How to Achieve Success?

Success is a highly relative term but the way it affects us all, is the same. It gives us the satisfaction and happiness that give us the hope to grow further, soar higher, be more confident, and most importantly; it makes us proud of ourselves.

How to Succeed in Life?

Now that you have realized that it’s only you who can determine what success means to you, do you think it is possible for anybody to be successful? In all honesty, yes! Each one of us can be successful if we know how to go about it. These simple steps will paint a clear picture about how to succeed:

1. Know Your Goal

Have a clear and specific goal. It could be a short-term or a long-term goal. Without a precise vision of your goal, how will you measure your progress and know when you have achieved success? Don’t shy away from being unconventional and innovative. Your imagination is the only limit. Think big, but keep it realistic.

2. Plan and Set Your Milestones

Once you know your goal, plan your next actions in a sequential manner. These actions would be your milestones and each one of them should have a deadline. Be as firm as possible with yourself. There could be various ways of doing something, be open to them all and choose the one that’s perfect for you. If you want to try something new, go ahead and try. But plan first!

3. Execute Your Plans

Now you have your eyes fixed on that goal and you have the plan ready. What do you do next? Get going. All the planning and strategies amount to nothing, if you don’t execute them. So, get up and do whatever it takes to reach that goal. Follow your plan diligently and if you need to acquire new skills, there are tons of ways to do that. Seek help if needed. Just do the work! 

4. Be Flexible

The plan you made before are the checkpoints to help you stay on the right path and keep you focused on your goal. However, as you start making progress, you might see scope for improvements and also unforeseen challenges. Be flexible enough to amend your plan so that these challenges are taken care of and you end up with a far better plan than the one you set out with.

5. Maintain the Balance Between Professional and Personal lives

No matter how much pressed for time you are, make time for your family and friends. Personal life is as important as your career, if not more. You cannot have one at the cost of the other. Every successful person would agree that their personal life gives them a much needed break from work, which ultimately results in better productivity. Find people who make you happy and help you get better in life and hold them close to you.

Tips for success in life

While we should try and live life on our own terms, a few important things will certainly go a long way in helping you see what’s worked for other successful people around the world. The following are the few tips to prepare you better to attain success in your endeavor.

1. Know the Purpose Behind Your Goal

We have already established the importance of having a clear objective or goal. What’s equally important is to know the purpose behind your goal. Make sure you have the right reasons to pursue your goal. A couple of examples of right reasons could be that your goal is in-line with your passion, or it solves a problem you are very strongly concerned with, or it benefits the society in some way.

Do not pursue a goal that is likely to affect others negatively, such as teaching someone a lesson. Also, do not take something for a goal simply because everyone around you is obsessed with it or it is the latest trend. Find out what you want and take it from there, you’re more likely to succeed that way.

2. Be Strict with Yourself

If you have to get something done in life, you cannot do that without being disciplined. Your discipline shows how serious you are about your goal and that you are willing to go to any length to achieve it. When you make a plan to work towards your goal, stick to it as much as you can. If you encounter any delays, try your best to make up for it as quickly as possible.

3. Persevere and Don't Be Afraid of Failure

When you work towards your goals, you are bound to fail. Failure is a part of the process. Do not let that demotivate you. Do not give up. Once you are sure you want to achieve something, the only way you have is forward. There are enough examples in the world such as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, JK Rowling, that tell us failure is anything but a reason for us to quit.

4. Become Emotionally Intelligent

A personal with good emotional intelligence understands his emotions better and that of those around him. Such people could very easily identify when they’re feeling low and demotivated, and also what they should be doing to make them feel better. Recent surveys have shown that emotionally intelligent people are taking the world by a storm; they are emerging as toppers in every field.

5. Don't Chase Success, Chase Your Goal

It’s true that we all want success, but we cannot go looking for success. All you can do is work towards your goals religiously and let success find you. There is no other way. Success is not meant to be chased; it is attained on the path of hard work, efforts, and perseverance. Remember that success should never be the objective; it is merely an outcome of having reached your goal and accomplished what you intended to.

