Learning to be successful

When Barack Obama launched his first presidential campaign, he discovered a unique mantra of success — Yes, We Can! The words became the anthem of his election campaigns and majority of Americans across the US voted him to power twice. All successful men and women create their own personal mantras for reaching the highest peaks of success. Consider yourself lucky if you have had the opportunity of meeting some successful people who leave a deep impression on you. Study their careers and life graphs to learn and emulate their qualities and principles, which they, perhaps, learnt from their mentors. It is a whole new endeavour to study the qualities, habits and beliefs of such inspirational people. Here are some common traits that I’ve come across in my interactions with successful men and women:

No fear of failure
They do not allow thoughts or talks of failure in their plans when they begin work or initiate a project. The aim is victory and they work hard, with single-minded focus, no matter how small the goal. Their only competition comes from themselves!  They inspire their colleagues to think positive and work as a team. Quitting is just not an option for them. They refuse to give up till success appears on the horizon. Their mistakes are lessons that help them do better the next time.

Willingness to share credit
Good leaders never hog the credit for success. They generously acknowledge the contribution of every person involved in the project. There is a dedicated effort to assemble the right team and get the best out of every member according to his or her capabilities and skills. They can judge the amount of effort needed to bring in the desired results and have immense patience to wait for the same.

False pride and ego never come in the way of successful people. They acknowledge the ideas brought to the table by others and are happy to work on them. If they miss one step in the path to success, they retract, ask for the path and go ahead with better understanding of the goal. One more thing that is common to all successful people is that they never look back. Their eyes are trained to see the future and its untapped promise.

Dare to take risks
They question given paths and always look for new ways to solve problems. They respect traditional wisdom, but also value innovative ideas as well as new thinking and methodology. They do not accept mediocrity. They take risks, which few would dare to. They choose the untrodden path and become pioneers rather than mindless followers. Once the background research is in place, they draw up a plan of action. Often, they start with the result and work backwards to design an effective plan for the success of the project.

They constantly
innovate with the ‘I can’ spirit and succeed splendidly in many cases. They seldom consider it an individual success story though; there are many important characters that shape the story. And they never forget to be grateful to all those who have added happiness, value and knowledge to their lives.

Perhaps, we can draw some inspiration from those who are living their dreams. Their struggles, their stories, their success may show us the path to our goals. If they can, why can’t we?