10 Steps to Success
February 23rd, 2007Success means different things to different people. For some, the measure of success might be in acquiring the most money, for others it may involve helping those less fortunate on the journey through life and for others, success might mean striving to achieve the highest level of happiness. There is no right or wrong answer to the meaning of success, it’s just something you need to work out for yourself along the way. The following is a general guide to achieving success in any field or endeavor you wish to pursue.
1. Make a firm decision. Work out what it is that makes you happy and choose something that you are good at. Be realistic with your choices, if you want to be a professional tennis player but are uncoordinated, this would not be a wise choice. If you find great pleasure in helping others but you find that a job in social welfare doesn’t pay much money you need to look at where your priorities are when you make your decision. It’s important to make your decision based on how you feel right now and get on with it. Maybe your priorities might change in the future but you will have to deal with that when the time comes. If you are creative but people tell you there is no chance of making a success of yourself creatively, you will need to look inside and decide whether you believe them or alternatively, believe in your own abilities. Regret is a tormenting emotion to have to live with.
2. Map out a plan to achieve your goal. When somebody approaches the bank looking for funding for a new business, one of the first things the bank will ask for is a business proposal or plan. You need to take this same step in mapping out your life plan for success. If you don’t have a plan, how will you ever know where you are heading or how to get where it is you want to be?
3. Accept the fact you will need to make some sacrifices. There will always be some sort of price to pay for your success. No matter what all the self help books say or what you read about personal development, making a success of yourself will take hard work, sacrifice and commitment. You may need to sacrifice your social time when others seem to be having fun to learn more, save more or practice more but that sacrifice may be the deciding factor between failure and achieving success.
4. Organize your time. This is of paramount importance for the duration of your life, especially if you want to be a success. If you can’t organize your time, how will you be able to organize your life? Time is money and if making money is part of your grand plan for success, how you utilize your time is crucial to your success.
5. Always treat others with respect along the way, even if you don’t like them. You can still be a tough but fair business man or woman and still show respect to others without compromising your integrity. Although it may seem like you can get away with treating others poorly at first, you will only end up losing their respect. It will pay off in bucket loads for you in the long run if you show respect to everyone you deal with both personally and professionally from the very beginning to the end of your career.
6. Don’t drink and do business at the same time. Is it ok to have just 1 or 2 drinks over a business lunch? No, not in my book it’s not. There’s plenty of time for that if it’s what you like to do in your own private time. Even if your business associate encourages you to just have one, be polite and say you would prefer water or some type of non alcoholic beverage and thank him for offering. If he is truly worth doing business with he will respect you and your decision to say no and this has the added benefit of showing him your true character. So many people have lost their jobs or ruined a solid career by drinking with the people they do business with. It might all seem like harmless fun at the end of year Christmas party but be aware that just one drink might lead to another and who knows where that might lead to. I once witnessed an old manager of mine, who was always very conservative and respectful, get drunk at a work function and drop his pants exposing himself in front of the owner of the company. Fortunately for him the owner was also quite drunk and the incident wasn’t such a big deal but everyone in the company found out about this episode and this is something nobody ever forgets. Yes it was very funny to witness but I’m glad I didn’t do it.
7. Understand your business or your work from the ground up. Try to look through the eyes of everyone you deal with no matter how seemingly insignificant their job may be. Even if you are the head of a large company, a professional athlete or a movie star, know that you are not better or more important than anyone else, just different in your own way.
8. Do your best everyday. Sometimes you may be sick, tired or not as happy as you are on other days but still make a point to do your absolute best everytime. This is of particular importance if you plan to be successful.
9. Keep learning everyday. No matter how high you go or how much money you make, how famous you become or how many people you help or how many lives you save, there will always be more to learn. Don’t just do all the talking even if you are the boss, listening is one of the best ways to learn more about yourself, your field and about those around you. This can only help in regards to your success. You may learn from the most unlikely of people if you listen, even from children.
10. Don’t give up. Successful people never give up, they may change their plan of attack along the way but giving up is just not an option when it comes to success. You will make mistakes along the way, that’s almost inevitable but navigating around those mistakes allows you to explore new options and find the best route to take.
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March 20th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
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