Ever wondered what makes an individual highly successful? Is it about their upbringing, education, various skills, professionalism, being smart, or a people person with great networking ability? Any skill, ability, or study can certainly bring you closer to your cherished dream or help you achieve success. But let’s take a closer look at what exactly enables high achievers to get great, long-term results in any given area of their lives, usually with a counter effect (that usually affects their entire lives).
Studies show that it doesn’t matter how smart, educated, skilled, or great a networker you are, if you are not in the long game or lack endurance, you won’t succeed. According to research among young students, talent does not beat stamina, hard work, and perseverance.
The other necessary key quality to reach your goal is motivation. Why being passionate about attaining your aim is crucial, you might ask. Passion can provide the foundation and power to fight for, keep going, and not give up on your dream. Being passionate can keep you motivated long-term.
What Leaders Say
If you carefully observe the greatest leaders, such as inventors, top entrepreneurs, sports champions, or community heads who accomplished something remarkable, you always realize something in common. They all have had stamina along the way and never gave up on something important to them, no matter how many times or how badly they failed.
It all boils down to the fact, that we are created in a way that is sometimes hard for the human mind to grasp: we are mostly able to complete a task we set our minds to achieve, if we put in enough effort, have faith in ourselves and stick with it to the end no matter the arising challenges. As the phrase goes: you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Lensa.com can help you do that.
Any result is a repeated action of contribution paired with audacity. You will be able to benefit from your commitment when the time comes. Until then you have to take one step at a time and if it’s hard, learn to trust and enjoy the journey. You can always find something meaningful or enjoyable in any task, and think of your desired result.
You must also learn not to worry too much, or not to listen to the small negative voice in your head, which always tries to stop you while working toward your goals. Our human mind is programmed this way, as a natural coping mechanism needed for our survival from not too long ago. It is the reason why our ancestors didn’t have time to think in the jungle, when a tiger approached, how cute this yellow, black stripy thing is…
As your mind is trying to bring up all the possible reasons why you wouldn’t be able to achieve your goal, only to protect you, be rest assured that those worries only sabotage you.
Therefore you need to learn to work with them, rather than against them.
The best way is to hear them, recognize them and let them go through you. When you allow them, you set yourself free.
Whereas, when you want to push them away and wouldn’t allow them to flow through you, there’s a good chance they would pile up halfway and it’s just a question of time when the time bomb in you would go off.
So, use this tactic, whenever you face a challenge but feel that you are capable of completing a task, an assignment, a project, a piece of work, study material, a sports program, or anything you are willing to tackle. Always remember that your head will trick you and challenge you further along the way. If it gets really hard to focus, give yourself a short break and use this time to clear your head, while doing another important task. It could be working on something else, cleaning, cooking, gardening, going for a walk, doing exercise, meditating, calling a friend or family member, playing with kids or pets, or anything that would recharge your batteries.
Remind yourself how victorious you are going to feel once you get to the finish line in your project, and act as if you are already there. Remember, hard work always pays off, and visualize yourself getting to that next level in your career, project, sports training, or anything you might be building. Recall a time when you achieved something amazing, you wouldn’t have thought possible. Keep in mind that failure is sometimes inevitable on your path to success. But it is always stamina and passion that wins in the end.
Let’s take a look at some famous people, who also succeeded amongst all the odds and trials on their rocky road to success:
J.K. Rowling
Less than ten years after publishing her first novel, the British native Rowling became the most successful literary author in history, earning a multimillion-dollar fortune. She was able to inspire a myriad of young readers through her creatively written story, Harry Potter.
Rowling claims that Starting a project is easy; it’s actually finishing things that take effort. The discipline involved in finishing a piece of creative work is something on which you can truly pride yourself. Once you’ve done it […] you’ll know you can do it again. That is an extraordinarily powerful piece of knowledge.
Jim Carrey
A highly sought-after stand-up comedian and movie star with very humble beginnings.
Carrey is known for being a very shy and quiet boy in his early school years with not many friends. He was reportedly an undiagnosed dyslexic who often struggled in school. He had to put in a lot of hard work and discipline to work his way up to the top.
Oprah Winfrey
One of the most successful and richest self-made entrepreneur women in America. No other woman has been able to work her way up the way Oprah did, entirely alone. Her intention of becoming famous and rich was very clear from a young age. According to her, wealth is a tool to draw attention and to be heard in this society. Winfrey was able to capitalize on her disappointment when she felt she was put in a low position on a morning show.
She successfully picked and interviewed two of her favorite actors from her then-favorite soap opera, and felt she found what she meant to do. The audience quickly recognized her, and her cherished dream to become famous came true.
Summary
As the above mentioned famous people demonstrate, we can summarize the key takeaways to bring forth success:
See the opportunity instead of defeat in any situation and keep going when you would want to give up. Your persistence and passion pay off in the long run if you don’t settle for less. Sometimes a change of attitude is inevitable on the bumpy road to success.
If we are not willing to give up on something meaningful for us, we can achieve more than we think possible.
Nicola Holder