Time tested Success Sutra.
Love what you do
Who doesn't want success? But when it comes to how to achieve it and the ways to achieve it there are many views suggested by different experts and authorities in the field of Personal development.Out of all the ways suggested, there is one way on which all the experts agree unanimously. That is "Love what you do and do what you love."
This suggestion worked very successfully since time immemorial. And continue to work.Which is why it has been hailed as the "Time tested success sutra in the self development parlances world over.
Doing what you love is the first step to success. If you read about the lives of successful people, you will understand and see the truth in what I said.First of all they explore themselves. They find the niche in them. And they work on their niche relentlessly till they gain mastery over their niche.
These celebrities loved what they did.
A.R.Rahman lost his father at the age of 9. His family had to rent out his father's musical equipment for their livelihood. He dropped out of the school and opted for Music career as he loved it most. And we all have seen the phenomenon known to the world as A.R. Rahman who won the most coveted of the awards Oscars and Grammy .
Bill Gates, who rose to prominence to the levels as we are seeing him today,because he has done what he loved and loved what he does.
Did you ever think why successful people work even after attaining stupendous success and earning enough money to last for three generations ?
Let’s see some examples.
The big boy of Wall-mart Stores Inc, Sam Walton worked until his death, though he earned a fortune much earlier?
Why two of the richest entertainers of the world Bill Cosby and Madonna go on churning out outstanding musical hit after hit even after they became much richer they ever imagined?
Why Michael Eisner, CEO, Walt Disney did not retire?
Because they love what they do.
Because they derive more pleasure in doing what they do than in amassing heaps and heaps of money.
Because they know if they love what they do, the need not work.
Because they are driven by their visions, not by making money.
Because they know that money lands automatically in their lap, if they love what they do.
Successful people chase their Passion.
Finding one’s passion can be done in a systematic way. This system is called SWOT, an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT is nothing but self analysis. It’s looking in to one’s self. And finding out what one is good at.
Norman Vincent Peale in his best seller, “Positive thoughts for the day” says, ‘You can become strongest in your weakest place’.
In accordance with this truth, successful people will build on their strengths and dilute their weaknesses. Similarly they exploit the opportunities and keep themselves away from threats. This is how successful people find their passion through SWOT analysis.
They never look back.
After finding out their passion , successful people will never track back if they had to change their life style, They never hesitate to shed away their earlier habits which they think will become a road block on their way to chasing their passion.
A general routine of successful people.
They value Relationships.
It’s rightly said that one’s success or failure is determined by who you select as your life partner. This is true in any kind of relationships. Having good relations with people who are more knowledgeable than you will make you knowledgeable. If you choose dwarfs and midgets, you will remain as a dwarf never you can become a giant. Which is why successful people are very careful in choosing their associates. Because they know, “He that walketh with wise shall become wise”. They believe in establishing relationships which are mutually beneficial. They do not believe in just contacts. They believe in gathering all possible resources that paves way to ‘Love what they do.’
They focus on their niche.
It’s not enough to identify your passion through SWOT analysis. It’s absolutely necessary to focus on your passion without wavering and oscillating mind. After all you found your passion after self analysis not to get distracted from your dream passion. Knowing this fact well, successful people focus on their niche.
Your focus should be on your target. The advantage of focusing is it builds momentum. It shows the ways and drives you to see your target in its real perspective. Bible warns. A double minded man is unstable in all the ways. The gravest danger of double minded attitude is it makes your target, your niche hazy. Double minded attitude will make you waste your energy. Whereas focusing will keep your energy intact so that all of your energy can be utilized in chasing your passion. It all culminates in to one thing,” to love what you do, there should be only one thing, that is your passion. It’s only then you will be able to chase your passion. It’s only then you can stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Wisdom lies in working with single mind and work on your passion day in and day out completely on it.
Belief in self.
Successful people have immense faith and belief in their self. Even one who is not extremely endowed with extraordinary traits like rich background, higher academic achievements and influential contacts in higher circles, Just with self belief many achieved a place in the list of “Achievers.”
The remarkable trait one can see in people with strong belief in self is they refuse to fear the fear. Fear is the biggest hindrance to success. The byproducts of fear are inattentiveness and instability. This fear makes people to succumb to the menace of “Fear of Failure.” The fear of failure leads to another evil known as ‘Procrastination.’ Fear of failure makes you refuse to take risks. And taking risk at times is absolutely necessary for achieving success. People with immense faith in their self are aware that, there is no reward without risk.
Successful people will never fear of failures or criticisms. They are optimists. They see the brighter part of the life. They see the light at the end of the tunnel. What all they know is that they should give their best, Failures will never dampen their spirits. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of electric bulb failed 999 times, But he never back tracked or developed cold feet due to failures, Because of his strong belief in self that one day he will bask in the glory of success.
"Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophe."
- Sumner Redstone.
Abraham Lincoln faced many failures in his life. As a businessman, as a lawyer and as a politician, success evaded him in every step of his life. He was so much disgusted with his failures that he once wrote a letter to his friend, that if his sadness and dejection faced by him was distributed to the entire mankind, there would not be any cheerful face left in the earth.
Sir Winston Churchill was a miserable failure in his academics. From his elementary school to the entrance examination to The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, everywhere in every sphere he faced failures after failures. He became the Prime Minister at the age 62.
Sigmund Freud on the occasion of his presentation of his ideas to the scientific seers was met with humiliation of cat calls and wolf whistles. The undaunted and unperturbed Freud came back home and started his job with renewed vigor.
