Create your personal success story: It’s up to you!
Key topic
In this lesson you will find out what exactly constitutes a success story and what you need to do to get there; or better yet, what kind of attitude you need. We will go over the details of how to determine and create success, as well as suggestions on things you need to focus on when creating your success story. It is also important to understand how to compensate for any weaknesses, past mistakes and failures by using them as lessons towards your future success.
Learning objectives
- Understand the concept of personal success
- Come up with ways to become successful
- Create conditions to utilize past failures and turn them into success
- Find the way to construct your own success story
Determine what success means to you
Everyone wants to be successful in their life; personal success, academic success, sporting success, professional success, financial success. However, not everyone realizes the commitment that it requires; most people are ultimately not willing to go that extra mile to achieve success. After all, the difference between good and great lies in the details. There are different kinds of success and it’s up to you to determine what you want, based on the goals you have set.
It is quite understandable that determining what success is for you today, could very well change in five, ten or twenty years from now. You can be successful in different things. You might initially become the most successful youngster in the team, then the top defender in your team’s history, then become a successful coach or agent and so on. You must set different goals based on your career, your skills and in what stage of your life you’re at. In order to attract whatever kind of success you are after, you have to be proactive about it. After all, you can’t sit on the bench and expect to influence the game.
Before you begin writing your personal success story, begin with reflecting on who you are, what goals you want to achieve, and what roadblocks you might have to face and overcome. The biggest reason to write things down is to give substance to your story in order to be able to visualize it and start embodying it. It’s often more likely to take action when you can identify with your purpose in life. Another benefit is that you’ll have a reference point to which you can refer back to when you feel lost or when you forget your purpose. By turning your thoughts, feelings, and goals into a story, you’re basically providing yourself with a plan to follow and a way to quantify your achievements.
When you head out on a journey, it is very useful to think things through; like the starting point, the end point, the route you’ll take and the pit stops you’ll use. When it comes to your life, the principles are still the same. Before you embark on your long journey to success, you should embark on a mental exercise regarding yourself and your goals.
Devote some time reflecting on your present situation and where you want to be one year, five years, or even ten years from now. Consider that some of your current choices may be sabotaging your chances of success, or if some habits are holding you back. The most important thing you can do for yourself is to make the conscious decision to do whatever is necessary to achieve success, and then decide on the necessary steps to execute your plan.
Create success
How do you create the conditions for success? Before we delve into this topic, let’s watch an 8-minute animated video titled “The Road to Success”.
We have seen in the video that most people give up on their dreams after they encounter the initial struggle. It’s quite easy to say that you have a dream and we already discussed the difference between having a dream and having a goal. Indeed, the willingness to pay the price in order to fulfil your goals is not easy and people who are able to do this, make sacrifices and endure setbacks and roadblocks until they become successful. If you want to create success, you will have to:
Stay motivated
Motivation is what that keeps us going forward and moving closer to the ultimate goal. Our brains are susceptible to setbacks and failures. In fact, giving up is the easy way out if you think that you are headed towards failure. You will even experience momentary and satisfying relief. This is where motivation kicks in. Motivation is the trait that reminds you that you are more powerful than you think. To stay motivated, you should remind yourself of your destination, surround yourself with people who are positive, and use all the available resources.
Create opportunities
Life is all about choices. The choices that you make will define your future. It is entirely up to you to make the first move towards creating your success story instead of stalling, procrastinating and keep waiting for the next time. Remember, opportunities rarely come knocking at your door; you have to go out and look for them and sometimes even create them. Those who make it to the top are the ones who grab even the hint of an opportunity and turn it into a success story, rather than wait for the right time or the perfect moment.
Remain committed
Just like in practice, when you keep trying to make the perfect shot or the perfect pass and you try over and over again, in life you have to do pretty much the same thing; make the extra effort, stay focused on the goals you wish to achieve and continue to work through a plan, which you can often evaluate and see if it’s working or not. If necessary, change your plan and find a new route to reach your destination, but don’t change the destination.
