What You’re Getting Wrong About Success
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One of the most important things for every young person is to achieve success. Although many people have their own thoughts and terms of engagement when talking about success, there is a lot more to learn about it.
Success can be a subjective thing, simply put, success depends on the point of view.
However, the major problem is when some people think they have figured everything there is to be learned about success, and then they let themselves down much later.
Have in mind that there are a lot more things that you can get wrong about success than the number of things that can help you understand the concept fully and prepare you much better for any situation, both mentally and physically.
In this article, you will learn more about some common misconceptions about success and your question of what you are getting wrong about success will be answered.
In addition, there will be a part of the text that will cover the various aspects that can be a hindrance in reaching success, in a way.
Near the end of the text, there will be a questionnaire that will cover some common questions or problems that are related to success. Enjoy the article.
CAN “SUCCESS” BE DEFINED SOMEHOW?
The word “success” is defined as “an accomplishment of the aim or a purpose”. However, is there a true meaning of success?
Usually, the aim or the purpose one has depends on the person. In other words, maybe someone has an aim of winning a sprint race, someone maybe has a goal of writing and publishing a novel.
And maybe some person has made a purpose for themselves to found or lead a company. Whether you won a race, wrote a novel, or have been put at the helm of a company, those are all successes, in their own and unique way.
Success can also be defined as the number of goals you have set for yourself and which you have completed. As long as you have a goal of doing something and working to get there, you are set to achieve success.
As mentioned before, success depends on the person and its goals and experiences. Here are some examples of various people giving their own definition of success.
G. Brian Benson, the author of “Habits of Success: Inspired Ideas to Help You Soar” tells that success for him is giving your best to move towards something, a particular goal.
Vid Lamonte’ Buggs Junior, the founder, and owner of VBJ Enterprise believes that success is obtaining the feeling of happiness from achieving your aims or goals.
Rafael E. Salazar, CEO of Rehab U Practice Solutions company, is of opinion that you have found success if you find meaningfulness and fulfillment in your work.
Different people have different opinions on success if you wish to learn more about some other people and their own takes on success, head to this article and give it a read.
WHAT PEOPLE OFTEN GET WRONG ABOUT SUCCESS
As mentioned, the amount of success one can have can only be gauged subjectively. Having said that, there are still a lot of misconceptions most people have about success.
These misconceptions can often hinder people from getting to that final square and feel the sweet taste of success.
This is why covering these misconceptions is important for everyone. In order to become a successful person, you first need to know what you need to change or improve about yourself.
1. You Should Obtain Success All on Your Own
The most common thing that people get wrong about success is that you have to earn it by yourself, alone. Even though that is alright, there is no shame in getting help.
Many successful people have not achieved success on their own. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, founded Facebook with his friends and has run the company with them for a certain period.
They all started in a dormitory room together and brainstormed the idea that evolved into what we all know today as Facebook.
The main point is that you need to be surrounded by people who think like you, who are focused like you and ready to work and earn whatever they set their eyes on.
Another important aspect of “teamwork” is that you can learn from your colleagues, their knowledge can cover your shortcomings, as your knowledge can cover their shortcomings.
If you think you can achieve success on your own, then go for it, by all means. Just have in mind that asking for help or support might prove to be beneficial to you.
In addition, a great number of successful people have been under the tutelage of someone, they have had a mentor in the earlier parts of their career.
You need someone to show you the ropes in order to speed up the process of succeeding in a certain aspect of life.
On the contrary, if you do not accept anyone’s help, you might succeed eventually, however, the process will be at a snail’s pace and you might arrive too late to that “success party”
All in all, obtaining success on your own is a doable feat, however, it is not something that everyone should go for.
Strive for the situation where you gather like-minded people around you and team-up to achieve success together.
Or at least find someone who will be willing to teach you everything that is necessary for you to succeed.
2. Not All of Us are Destined to Be Successful
This is one of the most detrimental misconceptions about success. It is particularly dangerous because this state of mind makes you give up even before you put in a solid try.
Most successful people were at this part of their journey to success: the self-doubting part where they might think they are not cut up to this.
But they did not desist, they went through the self-doubt and overcame that giant obstacle.
When looking from a different point of view, it is understandable why people think about this.
When you look at a successful person, you see that particular person’s end goal. In addition, you hear how young that person was when they took an interest in a particular field in which they are considered successful.
Then you start to self-reflect. It is either the case that you consider yourself to be too old to do anything, or you simply have not had the same chances the successful person had to the path of success.
That is why some people believe that a certain person has always been destined to succeed, which is incorrect.
In terms of age, there is not a set age limit to when can one achieve success. In the course of the history of the world, there have been a lot of cases of people who achieved a lot in their late years.