Charles Darwin the inventor of Theory of evolution was always used to reprimanded by his annoyed father. Darwin in his autobiography quoted that he was always regarded as an ordinary boy with ordinary intelligence both by his father and teachers.
Albert Einstein, who propounded the Theory of relativity and known for his mathematical acumen started speaking only after his fourth year and learned reading at the age of seven. He was described by his teachers as ’mentally slow’.
Henry Ford had to wait for his success patiently after he encountered not one but five failures.
Alexander Graham Bell had to taste refusals in the initial stages. There were no buyers for his toy which was described as an electrical toy of no use.
Walt Disney was branded as a man with no imagination by a news paper editor. Before he built his world famous “Disneyland”, he went bankrupt several times.
Unyielding Persistence.
Achievers do not believe in giving up midway on the way to success. Failures fail to dampen their spirits. But they learn from their failures and see to it that they are not repeated. Their determination to follow their heart is unbreakable. They are like a river that takes another way if an obstacle comes on it's way. Brooding over the past failure or crying over the split milk are the last things they do while on their mission to success.
Strength from Self-discipline.
The life of a successful man is nothing but a disciplined life. They lead life where everything is systematic and everything works like a well oiled machine. Discipline helps in organizing the life efficiently. It empowers the individual to command the life. It helps in developing a strong resolution. It’s the firm belief of every achiever and every leader that discipline is the key factor in making one’s goals realize.
Self discipline gives a clear vision. There is no scope for ambiguity in a self disciplined person. A self disciplined person will not jump to hasty conclusions. He will weigh the pros and cons of the situation and acts. It means, he will not act on impulse. This trait is very important while taking a decision on complex problems.
It’s normal for anyone to face failures or obstacles in achieving the goals. At this juncture a person gets disgusted and leaves the job in hand. It’s here self discipline comes handy. Self discipline consoles the person that such failures should not be cared and the job should be started again. It also says that there is always a ‘next time’.
But discipline demands sacrifices. If one wants to achieve something, he has to forego some other thing. An athlete has to forego an hours sleep every morning to train himself and to condition the body to compete with his rivals in the competitive arena.
As I said earlier discipline acts as powerful tool to control your life as you need and as you wish. To achieve the control over body, mind and soul there are several ways. They are physical exercises, daily morning walks, Meditation to name a few.
Physical exercises will tone up the body and build muscles. In order to meet the stringent demands of discipline one must have a healthy body. It’s only in a healthy body a healthy mind dwells.
A brisk walk for about 20 minutes either in the early hours of morning or in the evening will keep the mind alert and cheerful.
Meditation is the effective ancient art of yoking Body, mind and soul. Sitting in a calm place and taking long and slow breaths will enhance the focusing and stability of thoughts. It acts as a wonderful way to bust the stress.
Goals.. Goals..Goals
Goals are not mere a script on the paper once written and forgotten, They are the beacon of light to the achievers. Generally it’s the habit of the people to ignore the goals after a failure. It’s required to see if the goals are pragmatic in the very beginning of a job. Out of over enthusiasm many start with a bang and throw the list of goals once they are met with a failure or a setback. This happens because people ignore to see the feasible part of their Goals.
But it is not the case with strong willed achievers. They always check at every stage how far their activities are going according to their goals. If it is necessary they redraft their goals. But in any case they never miss to check their goals if they are going in the right direction or not in relation with their goals.
A Korean Billionaire gets up early in the morning and spends a considerable time checking and rewriting his goals wherever necessary. It’s the habit of successful people to script their goals in a well defined manner dividing them in sub- categories of Daily, weekly and monthly goals.
Media Mogul Oprah Winfrey never embark upon any job without a well drafted set of Goals. And from there she starts her relentless efforts in accomplishing them. Even religious books of all faiths underlined the importance of setting goals before embarking on a venture. Bible says “ The Wiseman looks ahead…” proverbs 16 :9."
Goals are like targets in an archery competition. If there is no target where the archer shoots his arrow?
Time Management.
Time Management. is adjusting time to suit one’s busy schedule in an effective way. When there are more number of works than the time in your time, it becomes necessary to find a way to squeeze a chunk of time from the existing time. For this it may be necessary to sacrifice some of the unproductive activities we do in our day to day activities. For example TV viewing can be minimized or avoided.
Delegation of duties is another effective way of creating extra time. There are some jobs which can be handled by your juniors or subordinates. Sort out such jobs and assign them to the respective persons. This act will not only add more time, but also enables you to deal with another important job.
Breaking larger jobs in to smaller segments and working on them until all the segments are finished, is another way of gaining time.
Monotony that arises working on similar jobs should be stopped. Try different type of jobs for a change. If necessary take a brief break. This rejuvenates the mind and increases your productivity.
Getting up early in the morning is one way preferred by the achievers. This activity will give you a head start and makes place to the other jobs. In addition to this, the necessity to hurrying up will not arise. Poor time mangers will become the victims of stress that may pave way to several other complicated ailments.
Learning is a continuous process.
Knowledge is like an ever flowing river. As the new knowledge arrives, old knowledge gets washed away along with the current. Constant updating of your knowledge will keep you in reckoning. Achievers firmly believe in constant updating of their knowledge. A failure to keep in pace with the ever changing knowledge will make you an object in the museum. A person with the latest and current knowledge alone can stand to the cutthroat competition.
To achieve the latest knowledge an achiever takes the help of Books. Book reading is a habit that not only keeps you in the main stream, but also gives an edge over others.
Success is not instantaneous
It should be borne in mind that success demands a lot of determination and dedication. It can't be achieved overnight. It needs patience and perseverance not for a day or two. But unto the last
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