Success in life is certainly possible, but not something that will just fall into your lap. You will have to put in the effort and work hard, but it will reward you with success in life and work. See step 1 to get started.
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Part 1 of 3: Building the Foundation for Success
Step 1. Find out your priorities
Success doesn't just mean having clear goals that you want to achieve. You have to sort out your priorities and decide what is most important to you. Knowing what your priorities are will help you set goals that will make you feel happy and successful.
- You have to decide what is the most important thing to achieve: do you want to have a family at any given time? Do you want to be a professional writer? Do you want to become an influential expert in the medical field?
- List the important things you want to accomplish, with the most important at the top. As you make plans to achieve those goals, you should review the list again, making revisions when things change and crossing out goals that have been achieved.
- Remember, just because something is a priority, doesn't mean it won't change. It does not matter. Life often takes you in directions you don't expect, but at least if you have an idea of what you should strive for, you will be better at achieving what you want and changing those desires when you have to.
Step 2. Find your "element"
This is what moves you, something you do with love. The saying goes that something you do to postpone other things like work, is what you should make work.
- It can be anything: writing, drawing, dancing, computer science, cooking, archaeology. The point is that reinforcing this "element" within you will make you feel more fulfilled and happier.
- Remember, you may use this skill in unexpected ways, as long as you are open to the possibility of doing so. For example: you may be training to become a professional dancer, but instead of performing on stage, you use those skills to teach children with disabilities to dance. You use that "element" in ways you probably never imagined. It was a success.
- Practice those skills. Even if you're good at writing, you won't be great unless you read and keep writing. If your job is not writing, set aside some time before or after work (earlier is probably better, because you are not exhausted) to write. The same goes for other skills.
Step 3. Make a plan
To be successful, you can't just sit back and wait for life to give you the tools you need. You have to make a plan and adapt to whatever life throws at you. Remember, plans can change, but you should always try to move forward.
- Once you've decided what your priorities are, you'll need to have both long-term and short-term plans to achieve them, so that they don't just become dreams.
- For example: If you decide that your priority is to act on stage, you should take acting classes (and playwriting lessons) and start joining a local theatre.
- If you want to study Egyptology, as another example, you need to go to college and study ancient Egypt, you have to learn to read hieroglyphs (as well as Greek and Latin to find out what they thought about Egypt, depending on the period). You will need to specialize in your interests (eg Middle Kingdom burial practice) and continue on to graduate school. All of these should be on your to-do list. Getting the right education to become a renowned Egyptologist takes a lot of time and effort.
Step 4. Ask for help
No matter how great a person seems to be at achieving success on their own, they always have many different kinds of help: the public school system that allowed them to get an education (if not the greatest!), relatives who helped cultivate their interests and families who sent them to college (for example).
- Don't be afraid to reach out to people, especially those who can help you reach your goals. This method does not have to be a one-way assistance. For example: if you want to be an archaeologist, you can volunteer in your city's museum, so you can help them and they can give you good references.
- Make sure that you also help others when the opportunity arises. The more you cultivate an atmosphere of giving, the more help you will get.
Part 2 of 3: Striving for Success
Step 1. Keep learning
You can't stop learning. Being a lifelong learner can help you avoid diseases like Alzheimer's, and it's also a great way to keep yourself interested and involved in the life around you.
- Studying can include anything from reading history books about your specific area, so that you can talk insightfully about the different historical sites in your area.
- Don't be complacent in your learning. When you stay in your comfort zone too much, you don't challenge yourself and sharpen your brain. So, if you're interested in history, broaden your interest and learn about math or a language.
Step 2. Work hard
Success is impossible to achieve without hard work. You have to practice the skills you already have in order to hone them. Much of the work you do will be invisible to others, and that's why it's important that you choose your priorities. Otherwise your energy will be drained by constant demands to do things you don't enjoy.
- Stay focused on your priorities. Even if you work in a field that doesn't necessarily align with your priorities, find ways to change that. Try bringing a spark of creativity or humor into things like food service, customer service, or boring office work. For example, if you are an artist, try improving the presentation of your work with some artwork, just enough to make it more interesting and enjoyable.
- While a lot of success seems to come from luck, most people get lucky because they worked hard to be in the right place at the right time. Chances are you don't see all the background effort they put into getting to one place (unless they have connections, but most people don't).
Step 3. Turn your failures into learning experiences
One important difference between successful and unsuccessful people is the way they respond to obstacles, which are unpredictable. No matter how hard you work and how talented you are, one day you will face failure and successful people are those who can face failure by moving on.
- Instead of looking at failure or obstacles as a reflection of yourself, it's better to ask yourself what you learned from that failure. What can you improve for the next step? When you have all the resources in the world at your fingertips, how will you deal with problems? How do other people approach problems like this?
- Once you've used it to study, let the "failure" pass. You already have the preparation the next time you face such problems. If you drown and punish yourself, you will make the next problem more difficult to deal with, because you are already in the mindset that you are a failure.
Step 4. Take risks
You cannot be successful without risk. People who are always in their comfort zone will never reveal a world of greater opportunity, where true success lies. You have to be willing to face your fears and the possibility of failure and get out of your comfort zone.