Real Meaning of Success

Though success comes in different forms for different people, its meaning is the same. Simply put, success is the realization of your dream. But we all know that’s easier said than done. Nothing ever happens on its own. You have to toil, endure, combat your fears, and defeat the challenges. That’s when you’d be worthy of success, it’s like a reward for hard work and struggle. And this is common to all of us, across all genders, generations, and borders, and so is the purpose of success in our life.

Importance of Success and Failure

Both, success and failure have important roles to play in our lives. Failures are essential to make us realize the importance of success and the role of success is to make us believe in ourselves and our dreams. It gives us the strength and courage to do more and to do better. No other thing can come quite close to success, when it comes to motivation. We all want to stay successful. However, success and failure are not permanent. Life should have a perfect balance of both. No success is the ultimate success.

Born to Work

Once you have achieved success, take a moment to celebrate and then move on. We are born to work, to contribute, and to make a difference. Success is not the reason to stop, it is, in fact a catalyst to help us keep doing the work. Does an author whose first book was an instant success stop writing? No, an author never stops writing.

Steve Jobs

The inventor of our times, worked till the time his health permitted him to, and even during his absence he was a part of all the important decisions Apple made. Every successful person in the world knows this and that’s why they keep working, ceaselessly. They never gave success more importance than it deserved. For them, success was never the destination.

Famous Success Quotes

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller

If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary." - Jim Rohn

"To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart." - Sr. Thomas Watson

Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period. " - Lou Holtz

Success does not lie in “Results” but in “Efforts”, “Being” the best is not so important, “Doing” the best is all that matters…"

A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success." - Joyce Brothers

"The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes." - Benjamin Disraeli

"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." - John F. Kennedy

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." - Albert Einstein

"Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." - Dale Carnegie

"If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs." - Dhirubhai Ambani

Every famous quote on success focuses on success and failure. Success does not mean much without failures. And there is no secret to achieving success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and the lessons you learn from your failures. The simplest rule is this: Whether you succeed or you fail, you have to keep moving. Nothing should stop you from that, ever!

Success in Business

There is no assured way to run a successful business. A successful business is run on the foundation of your experiences, your mistakes, and the lessons you learned from your failures. However, some of the following things below will reiterate the things most successful businesses in the world have been focusing on. It will help you learn from their mistakes.

1. Create What Your Customers Need

Build a product or a service that people need, not what you want to sell. That will automatically create a huge demand for your product/service. That’s a battle half-own because you don’t have to convince people that they need what you have to offer. They already know that. When you end up building a product or service that is already available to the people, you work increases because you have to convince them to leave their existing brand and come to you, and also offer them something that others don’t.

2. Love Your Product, Be Proud of It

You should be proud of the product/service that you offer to your customers. Being proud of your product implies that you have done your best and produced something of the highest quality. Consistently innovate. Look for ways to add more value to your existing product to keep up with the demands of your customers. If you love what you sell, your customers are likely to love it too.

3. Be Prepared for Rejections, They Happen to Everyone

Every business, successful or not, have to face rejections. They are there when a business in its conception stage and even when you have an established business, you can never be immune to rejections. The key is to not quit. Learn from your rejections, and seriously consider every issue your client or customers highlights. Of course, you can’t agree with everything they say, but be smart to understand the things that truly need improvement.

4. Focus on The Right Things

To make any business a success, you have to focus on the things that matter the most, things that would determine whether or not your business will sustain in every challenging situation. Think about money – cash-flow, cost-cutting, increasing profits, increasing sales. Invest in the right people – hire the best employees who understand you and your business well. Seek help from experts, especially in matters such as finance.

5. Value Your Customers

Though this point is the last one in this list, nobody can exaggerate the importance of customers. In fact, every point mentioned above is connected to customer-satisfaction. It is that one thing that’s going to get you trust, fame, and reputation. When people are happy with your service, they will talk about it. Your customers become your promoters. Never take your customers for granted; they are the ones who decide whether your business will be a successful one.