These so-called “late bloomers” did not think that some of their peers were destined to succeed, unlike them, but went to work and left a trace in human history.
Ray Kroc and Soichiro Honda, among many others, would whole-heartedly disagree about the age limit and “already written in stars” or destiny.
Remember what has been mentioned in this text: there are varying levels of success. No matter whether it would be a high position in a certain company or starting a family, there are a lot of things that can be a success.
Having said that, each and every one of us is actually destined to achieve various degrees of success, no matter how small they may seem to some people.
All in all, there is no such thing as someone “not being destined to succeed”, there is no such thing as insignificant success, so in a way, we will all achieve something that we will be proud of, eventually.
3. Success is a Road Which Must Be Completed Flawlessly and Perfectly
Most people believe that successful people are resistant to mistakes, which is the main reason they are successful in the first place.
Mistakes should not be seen as the end of the world, on the contrary, they should be welcomed, as they provide a huge learning experience.
In reality, there is not a person who has never made a wrong decision or a mistake in their life. Mistakes can actually be pretty beneficial.
As the majority of successful business people, you should welcome mistakes and failures, as well. It is due to the simple fact that it is easier to learn from a mistake and never repeat it.
If you go through life never making a mistake, you will never learn how to behave when you find yourself in such situations, in other words, you will be deprived of valuable experience.
Now, this does not mean that you should strive for errors and mistakes on purpose, but give your utmost best and do not let an obstacle push you away completely off-course and make you give up.
All in all, success is not a road that you follow until you reach your goal. It is a road which has a fork in the road, which has another fork in that part of the road.
You will definitely take a wrong turn but you will get back to the right path. Just remember to not give up after taking that one, five, ten wrong turns, and get back to reaching that final aim of yours.
If you wish to learn how to make the best out of your mistakes and hurdles that you come across, this article might help you learn to use them to your advantage.
And if you wish which mistakes other famous and successful people like Oprah Winfrey and Mark Cuban have made and learned from throughout their lives and careers, check this site out.
4. You Need to Be at the Right Place at the Right Time to Succeed
Oftentimes when people talk about other successful people, the term “being at the right place at the right time” is thrown around.
This might be true for some situations, however, for something that is as huge as achieving success, it is too random, unfortunately.
You should definitely not rely too much on this saying. Instead, you should strive to be the right person.
Because the right person even at the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. Be prepared, learn new things, become the right person, success will follow suit.
You might wonder how can you become the right person, what do you need to improve about yourself?
One of the most important ones is determination and willpower. These two, they usually go hand in hand, because having strong determination will fuel your willpower.
It also works the other way around, being a person of incredible willpower will help you achieve everything you need.
There are a lot of ways to develop strong determination, most of the ways are linked with you arranging your thoughts and mentally cleaning yourself up.
Additionally, you have to see yourself as a person who is capable to be a leader, so work on your leadership skills and traits.
Be trustworthy and charismatic because you need your colleagues and people around you to believe in your vision and help you achieve success together.
All in all, being at the right place at the right time is an overly general statement and a pretty wide time window to look at and try to understand or analyze.
You should not just wait and hope that success will hit you in the head. The cases where this statement is true are few and far between.
The only way you can be successful is to become the right person that will become an asset in any field of expertise you yourself want to be successful in.
5. You Only Need One Chance After Which Everything Starts Falling Into Place
This statement is not entirely wrong, but it still presents something that can be detrimental to any person who wants to be successful.
The part with one chance depends on the situation. If you are talking about a job interview, then it can be truthful: you have that 10-minute window to impress your potential employer, use it.
However, “everything falls into place” part is untrue. Success is actually a process that must be maintained.
Waiting for things to fall into place is similar to the previous entry of “waiting for the right place and right time” so that everything can fall into place on its own.
Laziness is not a trait that can benefit you, in every way imaginable. As previously said, you must continue to go towards your goal and success, it is a job that requires attention 24 hours a day.
All in all, your job does not stop when you reach a certain step that you thought was difficult. You have to use that momentum, avoid taking a break and continue working your way up to the goal.
Mark Cuban was mentioned in this text earlier, do you think he let everything fall into place after founding his first company?
His appetites grew larger and aim higher, so he sold the company, and invested money into start-up companies and is known as one of the famous and most successful businessmen in the United States.
His business ventures are interesting to read about, give this article a read if you are interested in his business ventures
6. Once You Obtain Success, You Can Relax
This is something that most people get wrong. People dream about becoming wealthy and successful, then taking a well-deserved break and relaxing.
The point is that you should not relax and settle for what you have achieved. You have to teach yourself to always working towards something that has the potential to be great.
One of the greatest examples of a successful person who did not settle for what he had initially achieved is Elon Musk.
