, gleaning insight into the process, and eventually finding what does work.

Passion, coupled with limitless persistence and perseverance, pays dividends.

8. They Rarely Change Their Minds

Once Frank and Claire made a decision, they rarely changed their mind. They often stuck with it until the very end, when success is in their grasp. In line with this, they already began with the end in mind. They knew what the finish line looks like. They visualize having already been there and done that as a means to motivate themselves. The emotional component of having finally made it, even though they have not yet, provided the impetus and the drive.

They hit roadblocks or detours along the way, but they worked progressively towards the attainment of their goals.

9. Have Successful Friends

If you want to know where you will be going in life, you need only look at your five closest friends. We are that with which we choose to associate ourselves. Frank and Claire surrounded themselves with Successful people .When you have a picture of what you want to become, you will attract the right people into your life.

I would love to hear your comments.