Don’t bet on overnight success
Do this instead
So what?
ICYMI – Many of us, if not most, want to be successful at some point in their lives. Whether it’s inner, family, career or financial success, there is much confusion, frustration and uncertainties whenever we embark on a journey to success. Figuring out who you are, what you want and how you will achieve your success shapes the steps you will take and how you will pursuit your success. One common obstacle to this journey is the wanting (conscious or unconscious) for overnight success. Such wish makes you capricious and impatient on pursuing your success. You need to debunk this myth to succeed.
Once you have debunked it, do this instead. Not relying on overnight success means you will need to work for your success. Let’s take a look at three foundations to grinding yourself to success.
Motivation
Persistence comes first. When you are trying to succeed, you will want to do more but will lose motivation over time. Your motivation will come and go. Motivating yourself is hard because we naturally avert to persistent effort. There are a couple of strategies that you can put in place when you are motivated so you can persistently put in the effort required to succeed.
- Set goals – you need to set S.M.A.R.T. goals, goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound.
- Reward yourself – find rewards for yourself that are neither excessive nor undermining. Rewards should be complementary and reflective of your effort and its results.
Focus
Next up is focus. You need to focus your motivation and persistent effort on tasks at hand that will get you to your end goal of becoming successful. How you focus and stay focused will depend on the type of person you are. For example, some people enjoy working in a loud environment whereas others thrive in peace and quiet. Below is a short list of ways that you can improve your concentration skills and focus:
- Don’t multitask;
- Remove distractions;
- Meditate;
- Take breaks;
- Listen to binaural sounds;
- Drink coffee; and
- Don’t look at social media.
Strength
Apply your strengths from one part of life to the area that your success is related to. For example, are you good at motivating yourself to get up every morning to go to the gym? Or are you a project manager who can juggle a team, allocate time and efforts and deal with multiple stakeholders? Use these skill sets in helping you on your journey to success. You need to be intentional about what strengths you use to your benefit so you can succeed.
In case you don’t know what your strengths are, we’ve covered how to find your strengths in one of our previous post.
My experience
As I mentioned before, I’ve never had a problem with overnight success. Never believed in it and never will.
What now?
- Have you debunked the myth yet? If not, go back to our previous post. If so, let’s get on with it.
- Get in touch with us to let us know what you do to keep yourself motivated, focused and/or empower yourself to succeed.