Utilize expert advice
You wouldn’t believe how open industry leaders are, when it comes to sharing their knowledge and experiences. The only thing that stands between you and their advice is your hesitation to reach out. It may sound very simplistic, but the best thing you can do is take your chances. The first one might say no but the second one won’t. These people are rarely shy and tend to like sharing their wisdom with people who look up to them. The actual problem is that many out there do not ask the right questions or are not willing to ask for help.
Form healthy habits
Sport success comes from repetitive action geared towards perfecting your skills and performing tasks over and over again until you get things right. Along with practice, you need to follow a specific pattern of action to supplement the practice such as leading a healthy lifestyle, being focused and determined, developing strong work ethic and so on. These are examples of habits that you can utilize in life too. They may differ but you should understand that developing healthy habits gives you a clear path on how to do things effectively.
Trust yourself
In real life, coaches and parents take the passenger’s seat; it’s you who has to do most of the work and your work will determine your future. Having faith in your abilities and trust that you can achieve your goals, is a cornerstone to success.
Evaluate your progress
The important thing is to continue moving forward and find ways to make progress in order to reach your final destination. It will probably not be a straight line, which is the reason why it is important to frequently evaluate your progress, assess your standpoint and your plan and make all necessary changes to put yourself in a position to reach your goals.
Go past the failures
Start by thinking about your past and asking questions about your character, who you were, who you have become and who you want to be. Make sure you are comfortable with everything you write down since, after all, this is who you are and what you want out of life.
Then contemplate about your mistakes in the past, the things you did wrong and the times when you failed. Make a list of all these occurrences and evaluate each situation, making a point to think of at least one thing you could have done differently. Most importantly, remember that failures are part of life and they are valuable lessons. Moreover, your past mistakes are the stepping stones that have taken you to the next chapter in your life; if nothing else, you’ve gained wisdom of what not to do in the future and found out (the hard way) what it takes to be successful.
Don’t let your past mistakes and failures consume you. Instead, find a way to put them to work, to turn them to your favor. What is it that you learned? Why did you fail? Why did you make that mistake? What could you have done differently? How could it have been avoided. These are the questions that you need to be able to answer in order to truly learn from your mistakes, avoid repeating them and use them as a stepping stone to success.
There is no win or lose in real life. There is win or learn and this is how you need to approach past failures and learn from them; use past failures and turn them into advantages for your future reference. You can rethink your worldview by considering failure for what it is, an opportunity to learn and grow. By changing your perspective, you may discover solutions to previously unsolvable problems. What you once considered a failure may actually turn out to be a learning experience that provides you with the knowledge you need to succeed in other endeavors in the future.
Create your own personal success story
There are a number of critical factors that can help you write your own personal story of success, which can motivate and inspire you, as well as give you a clear direction in life.
- It must be your story
- Create a vision
- Focus on things you can control
- Accept responsibility
- Be consistent with your values and beliefs
- Practice what you preach
- Be courageous and dare
Your personal story will help you mold your vision and give you a true sense of direction. It will act as a constant reminder of where you are and where you want to go. Your personal success story will motivate you, but will also motivate and empower others. You have the opportunity to utilize this information and make big things happen for you.
Let’s watch a 6-minute video from a TEDx Talk by Gabrielle Jordan, titled “the Making of a Young Entrepreneur”.
The Making of A Young Entrepreneur: Gabrielle Jordan Williams at TEDxRockCreekPark
Action steps – Exercise 1 (10 minutes):
- After watching the above video, describe what does success means to you. How are you going to create your personal success story and what are the first five steps that you will take to do that?
Lesson wrap-up
Today we looked at success: what constitutes success and what you need to understand and think about in order to get there. You need to determine what success is to you and that success is a dynamic concept and not a one-off deal. Furthermore, you need to understand what it takes to be successful. There is no easy way of getting there; it takes commitment, motivation and non-stop and hard work. Also, you need to utilize your past failures and mistakes properly and use them to your advantage to attain success. These are all important steps to attaining success.
At this point we will wrap up today’s lesson. First, we will go over the learning objectives of this lesson and we want your feedback as to whether they have been achieved and then we will address any questions you may have. Please feel free to ask anything you’d like in relation to today’s lesson and we would love to hear how the concepts we discussed today relate to you and your life!