Success in Education

Although education doesn’t guarantee, it can undoubtedly take you closer to success. But how can you make sure that you succeed in your education? You’d ask what the grades are for. Well, the grades measure your knowledge. But merely having knowledge doesn’t imply you’ve succeeded as a student. Then what is it that you should consider while determining whether or not you are successful in education? Let’s find out.

1. Apply Your Knowledge

Education is not complete without the practical application of the knowledge you acquire. When you learn something, it is also important to know how to put this knowledge to use, when confronted with a situation in real life. Whether you are in school, high school, or in college, at any given point in time you should know the purpose and use of what’s being taught to you. Learning to grow, and not just for grades.

2. Teach What You’ve Learned

At times, you learn something and then you forget it in a few days’ time. Actually, that happens when you’re not learning but memorizing. Rote learning will only get you good grades, but it doesn’t teach you how to use the techniques you have learned. The best way to ensure you understand what you read and write is to try explaining it to yourself. The way a teacher would do. They rightly say, teaching is learning twice.

3. You Control Your Education

You have to make the most of your education. If after the class you feel you need to know more, you can look up on the web. You’d find almost all the information there, however, some of them might be difficult to understand or even incorrect. In such instances, do not shy away from approaching your teachers or seniors who know the subject well. You do not have to rely on anyone else to learn, but on yourself. You are responsible for your education.

4. You Get Decent Grades

Though grades are not the only way to determine your success in education, they are surely one of ways of ascertaining that the child has knowledge about the subject. In order to become a successful student, you do not have to top the class. Getting above average grades is enough to gauge that the child has put in the efforts to acquire the knowledge.

5. All-round Education

The role of education is not just to impart knowledge; it is to ensure all-round development of a child. A complete education presents you with ample opportunities to participate in different kinds of sports, cultural activities like plays, dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, and more. A child should be encouraged to cultivate hobbies and spend some time on them regularly.

6. You Know How to Face The Real World

You will have succeeded in education when you know that you are ready for life, the real life. Schools and colleges are very different from the big, bad world out there. A student should know how to communicate, whether it is asking questions or speaking their mind; they should know how to think logically, and how to have a better control over their emotions. Of course, you get better at these things with practice, but it would be much better if the practice begins when the child is in school. That’s the formative years of your life and most things you learn during this time, stays with you forever.

Success in Career

Everybody wants a successful career. And why not! But we hardly ever try to analyze that the career we have is as successful as we want it to be, or if we are just trying to meet the standards set by others. For example, most people in the world who are excellent in their existing roles end up getting promoted to become managers, senior managers, department heads, general managers, and so on.

This is good, except for the fact that not everybody is wired and willing to be managers, in the first place. This is why it is important, that you determine what a successful career means to you. These pointers will help you in doing just that.

1. Are You in The Right Job?

You must understand which profession is the best for you keeping in mind your talents, skills, and interests. Once you know that, find out the jobs that are best suited for you in terms of the job profile, work culture, and your style of working. This is the home work you must do before you choose a job or a career.  

2. Have Clear Career Goals

Set financial, skill-based, and position-based goals for yourself along with the approximate time when expect to meet them. Your career moves should always be aligned with these goals as that would mean that you know what you’re doing at every stage of your career. When you plan to quit your job, or switch to a new one, or take a sabbatical, always run through this list.

3. Your Job Role Justifies Your Potential

A career cannot be successful when what you are doing in your job is only half of what you could actually achieve. In fact it should be just the opposite. A career should be challenging enough to make you stretch your limits every now and then. It should present you with opportunities to learn new skills and grow as an individual.

