I haven't posted this kind of material in a while, but I feel like it's time to share some of my thoughts based on experiences and what I've learned from my mentors again. When I speak of success I mean the feeling of accomplishment, the satisfaction that comes from turning ideas and visions into reality, the manifestation of your aspirations and achievement of goals, happiness, fulfillment and a journey of joy. Whatever that may be for you, there are certain key ingredients that I have noticed, when it comes to achievement... experienced in my personal life, witnessed in other people's successes and listed for myself. Now I want to share with you some of the points that stuck out to me the most.
Sure, this is an endless list, but I cut tried cutting it down to 10 main points and split it into two digestible parts for you.
I hope you enjoy the read.
1. TIMING - RECOGNIZING OPPORTUNITIES
Recognizing opportunities is a big one, especially in the era we live in. Our economy is changing and shifting at a rapid pace like never before, and if you are one of the first to recognize and opportunity AND act upon it, before anybody else believes in it or thinks it's the right thing to do, you can win big time. Being one of the first is always scary, even though there is little to no risk in many cases. It might not work, but there is a chance it does and one thing is for sure... If you wait until it works for others, it's often too late for you. I don't regret any of my decisions, but looking back.. I realize that I was one of the first few people who spread the word about Youtube when I was really young, I believe it was 2009. I made a few videos with friends for fun, but at the time didn't realize the opportunity and missed it. You can imagine what would've happened if I had built a following all those years, yup I'd be a Youtuber now. To be honest I'm glad I didn't and chose a different path, but this is a prime example of recognizing moments and what happens if you don't.. time goes by and new opportunities comes. So the fact that you're here on Steemit reading this, already shows you are aware of the benefits of doing before everybody else cares.
2. ACCEPTING FEAR - RATIONAL THINKING
If you've been following my blog since the early days, you know that I have a couple of articles regarding this topic. I truly believe that you should not aim at eliminating fear, but rather aim at confronting it, understanding where it comes from and learning to work with it. In short: Doing things inspite of fear. Most people are afraid of failure, not because of failure in itself, but because of what other people might think about them. We are afraid of judgement. Now if we go back in time and take a look at where that fear comes from, you will find that your mind works on past experiences and you make decisions and accordingly, even if they are irrational. Your mind cannot differentiate between reality and imagination, memory and moment, which is the only reason why we act irrational. There is soooo much to learn about this topic and I wrote a few articles on this matter, but just know that if you are willing to get to know your fears, analyze and examine them and are subsequently able to gain back control over your life and not let fear get in your way, you are unstoppable and can celebrate a huge success milestone.
3. SELF AWARENESS - KNOWING HOW YOU WORK
This is so incredibly important! You can google "how to be productive" as many times as you want, search the internet for hours and you will find a billion different answers and approaches. Why? Because we all are wired differently. Some work better at night, others in the morning. Some work best when under pressure, others need freedom. You might need to structure and plan everything or just think in your head and just go for it. It sounds so obvious "you are different", but it's true and it needs to be on top of your priority list... getting to know the real YOU. Especially in our ever-changing world of trends you can easily get lost and forget about what matters most and will always be sustainable. Over the last few years this is a huge lesson that I've learned... the hard way. I've tried what has worked for other people, looked for answers to my problems by looking at others. Eventually I got to a point where I realized that no matter what I would try, the only things I could do is those that I love doing, those that are ME and those that I would do even if no one else would want to do them and that's when everything changed for me. I am still on this journey, but I've also come a long way already as a young woman and am happy that I've found many ways regarding my daily routine and choices in life that work for me and continue to guide me in the direction of my purpose.
4. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE - PRODUCTIVITY
"Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the capability of individuals to recognize their own and other people's emotions, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal(s)".
It's a skill that can transform your life, your personal life just as much as your business life, because it's about people. Everyday we have to do with people. We work with people, you might have customers that happen to be people, and you might have a partner. Many problems in general are formed by lack of empathy. Period. It's the number one thing that can determine the success or failure of a friendship, business or marriage. When you are looking for investors for example one thing you need to know is that investors are people. Nobody invests purely in a project, that would just be an idea. People invest in people. People they believe in and trust. In the business world it's easy to forget that everything is based on relationships and humanity. This is something I learned particularly in Dubai and in general in the UAE, where business deals have a lot more to do with relationships than ideas.
A different view where EI comes into play: Productivity. If you train your EQ, you will notice that your decisions become a lot more rational, because you can identify your emotions and when for example you "don't feel like doing something" you are able to quickly view this feeling from a third perspective and then put less weight on it because you know that this short-term comfort your inner voice is hoping for, is not what you actually want and so you act inspite of this feeling.
5. FUEL - CURIOSITY
Many people would add to the list of "ingredients for success" that you have to have ambition/willpower/a definite purpose. And I agree that for a lot of people that is their "secret ingredient". However, that does not mean you cannot be successful if you don't have this kind of aggressive force inside you, a flame in your soul that wakes you up every morning and gets you to do things. What every successful person has and anybody striving for success needs, is simply a reason and I call that reason fuel. If you don't have fuel, or little fuel you will run out of energy quickly and give up as soon as an obstacle comes your way. But don't worry if you think you're missing this kind of fuel, because we all have it and just need to realize it. We humans are curious beings, we were born curious and without it wouldn't be capable of walking, speaking, solving problems or doing anything. We all have to learn first in order to master something and in order to learn we have to be curious. Now this same curiosity you can apply to any area of your life. My fuel and goal at the same time has always been
"exploring my potential, testing limits and knowing what I'm capable of". When you need motivation, this is a practice you can always come back to. Just ask yourself "But what if.. I could do more push-ups than I think I can... but what if... I could build a business... LET ME FIND OUT". And with the approach of "just wanting to know if it's possible" you cannot loose and eventually will win.
Part 2 is on the way...
(Btw. I'm so busy right now, I completely forgot to thank you all for 2000 Followers! It's incredible to me how quickly this community is growing and I'm very grateful for all the support and positive comments. It feels like I know you all in person. A 2000 Follower Special is coming soon. I'm thinking about a live-stream where I can get to know you better and you can ask me any questions. What do you think?)
Question of the day: What is the number one thing you struggle most with and why? And what is the number one thing that is working great for you in achieving your goals?
Much love,
- Mrs.Steemit