- For example: if talking to other people makes you anxious, try at least one conversation a week with someone you don't know. These conversations can be as simple as asking for the time and discussing bus delays. Can also ask the store clerk to help find something. The more you do it, the easier it will be. And talking to other people is the most important part of being successful (because you need to solicit and network with people).
- Get out of your comfort zone. Push yourself to do things you wouldn't normally do. Take a free yoga class, or take a free lecture at the city library and ask a few questions. Try your skills in a cooking class.
- The more you expose yourself to the outside world, the easier it will be for you to face life when things go wrong, because you have experience solving problems when you are outside your comfort zone.
Step 5. Create positive visualizations
It's amazing that the power that the brain has to make you successful or unsuccessful is based solely on how you think about things. When you focus on the negative, your life will feel like a failure no matter how many accomplishments you have accomplished and you will find that all obstacles are more difficult.
- Go back to your priorities and imagine yourself achieving success in all of those visualizations. Imagine yourself having a happy family, or imagine yourself as a theater star in your city, or giving an honors lecture in Egyptology.
- The more specific and detailed your visualization is, the more successful it will be in building positive force, so imagine the sounds of people moving excitedly in their chairs, imagine them leaning forward, feel the heat of the stage light, hear the sound of your future child laughing.
Part 3 of 3: Becoming Successful
Step 1. Help others
Philanthropy and helping others are critical to continued success, as you form the chain in society and build a support system. It will also help you, in the long run. Not only does philanthropy play a huge role in your own life, by strengthening your health and self-esteem, but it also makes your community a healthier place.
- Even if you can't do it yourself, you can help others. You can donate a little money to a local project you support. You can give your time and skills to local nonprofits that need help.
- You can do simple good things and help the people in your life. You can buy coffee for the person in line behind you. You can offer to look after your sibling's children. You can help your parents clean the house every week. The effect of your generosity will spread out to the society you live in.
Step 2. Make the connection
Building connections is very important to achieve success in life. It means more than just networking with people who will help you achieve your goals. It also means connecting with people like friends and family who make our lives workable and banish the threatening feelings of loneliness.
- Of course, you should try and build a network with people who can help you achieve your goals. There's nothing wrong with that. You can do simple things like ask for advice from people you admire in your field, or you can ask for letters of recommendation, or even ask for a job.
- Networking means talking to other people. So do something more like meeting the professor after class and politely say that you enjoyed the lecture and tell him about your interests.
- Build community whenever you can. Take part in the society you live in. Go to events organized by your community, help with philanthropic projects, talk to the people around you and show them that they matter (eg ask them something and really listen to what they have to say). A strong community helps each individual succeed, because society supports them from behind and lifts them when they fall.
- Do not burn the connecting bridge. Of course you should keep toxic people out of your life, but getting rid of these people instead of keeping them, even just an arm's length away, can have a negative effect on you. People love to talk to each other and the world is a smaller place than you realize. You can tell someone when they hurt you in a way that allows for further dialogue. It also means admitting your own mistakes.
Step 3. Take care of yourself
You will not be successful in life if you are so focused on your goals that you forget that you have a life and that you have to take care of yourself. Your health will be affected and your quality of life will be too. People so often focus on survival and on "success" that they forget that they are alive. Success is when you feel happy, fulfilled, and enjoying life. Success is not about money and popularity or attracting the "right" partner.
- Exercise is a great way to help regulate your body's systems and keep you healthy. Exercise releases chemicals like endorphins that help your mental health and pump blood to your heart and the rest of your body. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise every day, such as yoga, brisk walking, running, and dancing.
- Eat right. This doesn't mean you don't eat your favorite foods anymore. It's just that as much as possible you should eat lots of fruits and vegetables, that you try good carbohydrates (like brown rice, quinoa, oats, oatmeal) and that you eat more protein like salmon and nuts which help support the immune system and better in regulating blood sugar.
- Get enough sleep. Sleep is a problem in the modern world. Sleep helps regulate stress levels, helps improve health problems, and makes us more alert and energetic. Try to get 8 hours of sleep every night. Turn off all electronic devices 30 minutes before bedtime and try to go to bed before midnight.
- Drink lots of water. Your body consists of a large percentage of water. When you are dehydrated and not functioning normally, you will feel dizzy and tired, and this can lead to serious health problems. Drink at least 8 glasses a day and try to avoid drinks that cause dehydration such as coffee.
Step 4. Take care of yourself
In the end, finding priorities, setting goals, and setting schedules and building networks won't make you successful in life unless you're happy. To do so you have to make sure that you are not exhausted and stressed.
- Learn to say "no." Only you can set boundaries for yourself. Philanthropy and donating time are great things, but only if you first make sure that you give yourself time too. If you don't want to go to a party, if you need time to recuperate and can't help with fundraising, then politely say "no."
- Do something fun. Do something to pamper yourself. Take a long bubble bath and read a book. Go alone to the beach on the weekends and enjoy the pleasure that no one else's needs should be taken care of but your own. You know what makes you happy. Remember to set aside time to do fun things for yourself.
Tips
- If you want to be successful, you must have the guts and the courage to create and manifest what you want.
- Keep trying new things, especially when you're not really sure what your skills and priorities are. The more you try, the faster you will find what you love.
- Luck is something very useful, but it's not everything. Very often the people who seem the luckiest are the ones who put themselves in the outside world and make things happen.
