The world chases success, like it or not. As a race, we are all fans of rags to riches stories, survival stories, bouncing back ones, reduced to penury suddenly and then fighting back to rise again like a phoenix and similar such. These are inspiring, surely, and as much as we say failure is part of success, we are stumped when we fail. And in this process of rising to stardom and success there are several milestones which we chose to call as: dedication, perseverance, faith, the cliched ‘hard work’, patience, learning and more synonyms. Needless to add, abundant theories are proffered in this space giving us formulas for success.
But what is it at the end of the day that takes you closer to where you want to be? What are those simple steps that you need to take to achieve your aspirations? The big theories and hefty words are good, certainly, but I wonder what to tell myself each day to keep me on the path of discovering success? It can be a wide plateau stretching in front of you, bewildering, and bemusing. Not knowing where to start. But think about these three nudges and see if these work for you, as I am trying to practice them:
Going very Granular:
Management lessons have always taught us to have a 5 year and 10-year road map, all very well. However, the pandemic has redefined such long-term visions to teach us the value of the now, today and tomorrow. Breaking down the large vision into a monthly, quarterly, H1/H2 with clear deliverables can be a starting point. The quarterly and the first and second half of the year can have bigger chunks to tackle but the dailies and monthly can be a set of specific tasks, with owners, timelines that will keep pushing you towards your goals. The daily is where it all begins, keeping track of yourself and steering clear of distractions and completing a set of realistic chores is the biggest advantage.
Unity with Universe:
It all begins and ends with you. Often enough we have heard that the Universe responds when you work sincerely and allow your dreams to take shape. Having complete belief in yourself, knowing that you are on the cusp of greatness and propelling yourself towards enabling that is fundamental. The Universe tunes into you only when you embrace success. Self-doubt, uncertainties, and fears must be faced and overcome. That baggage must shed, and newer behaviours of confidence, boldness, charisma, sophistication must be acquired consciously.
Emotions are Enemies:
Negative emotions can rock the apple cart. As human beings we are prone to allow our emotions to come in the way and disrupt the journey. It could hamper the progress and unwittingly burn bridges, and no success is possible with out a social network. So, acknowledge negative emotions, but replace them with another productive and creative action so that you circumvent it and not waste time on something that you cannot control.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay