As I think about success and what it means to me, I am drawn to the aspects of success as defined by society. Although I may not have always been able to discern my needs versus society’s expectations, the transformation that has taken place during my journey has been remarkable!
I started my path towards success while in high school. I belonged to many academic and interest clubs and knew at an early age that I wanted to achieve great things. So you ask, what exactly were those things? Well as you may imagine, those things changed frequently over time. After all, I was still in the midst of finding myself at that age and with new information and exposure, a world of opportunities were presented. Isn’t that what your early adult years are for? Exploration! I began my collegiate studies immediately following high school and I quickly realized that the achievement of success was not as easy as I thought. Simply studying hard and acquiring a degree was a good start but it was just that, a starting point and not an ending point. The time that I spent in college was a period of self-actualization and reflection. As I’m sure many people can relate, college can be a confusing time in one’s life. It’s that period where you’re trying to meet the expectations placed on you by society, family and friends, and somewhere in the midst of it all you’re also trying to stay true to yourself. Whew! That can be tough for anyone to juggle. As I turned to my support system for advice and direction and gathered tons of feedback, I realized that planning for success is not a task that should be taken lightly. As I went through the decision-making process and mapped out a tentative plan for myself, my biggest failure was not considering my desires and where they fell within my master plan. Who am I? What do I enjoy doing? When am I the happiest? These are all things that we sometimes overlook during the exploration stages of our life.
So in the absence of taking the time to identify these things, I like many others, chose to pursue a degree that I felt would be beneficial no matter what direction I ultimately chose. In other words, a safe degree. What I didn’t know at the time was that getting a safe degree versus carefully identifying the best degree would eventually move me further away from the very things that I enjoyed and truly loved. I am and have always been a people person! I love to talk! I love to share stories! I love to educate & coach others! These are my passions! The pursuit of success can be tricky if you’re not aware of the very things that may be holding you back. Yes, I’m talking about you or in my case it was me. In essence, I got in my own way all the time and admittedly still do from time to time. The difference now is that I am aware of such actions and I make conscious efforts to overcome them.
So the question is: How can you turn your pursuit of success from foe to friend? This is not an easy subject to tackle but there are some steps that you can take.
1) Have a dream. Whether you feel it’s attainable or not. A dream is where success begins, grows and flourishes.
2) Listen to your inner-self. That voice that continuously nags at you should NOT be ignored. It is within this voice that your true desires will surface. Listen.
3) Starve your doubts and feed your faith! Doubts create fear and fear weakens your confidence. Without confidence success will always be a possibility and not a reality.
4) Create a plan, work your plan and continue to reinvent your plan. Complacency is a success killer. Never feed it, nurture it or give it a home.
5) Surround yourself with people that are willing to help you succeed (i.e. a personal board of directors). These individuals will play a big part in your success.
There are a multitude of steps that you can take on your journey towards success. However those detailed above, will help to ensure that you have indeed gained a friend and not a foe!
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