My elder brother once said, “The person at the top is always alone.”
1. What is Success?
2. What is the best definition of success?
3. What is the true meaning of success?
4. What are the feelings ?
5. What are the key to success ?
There are several definition of success.
- Success is the achievement of something that you have been trying to do.
- Success is the achievement of a high position in a particular field, for example in business or politics.
- success of something is the fact that it works in a satisfactory way or has the result that is intended .
- Someone or something that is a success achieves a high position, makes a lot of money, or is admired a great deal.
But what is the best definition of success ??
I personally believe that success means anthing which quenches your soul, gives peace to the brain and bring charm in your eyes.
A lot of needless suffering is rooted in the misperceptions of success.
We are surrounded by a materialistic culture and get to experience first-hand the kind of “happiness” it brings when we obtain a specific title or object. You may even feel it from time to time, like buying the new iPhone or basking in the scent of a fresh new car. It’s not necessarily bad to have these things, but many times, the reasons why we crave these things are a bit misconstrued.
The truth, however, is that success is ephemeral in all areas of life. The smell of the new car will fade. The new phone will be replaced — sooner, rather than later — by a more advanced, sleeker, lighter, and better one. Someone younger, stronger, or smarter will eventually come and beat your record.
At a time where my self-defeating behavior was at its highest, my issue was that I chased after the wrong kind of success. Television and mass media would exemplify what the meaning of success was — the new car, the job title, a certain kind of body, etc. — and I would believe in it. This elicited a lot of frustration, resentment, and jealousy because it always felt like I was trying to catch up.
When I became aware of my behavior, I was certain that it was fruitless. If I continued to chase after these false objects of happiness and success, what I would ultimately be doing is running around in circles.
In my honest opinion, life is about moving forward, not ending up where you started.
Even though the feeling of success is great and all, why is it that people strive for success in the long-run? Sure, people want money for whatever material pleasure they want. Sure, people want fame so that they are recognized and looked up to by others who want to be just as famous. Sure, people want to be remembered after they die by their success in life, but people who have lots of money, or are famous, or remembered usually sacrificed something important to them in their past. Whether it’s friends, ties with families, or possessions, something is almost always lost. An example is my success in track. The only way to get better at track is to go to practice everyday from 3-5 and go to meets on Thursdays from 3-6:30. This helps me get faster and better so that I can make new personal records, but at the same time I don’t walk home with my friends after school and just don’t see them after track either.
If success is so much more difficult than just doing OK, why doesn’t everyone just do OK? The reason is because there is some innate, uncontrollable urge to impress others and also to further one’s own status among their peers. Even though I gave plenty of personal examples on why people feel the urge to succeed, it still isn’t clear because there are those who would just rather fail and not do work so they could do more of what they want to at that moment than succeed at certain tasks. There is one thing I do know for sure though, that is that if everyone strives to do their absolute best, no matter what, in everything they do, things like science, foreign relations, and even governments will move along faster because of their urge to do as well as they can as fast as they can. This world only moves along when everyone pulls their own weight to be the best they can, and that involves succeeding at whatever the task at hand is.
1. Start with a dream
Dreaming allows you to see into the future; lets you imagine how great you can be and how to get there. Dreams are motivating and inspire you to choose the best version of your destiny.
2. Define what you want
If you take random actions, you get random results. Is it not?
Know what you want and make a doable plan of action to get there.
It sounds obvious. However, you might be surprised how many people are drifting through life without a sense of direction or roads to take.
What you want is not always straightforward. If that is the case, begin with those things you feel that are missing from your life. Start with necessities and then, go up to your desires.
Make a plan of action for your needs and wants. Follow it, step by step; be prepared to stand up again if you fall. Celebrate even those moments when the result is not exactly what you wanted because that means that you are moving forward – you know better what works for you and what doesn’t.
Define what you want and create the desire to get there.
3. Keep your mind switched on positive
What is the result of your thought?
Are your thoughts the beginning of something positive for you or the end of it?
Positive thinking is a skill. Therefore, if you don’t have it yet, you can learn it.
I guess you don’t live in a bubble. Many things are happening that are out of your control, and a part of those things are not good things. However, the majority of bad, unfortunate things have an upside too. Keeping your mind switched on positive means to search, notice, acknowledge and celebrate the good part of things and people.
Wherever you look, there are beautiful things and ugly ones. What do you choose to notice and emphasize the most are determining the chain of thoughts you have: a positive chain or a negative one.
You don’t live in a bubble. Life happens even when you stay still. Is it raining? Great, the tree you planted will grow and thrive. Did one of your friends get out of your life for no apparent reason? That means room for a new, more compatible, friend. Remember that whatever happens has an upside: search for it and you will find it, it is right in front of you.
