There are three simple rules in life:

-- If you do not go after what you want, you'll never have it.

-- If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.

-- If you do not step forward, you'll always be in the same place.

I can't take credit for these maxims: the author Nora Roberts came up with them. But they started me thinking about my own life and everything that I've learned over many decades in business.

The lessons I have learned could fill a set of encyclopedias. I would imagine anyone who has paid attention to the world around us could say the same. But there are several guiding principles that help me make decisions, plan strategy and sleep at night.

For example, I know that you have to dig your well before you're thirsty. I believe it so completely that it became the title of my book on networking. Here is the most important line in the book: "If I had to name the single characteristic shared by all the truly successful people I've met over a lifetime, I'd say it is the ability to create and nurture a network of contacts."

In the end, it's not the amount of money that you make or the buildings that you own that matter. It's the people on whom you can depend -- and who can depend on you -- who make your life better.

A close second for the top lesson of my life would be the following: "People don't care how much you know about them, once they realize how much you care about them." It's so important I made this the theme of my first book, "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive." It's also central to my Mackay 66 Customer Profile, which is the cornerstone of all my speeches.

You have to learn as much about your customers and suppliers as you possibly can, because you can't talk about business all your life. You have to build those relationships and take it from a business level to a personal level. Knowing something about your customer is just as important as knowing everything about your product.

Many of my friends started out as customers. As our relationships grew, we discovered that we shared much in common. Our friendships are based on trust established in our business dealings. Trust is, after all, the most important word in business. And that extends to my personal life as well. You must be trustworthy to be a worthy friend.

Another key lesson: "Believe in yourself even when no one else does." I have never met a successful person who hasn't had to overcome either a little or a lot of adversity in his or her life. So, who says that you can't accomplish your goals? Who says that you're not tougher, better, smarter, harder working and more able than your competition? It doesn't matter if they say you can't do it. The only thing that matters is if you say it.

Next, I've learned that we can't go it alone. The boat won't go if we all don't row. What is teamwork? It's the product of a collection of diverse people who respect each other and are committed to each other's successes. The beautiful part of teamwork is that it offers us the opportunity to use our own special talents and abilities. We all have gifts to share.

The last thing I'll mention, and the way I finish all of my speeches, is to put some fun and creativity into your business and life. Don't be boring. Don't be predictable. You can take your work seriously, you can take your relationships seriously, but you should never take yourself too seriously.

The ability to laugh at yourself is one of the most endearing traits you can possess. Supremely confident people worry very little about being the coolest, smartest, most admired person in the room. They understand that by putting others first, they move to the front of the class. They have truly learned some of life's most important lessons.

In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were afraid to have and the decisions we waited too long to make. Learn from your mistakes. Be grateful for second chances and forgiving friends.

Mackay's Moral: Make your life story a best seller.

One of the questions I am often asked involves "how to get ahead." I thought it might be helpful to share some lessons from top U.S. executives.

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway: "You follow your passions. You find something you love. The truth is, so few people really jump on their jobs, you really will stand out more than you think. You will get noticed if you really go for it."

Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder and CEO, DreamWorks: "I don't think it matters how small or how big the task is, if you can do it just a little bit better than what is expected, you will be noticed and rewarded."

Keith Wandell, recently retired CEO, Harley-Davidson: "Just stay true to your values and your principles."

Helena Foulkes, president, CVS Pharmacy: "So I love to run. I like to run long distances. And I think a lot of times making business decisions is like being a marathoner. In other words, you know what the finish line is that you really want to get to but, along the way, it's not always pure joy. There are really hard moments. But if you keep your eye on the prize, it's part of what drives you to get there."

John Gainor, CEO and president, International Dairy Queen: "I think it's very important that you don't want work to be work. It has to be something that you can enjoy. And if you find that, you can build a great career and enjoy what you're doing. But I think (another) thing is equally as important, and that is you need to treat every employee no different than how you want to be treated. Every person in an organization or in a store, their job is critical."

Meg Whitman, president and CEO, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise: "Be clear what matters most. And what matters most is your family. There are trade-offs that you will make, but remember, at the end of the day that is probably the most important group of people in your lives, and that has been true for me from day one. Do something that you love. We spend a lot of time at work ... if you find yourself in a company where you're being asked to do something that you don't think is right or you're feeling uncomfortable about the leadership and the direction of the company, run, do not walk, for the doors."

Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and CEO, IBM: "Never protect the past. If you never protect the past, I think ... you will be willing to never love (it) so much (that) you won't let it go, either. Never define yourself as a product and, in fact ... never define yourself by your competition, either. If you live and define yourself by your product or competition, you will lose sight of who your customer is."

Adam Goldstein, president and COO, Royal Caribbean Cruises: "Try to stay in one place ... That's not really very realistic in today's day and age, but there are so many advantages if you can have a long and fulfilling career at one place. The relationships that you have with the people are very, very special. Your knowledge of the business, the industry, the different departments, what's going on in the company, the lingo -- I find it very fulfilling."

Kirk Kinsell, president and CEO, Loews Hotels & Resorts: "Don't take yourself seriously, because no one else will. That points back to my leadership style. I oftentimes tell people my favorite subject is me ... and then I explain it to them and say, 'The reason why it's my favorite subject is because I invest in myself and understand who I am because I strongly believe I can't lead. I can't work on others unless I know myself.'"

Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors: "Do something you are passionate about; do something you love. If you are doing something you are passionate about, you are just naturally going to succeed, and a lot of other things will happen that you don't need to worry about."

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman, Alphabet (formerly Google): "Find a way to say yes to things ... a new country, to meet new friends, to learn something new. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse and even your kids."

Mackay's Moral: Learn from the best to get ahead of the rest.

I have written seven best-selling business books, and the title of each of them could have been "Prepare to Win."

My publishers never thought that was a catchy enough title to help sell books, particularly business books, so I went with "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive," "Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt" and so on.

But the real message of all of them, plus this column, is the same: "Prepare to win." In my own way, I was preparing to win the bookselling challenge by finding a title that would make readers want to learn more.

Life is all about preparation. Preparation is all about hard work, sacrifice, discipline, organization, consistency, practicing the right concepts and more.

I subscribe to the wisdom of the oft-quoted sports maxim, "The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win."

Many people have the will to win, but they aren't willing to put in the hard work and time required to become great at something. What makes this even more challenging is that preparation is not a one-time thing. You can't prepare to win once and then just let success flow. Great performers possess the will to prepare to win over and over again.

If you are unprepared to meet a challenge, you have little chance of succeeding. Or as Benjamin Franklin said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."

Historian Dumas Malone tells the story of how Thomas Jefferson handled the first meeting to decide the organization of the future University of Virginia. The university had been Jefferson's idea, but many others came forward with their own interests and agendas.

Jefferson showed up with meticulously prepared architectural drawings, detailed budgets for construction and operation, a proposed curriculum and the names of specific faculty he wanted.

No one else was even remotely prepared. The group essentially had to capitulate to Jefferson's vision. The university was eventually founded more or less in accordance with Jefferson's plan. Preparation pays off again.

And here's an amusing story that further illustrates the value of preparation: A farmer who owned land along the Atlantic seacoast constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic because they dreaded the awful storms that raged across the ocean, wreaking havoc on buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer.

"Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him.

"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired the man. The man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!"

The man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

The farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. He hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarps. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops and the shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away.

The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed so he could also sleep while the wind blew.

Mackay's Moral: Don't blow it -- prepare to win.