Let's make a bold assumption: 1% of people are very successful, while the other 99% can only dream of success without achieving it. I think there's nothing wrong with saying that. I notice that most people have never truly accomplished anything in their lives, and I find that frustrating. Despite the fact that many people have dreams and aspirations for success, hoping to live a truly happy life, they can only remain as dreams and wishes.
On the other hand, why are some people able to succeed in everything? It’s as if they have superpowers. Is it possible to learn how to succeed? Can certain actions and habits be adopted to ensure that you succeed in every endeavor? Or is success, in some ways, determined by a select few through their DNA?
Some people seem to have it all: extensive networks, love, friendship, money, and success in various aspects. What makes these people different from others? The discussion of this question is quite open because I just want to express my own views, as well as the perspectives of others that have influenced my own success.
I personally believe that your childhood and early experiences play a crucial role in whether you succeed or not. The very process of your birth may determine what kind of person you will become. Although I can’t think of any specific examples, I remember reading the story of a successful individual who had a tumultuous upbringing. He was born a month premature, and it was a dangerous situation. The doctors said he might not survive, but he did. He continually fought against adversity and eventually achieved success.
Whether this is true or not is unimportant—what I believe is that everything, including your birth (even if you don’t remember it), greatly influences your willpower and the traits you develop in life. After birth, all external influences are subjective, and your parents have the most significant impact on you during your formative years.
Do you inherently possess everything you desire, or must you fight for it? Has anyone ever told you that you would never amount to anything, or did someone encourage you to always pursue your dreams and believe in yourself? You may wonder why I’m discussing childhood. Although childhood greatly impacts your success, you cannot control or change it.
The reason I talk about childhood is simple. Even though you cannot change your past and childhood, by understanding how you grew up and carefully considering your early experiences, you may be able to make necessary changes that lead you to greater success. For example, if you have always been passive and your gains have not come from your own efforts, the simple reason for your lack of success is that you haven’t worked hard enough, and when you don’t get what you want, you choose to give up.
You cannot change the past, but starting from now, if you take action, you will have the ability to change your future.
I’ve noticed that successful people have firm faith in themselves. For others, this faith may seem like foolish stubbornness, but I believe that believing in yourself is the key to success. You must wholeheartedly believe that you will succeed. Regardless of how long it takes or how many times you try or fail, having 100% confidence that you will succeed is just a matter of time and perseverance before you attain the success you deserve.
Life will always throw some significant setbacks our way, making it easy for us to give up our faith in everything we hold dear. I think it's fine to give up faith in many things, but absolutely don’t give up on believing in yourself. Always believe in yourself and that you will get everything you want if you have this mindset; then, as I said, achieving success is just a matter of time.
This leads me to the third factor in success: persistence.
Most (if not all) successful people have encountered unimaginable setbacks and failures. Did you know that the person who created Coca-Cola failed 17 times just to name his company? Yet today, that company is worth billions. He faced numerous business ideas and failed 17 times before achieving success, but he held firm in his belief and never gave up.
Take professional athletes as an example. Do you know how many hours, days, weeks, and months of training they undergo to present themselves in peak condition? If you want to succeed, you must have a spirit of perseverance. You need to view failure as a learning experience that brings you closer to success, rather than evidence of your incompetence.
You might need to change the methods you utilize to achieve success, but you must never give up until you realize your ultimate success goals. Will Smith has a great perspective on achieving success and never giving up. One of my favorite quotes from him is: "The only obvious difference between me and someone else is that I’m not afraid to die on the treadmill. You may be more talented than me, you may be smarter than me, but if we both get on the treadmill, there are only two outcomes: either you get tired and want to step off first, or I will die on the treadmill. It’s that simple."
The older I get, the more I understand about life, and I recognize that you can attract certain things into your life. Yes, I’m talking about what people refer to as the “law of attraction.” I’m not going to talk about various magical or mystical deceptive methods that allow you to get the life you desire just by thinking about it. Absolutely not.
I’ve noticed that your thoughts and the way you express them and interact with others can lead you to see opportunities, and these opportunities can guide you closer to your goals and life aspirations. I’ve read and heard stories of some successful individuals whose vision of success existed in their minds for years before they attained it. They clearly knew what they wanted and how to achieve it; everything was just a matter of time and hard work.
Some people even attribute their success to spending 10 to 15 minutes daily contemplating their goals, imagining their success in a quiet place away from distractions (whether it be a Ferrari, high-rise buildings, or the woman of their dreams). This isn't just my opinion; it has been validated in Napoleon Hill's book "Think and Grow Rich.” This book studies the mindsets, attitudes, and methods of 500 incredible successful individuals and how they achieved their current successes.
Visualizing your future daily is another remedy for success. I suggest that you post pictures or posters of your desired goals, placing them somewhere visible when you wake up in the morning and before you go to bed at night.
If you want to make progress in your success, generally, you need to make sacrifices. I'm not talking about sacrificing a goat or some other crazy ritual. I'm talking about sacrificing your current desire for quick success. I know you want results right now. You want trophies, money, a house, a partner, friends; you want all of these things, and you want them now.
However, you cannot have those things now because you need to earn them first. If you want something without effort, you are unlikely to succeed. For example, say you want to enjoy a millionaire lifestyle without understanding how to achieve it. You decide to ignore the principles of deferred gratification (sacrificing short-term pleasure for long-term enjoyment) and borrow as much from banks as possible. You buy the car of your dreams, the home of your dreams, and everything else you desire. You're enjoying a millionaire lifestyle, but the cost is that you are heavily in debt, making it nearly impossible to pay back, and you cannot earn enough money to truly become a millionaire and enjoy what you have.
Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world, lives within his means and built his wealth through hard work. He always spends significantly less than he has or earns, allowing him to save money to bring his ideas to life. This (along with luck or unique talent) has contributed to his success today.
If you don’t have money, don’t spend it. In fact, spend less than you have so that you can save enough to invest in your business ideas—which will ultimately bring you the success you desire.
I've noticed another thing about successful people: they are quite hard on themselves. They periodically analyze their methods, progress, behavior, and more to see if there is room for improvement. Successful individuals are always open to others' opinions (they listen to others, but only adopt their views if they agree).
Even though successful people are critical of themselves and their actions, this criticism is constructive, which is vital to note. Successful people set high standards for themselves and their actions to improve. This means that any criticism they receive is aimed at encouraging improvement. Successful individuals don’t destroy themselves and don’t instill negativity within themselves.
To succeed, you must hold yourself to high standards and be strict with your behavior and that of others. However, you must provide helpful criticism—without negativity, annoyance, or destructiveness—focused solely on the goal of improvement.
You rarely hear about successful people doing menial jobs in business. Indeed, most successful individuals start from various small tasks and manual labor, and they can excel at all of them. However, successful people know that the way to success is to lead in work and let others do the tedious, time-consuming tasks.
As a leader, your ideas and creativity are your most valuable assets. You must hold yourself to high standards in all aspects of your work, stay in your rightful position, and ensure that things run smoothly. In short, lead, supervise everything, and let things progress as they should without wasting your precious time and energy on trivial matters.
For example, I could spend several hours building connections for my blog to improve its search engine ranking (leading to more visitors), or I could pay others to handle that for me while I spend my time writing high-quality articles (which will attract more readers and ultimately more profits). If possible, spend your time on what you excel; other tasks can be outsourced.
I strongly recommend reading Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" and Bob Proctor's "The 11 Forgotten Laws of Attraction." Both will significantly help you achieve more success in your life.