4. Live with integrity
- Keep your word
- Be honest, straightforward, assertive and genuine
- Correct your mistakes
- Step over your vanity and fear and offer your appreciation to those that deserve it
- Strive for a win-win outcome
- Be true to your standards, morals, and values
- Apply the same standard to yourself as to others
5. Make people feel important
A tiny bit of our desire to feel important is a matter of vanity. However, the biggest part comes from our need to feel useful, accepted, valued and memorable.
Who wants to be invisible? Who wants to be left out? Who wants to be small and insignificant? I guess, no one!
Making people feel important is one of the most powerful secrets to influencing people. There is no success without collaboration and there no collaboration without trust, mutual respect, and acceptance.
6. Empower others
Success means almost nothing if you have no one to whom you can share it.
For virtually every bad stuff in your life, there is a specialist that can help you to get through it. However, there are no experts for sharing success and happiness. Therefore, it is down to you to help people to grow alongside you. It is down to you to empower people to improve themselves for their benefit and yours. It is down to you lift people up to meet your standards.
7. Apply what you learn
Don’t be a knowledge hoarder and wait endlessly for the right time, more resources, more information, the perfect conditions and an external push to start your journey.
Success is a journey and what you have and who you are today are enough to get started!
Should I mention that hoarding knowledge and information can lead to mental paralysis?
8. Make yourself known to people that matter to your plans
Who you know is important to get successful, but who knows you, is even more important.
- Who can help you?
- Who are the people that can answer your questions?
- Who are those that have a better understanding and experience of what you are about to do?
- Who are those that are willing to collaborate with you?
- Who are those that will jump to invest in you and your ideas?
9. Build self-confidence through taking action
Self-confidence is a feeling that comes from the successes and accomplishments resulting from your actions and behaviors.
Perhaps, you are not confident to jump into deep water and swim (with good reason!). However, once you test the water with your toes, you are more confident to give it a try, step by step, until you get what you want.
Take action! Set your plan and know that even if you don’t succeed the way you try first, you have other options to proceed. It is not about you not being good enough; it is about the way you try. When it is not working, try a different way.
Build up your confidence and if you stumble ask yourself: “What can I do next?”
10. Value your time
Time is precious and limited. Therefore, use it wisely. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in meaningless disputes, relationships, jobs, arguments or satisfying your vanity.
11. Focus only on one thing at the time
The human mind is not designed for multitasking. Sure you can do it, yet, it takes more time, more energy, more attention and the result is not a job well done.
Yes, there are a few jobs that require multitasking (like being a parent, for example); however, avoid dividing your attention and energy because when you focus on one thing only, your mind starts discovering new pathways and patterns. Plus, you get more and more skilled at what you are doing in record time.
When you switch your mind from one thing to another, you need some time to readjust because you are using a different part of your brain for each task.
12. Overcome fears, self-doubt and being too self-conscious
Success doesn’t discriminate you. Success wants you, and you need to want it too.
overcome your fear of success, overcome self-doubt and be less self consious.
Know that you deserve to be successful. Know that success is waiting for you and it is ready to receive you with open arms.
Plus, know that success is not limited; it is not limited to a few privileged ones; time or knowledge does not constrain it; it is not designated to you by others.
13. Improve your character traits (if needed)
Learn who you need to be to get successful. Enter a state of mind that gives you the right behaviors and attitude which are propelling you into the hearts and the eyes of others.
14. Be consistent
Being consistent makes you reliable and trustworthy. Plus, jumping from one idea to another, in the end, gets you nowhere.
Remember:
- You deserve to be successful
- Success is waiting for you no matter how much or how little time you need to get to it
- Dare to dream
- Claim your place in the world
Really sit down — even write it out if you have to — and define what success is to you. You can create both short-term and long-term goals. My short-term goals consists of writing daily, accomplishing my tasks, and being of service to others. My long-term goals would be finishing my book, building my readership on my blog, and seeing other’s achieve their goals overtime.
Work towards daily success, not only the success that comes at the end of the journey. Do this everyday, and your actions will bring you closer to your ultimate goals.
Don’t wait
To free yourself from the limitations of what other’s perceive as success is a tremendous opportunity to define life on your own terms. You learn to stop chasing things that simply don’t matter — but at one point you thought they did — and instead, you start to focus on the things that help you differentiate progress versus procrastination.
The fruitless emotions of anger, jealousy, and resentment should play no part in the attainment of your endeavors and the ability to succeed; those are just distractions.
AtulyaBhaskar 