Many believe that for success, it is necessary to have luck, some favourable circumstances, someone's support, affection from the environment, etc. Is that really so? Most successful people say something quite the opposite. Successful people often state that some other qualities are needed for success, some internal rather than external qualities. Success is anything but a matter of luck, money, and even intelligence. Success is more than that. Many intelligent people are unsuccessful, many people easily and quickly spend the money they inherited, and many were lucky but did not take advantage of the opportunity to make something out of it.
A clearly defined goal: implies that a person knows exactly how, why, and in what way he will realize his wishes. All people have many desires, but most of them do not have clearly defined goals; that is, they do not know the ways to make those desires come true. The desire is indefinite, and the goal must be definite, clear, and specific. A person who does not have a defined goal does not know in which direction he is going; he does not have his own vision; he does not have a roadmap. How will a person know that he is successful in something if he does not know what the measure of his success is? The measure of success is the achieved goal that a person has chosen.
Positive motivation: when a person has a clearly defined goal that in itself creates motivation. A person knows what and why he strives for it, and that creates motivation. But that's only half the motivation. People are often ambivalent about the goals they have chosen. They want something and, at the same time, are afraid of it, so often the motivation is not one hundred percent positive. In order for a person to have positive motivation, he must overcome the fear of failure. The most common cause of fear of failure lies in the fact that a person identifies with the goal, i.e., success or failure, and thus creates pressure for himself that results in fear. Therefore, one should not identify with success or failure. The reasons for success or failure should never be sought in the person, not in their character, but in their behaviour, the way they define their goals, the strategies they use to achieve their goals, etc.
Positive focus: implies that a person focuses only on what he can do and not on what he cannot do. Many people spend most of their time thinking about everything that cannot be done, about what is impossible or difficult to do. Since a person cannot immerse himself in two things at the same time, thinking about what cannot be done, the person misses the chance to come up with creative solutions and ideas about what can be done in order to achieve his goal. Thinking about what cannot be done to a person reduces his motivation, without which the person will not even have the energy for the initial action on the way to achieving the goal.
Orientation to the result: implies that a person analyses the achieved results and relates them to the applied strategy, behaviour, and plan that he followed while moving towards the goal. The result is feedback about what the person did, which says nothing about the person himself or his character. The result tells us what needs to be changed in the behavioural strategy or the initial plan.
Persistence: is the key element of success. Many people are not persistent and give up easily when they encounter the first obstacles. Persistence means that a person does not give up when he encounters obstacles, but invests extra energy to overcome them. If you really want something, you must be persistent, and if you work on it long enough, you will certainly succeed; it's just a question of how much you will get. Every success takes time, which means that you have to persevere, even when the results are not visible and when things do not go as we would like.
Flexibility: builds on the previous characteristic, persistence. Being persistent is not the same as being stubborn. Stubbornness is persistence in a negative direction; it is a situation when we are persistent in something that does not bring us profit or the desired result. Stubbornness is based more on emotional than rational reasons. In order not to be stubborn and persistent in something that does not bring us profit, we need to be flexible. The opposite of flexibility is rigidity, immutability, and limitation. For success in life, it is necessary to constantly change, grow, and develop, adapting to new circumstances and changes. This is necessary because the whole world around us is constantly changing, and if we are not ready to follow it, we will not succeed in the long run. The most common cause of rigidity is fear, above all fear of admitting that we didn't do something well and fear of admitting that we need to change.
Positive expectations: imply that we believe enough in the achievement of the goal we have set for ourselves. Without positive expectations, we will not have strong motivation, which will also affect the persistence we need to persevere. Whether we will have positive expectations depends on the assessment of the realism of the set goal, as well as on the assessment of our own abilities and the resources we need to achieve the given goal. Goal-achieving abilities are important but often overrated. Many capable people do not achieve their chosen goals, while some less capable people are much more successful. A person of average intellectual abilities with strong motivation and other factors described in this text can achieve excellent results in what he does. Skills, practical competence, and knowledge are often more important factors than ability. All skills and competencies can be learned and practiced.
Courage: implies the willingness to take risks. Success necessarily implies risk. As a rule, the more challenging and bigger the goal, the higher the risk. There is no success without risk. Willingness to take risks implies that a person can rationally assess the risk even when he feels fear and uncertainty. Courage does not imply the absence of fear but, on the contrary, the willingness to make rational decisions and actions when they are most risky and uncertain. This is also where flexibility comes into play. Sometimes it is wise to think carefully and give yourself enough time for important decisions, and sometimes you need to be impulsive and jump into the fire. Risk strategies should be changed in accordance with current events.
Realism: implies making rational judgments and setting realistic goals. Setting realistic goals is sometimes not easy because there is always the possibility of underestimating or overestimating yourself. The art of setting realistic goals involves balancing between these two extremes.
Openness: is the willingness to adopt new things, to change habits, attitudes, and beliefs, and to constantly learn something new and improve in what we do. Many people are not open to change and learning new things, which is necessary for success, especially in the long term.
When you look at the list of all these factors that make someone successful, you can easily understand that success is not a matter of luck or circumstances. Success is the result of all these factors that represent a person's way of thinking, his perspective on success, and himself.
Comments