Great leaders learn to lead both themselves and others. They create more leaders, not followers. They clearly communicate their vision and align themselves with those whose individual purpose match that of their organizations. The most successful leaders are unapologetically passionate about what they do and know how to combine purpose, talents and effort to drive themselves and their team towards ultimate success; whatever that may be.

Here are five undeniable ways to lead yourself and others to achieve success.

Move quickly

Moving quickly ensures that you can outrun doubt. In 1999, I chose to leave my relatively lucrative job as a financial analyst just one year out of college to join the Navy. I had a lofty vision of becoming a Navy SEAL. About eight out of ten fail, and that’s after many more fail to even be accepted. Once I had made that decision, I sprinted towards it as fast as I could. One year later I joined SEAL Team 5 and started humbly serving my country in the most elite special operations community in the world.

After leaving the SEAL Teams, I attended graduated school and became an entrepreneur. We identified an opportunity for a new search engine leveraging the dramatic upswing in the housing market. Also known as a bubble! We knew it wouldn’t last but took advantage of the opportunity and built the business as fast as we could before the economy started to turn. We then leverage that business experience to start a new company not so closely dependent on positive economic cycles. But we had to act fast to do so.

Move quickly while silencing your inner critic and don’t look back. Doing so will inspire others to do the same.

Learn from failure

The path to success is not linear. There are many ups and downs before hitting it big. Nick Woodman, founder of GoPro, raised $4 million for his first Silicon Valley start-up only to run out of money and ultimately fail four years later. He then decided to follow his passion for surfing and videography creating GoPro. He is now worth over $2.5 billion. Not too bad.

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, had a few bumps in the road before selling his first software company for $300 million while still i n his twenties. He then leverage that momentum to become one of the most visionary business leaders in the world worth over $11 billion.

The magic happens outside of your comfort zone. The more we learn from failures and push ourselves outside of our comfort zone, the more equipped we are to turn opportunities into great successes.

Take risks

The greatest risk in life is to never take any. How much can we really achieve when we remain comfortable with where we are in our personal and professional lives? Nobody tells themselves that they want to be filled with regret before leaving this world for a better place. So why does it happen so often?

I will never regret taking the risk of leaving my cushy job to pursue the long-shot goal of becoming a SEAL. I don’t regret the experiences I had down range. I don’t regret the months of anguish as a budding entrepreneur fearing the worst would happen. Failure. I knew that at the very least I could say that I tried and gave it everything I had.

We don’t have to blindly take risks nor make bad decisions to pursue things that don’t fit in with our passion and purpose. Luck happens when preparation and hard work meet opportunity.

Combine vision with execution

All great leaders have vision and can clearly communicate that vision to others. Today more than ever, leaders need to embrace new ways of connecting with their teams. The millennial generation wants to understand the organization’s purpose and know that their work matters. The need to know the “why.” That is why they get up and come to work. If they don’t get that from their employers they will seek this fulfillment somewhere else.

Vision is great but it means nothing without execution. When a clear and purposeful vision is communicated alongside a plan for execution, the team can be given the autonomy to take action.

Lead change

In our own lives and in our organizations. Organizations today not poised for constant change will eventually become stagnant and even irrelevant. Since 9-11 the special operations community and the military as a whole have been in a constant state of change. We continually take our lessons learned and apply them to improving tactics and strategies in order to always be better than our enemies.

The same applies to business. Leaders must evangelize change and its importance because, as we know, change can be scary at times. This means creating a shared sense of purpose, ensuring alignment, providing resources that support change and taking consistent action.

These five methods for success and winning will make you happier and more successful. Live with purpose, inspire others and be a leader in all aspects of your life.