4. You Are Proud of Your Job And Journey

When someone asks about your career, do you feel proud while you tell them what you do? If yes, you have a wonderful job and career. We all deserve to have a great career and if we don’t have it yet, it is up to us to change that. Maybe you like your job, but do not get along too well with your employer. So, if you can’t make the situation at work better, then maybe it is best to find an employer that will be most compatible with you.

5. Work-Life Balance

Your career should not keep you busy the entire day, a good career is the one where you have enough time to spend with your family, friends, and do other personal tasks. Having a successful career doesn’t mean compromising on your personal life. If your job doesn’t allow you to maintain a work-life balance, it’s time to re-think your choice.

Habits of Highly Successful People

Success is the outcome of hard work, determination, perseverance, and patience. It doesn’t come to you by luck or by chance. Your actions compel it to find you. That’s what most successful people around the world believe in. They know how to make the most of any situation and how to keep trying for their goals, no matter what.

Let us take a look at what habits of highly successful people make them what they are today.

1. Being Passionate 

Most successful people have chosen the jobs or built businesses around their passion. Passion may be a strong word; simply put, these are the things that they like doing. When you do something you love, you are motivated to keep going back to it again and again, and you want to get better at it each time. Hence, you are more likely to excel in your field. And excellence and success are closely related.

2. Spending Time with Oneself

A lot of successful people have known to spend time by themselves, to reflect upon their decisions, actions, and to work on them if they thought they could do better. Also, most creative and innovative ideas come to you when you are alone. Spend some time all by yourself every day to meditate, dream, or to simply ponder over your life goals. It will give you a break from all the chaos a day brings with it.

3. Avoiding Negativity in All Forms

Successful people are surrounded with negativity as much as we all are. They have negative people as their colleagues, friends, and acquaintances. They also get negative feelings that tend to demotivate them, just the way we experience. However, there is a difference between people who are successful and those who are not. Successful people know how to choose what is best for them to achieve their goals, and avoid everything else that pose as threats or hindrances to their progress.

4. Starting Your Day Before Others Do

Wake up early. Most people who have been successful agree with this. It gives you a head-start in the day as you start your day much earlier than others do. By the time most people begin their day, you will have finished some of your tasks already. Also, mornings are the time when you’d face the least amount of distractions, so why not make the most of it.

5. Dealing with Distractions Effectively

Whether you are successful or not, each one of us has to face so many distractions everyday especially now, with social media playing such a prominent role in our lives. Checking your phones every now and then is inevitable. Successful people know how to handle distractions that come their way.

Though they can’t eliminate them completely, they have learned to work around them. For example, you could have fixed time slots in the day for your social media activities which could also be your break time from work. When some clients decide to drop in for no particular reason and you have to entertain them, you could take them for lunch or dinner break, which ensures you’d still have your fixed working hours. Think of different ways to deal with your distractions.

6. Learning

Every successful person knows how to stay one step ahead of others; the key is learning. They are never tired of learning new things such as a new skill or language, new tools in the business, or technologies. They have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and they will seek out innumerable ways to acquire it. Most successful people believe when you do not learn your growth becomes stagnant.

7. Playing to Your Strengths

No one is capable of doing everything. You cannot expect one person to be good at communication, team-building, problem-solving, and marketing. Successful people know this very well. They are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They also know that some weaknesses could never be fixed. So they focus on their strengths instead; they try to excel in their strong areas. They play to their strengths to make their weaknesses seem insignificant.

8. Know About Yourself

Out of so many things this article discusses, there are three things you need to remember about success at all times. First up, nobody can tell if you are successful or not, but you. You decide what you want to be successful at and then work towards that goal. Secondly, success can happen to anyone. Your efforts and dedication decide whether or not you are successful. There are no other eligibility criteria, not even luck.

All you have to do is work, and never give up. Last but certainly not the least, you own your life and therefore, you also own your success. So, if nothing is going right for you or if you’re stuck with obstacles, it is only up to you to decide what you’re going to do about them. Every person has to fight against the challenges, difficulties, and negativities. It is how you handle them that determines whether you’d be successful or just an ordinary person.