He found companies like Zip2 and PayPal, selling them later to invest in companies that would help him chase his greatest dream: sending people to outer space and colonizing other planets.
Elon Musk did not relax after founding Zip2 and PayPal, he continued to develop bigger and bigger aims and dreams until he was satisfied with his position.
His life and path to success was not a pretty one but is an amazing lecture that you have to read.
All in all, success is not a road covered with rose petals, all shiny and bright. You have to work to get to it and even build more and more goals and steps for you to continued climbing.
Of course, you are allowed to relax, it is not good for you in a physical and mental sense to work non-stop, but have in mind to never get yourself used to that period of relaxation.
You have to perpetually try and one-up yourself and your achievements until you fulfill your dreams, no matter how small or big they may seem for you or other people at first, a goal is a goal, nonetheless.
7. Success is Measured By the Amount of Money You Have Earned
Money is a pretty important aspect of everyday life, however, it is not an accurate gauge of success. Of course, most serious businessmen are extremely rich, but what is the figure that makes you successful?
There is no such number. Currently, the richest businessman in the world is Jeff Bezos, founder, and CEO of Amazon Inc.
Michael Dubin, the founder of Dollar Shave Club, is not on the list, and his company is considered successful.
Even better examples could be any small niche business owners who are successful. Here is a list if you want to learn in detail about them, here a few will be named.
An online bakery that specializes in various products requiring a minimal number of ingredients. They do not earn nearly as much as any person from the list above but are considered successful.
Another good example is Lefty’s Left Hand Store, which is a store that only sells products intended for left-handed people.
The thing is that these stores have started very well. They earn enough money, people like the service there and keep them afloat.
These stores have the potential to broaden their services to other states or countries, diversify their offer and earn far more money.
But even now, they are considered to be successful businesses and they can only go up from this point.
All in all, money cannot be an exact measure of success. Jeff Bezos’ net worth is considered to be, at the time of writing, around 120 billion dollars, and his Amazon company is successful.
Michael Dubin’s net worth, at the time of writing, is around 200 million dollars, and his fresh and innovative Dollar Shave Club is successful.
The average annual salary of a successful business owner is around 100.000 dollars per year, and he is successful. No matter how much money you earn, success is a success.
You have probably thought of all these entries as something to have been set in stone, something that you simply have to check on the checklist in order to be successful.
However, some of these entries are something that all the famous and rich businessmen have had, but at some point in their lives, they all had to start from the same square – square one.
You should not be let down by some of these entries. Success is a subjective thing, the important thing is to have a goal and do your best to reach it.
THINGS THAT ACT AS A WALL BETWEEN YOU AND SUCCESS
There are many things that can be a hindrance to you, stopping you from reaching your dreams. Luckily, most of these are psychological in nature.
Psychological in nature is good because, with a lot of hard work, you can rewire your brain to think differently and totally opposite, giving you a good chance to become successful.
The first hindrance is laziness. The most common reason which disables the majority to be successful. You simply have to work hard to be successful. Especially if you want to start an online business or tech startup.
Laziness is not something that will help you in working hard, so it is essential to gradually work until you reach a point where you are satisfied with your working habits, and then develop them further.
The second one is self-confidence, or rather the lack of. Self-confidence is important because if you do not believe in yourself from the start, you have certainly set yourself for failure.
Self-confidence is something you can develop easily on your own, through different kinds of exercises.
The third obstacle that you simply have to overcome is the infamous comfort zone. A great number of people get stuck in their comfort zones and are too afraid to leave it.
Comfort zone, in layman’s terms, is the place, mental or physical, where you feel most comfortable with.
Being stuck in your comfort zone is bad because you intentionally keep yourself in an environment that you have already mastered.
You have to diversify and try new things, or else you will never be able to leave the nest and improve or obtain new knowledge. As they say, success is always outside of your comfort zone.
If you wish to know more about the reasons why you are not as successful as you want to be, check this article out, there are a lot of reasons numbered there.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Is there an advantage to trying to obtain success alone?
There is no advantage. It may be easier for you to have a team of people who will help you along the way.
However, there are a handful of examples where successful people have started out all by themselves and have succeeded, but it should not be a rule to blindly follow.
Why should I bother when I always make mistakes whatever I do and cannot financially support my climb to success?
You have to start somewhere. Mark Cuban started out as a bartender, then as a salesperson who was fired after a year of work.
Mark Zuckerberg started his social media platform project in a dormitory room at college with his friends.
They all had humble beginnings, but saw the potential in their work and talents, working through all the troubles and succeeding.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we all want to be successful. We can be easily successful if we put our minds into it. All these entries are the ones that gave you the wrong picture of success.
The most important thing is to know what you want to do and to help yourself reach that goal by any means necessary: improve, learn, listen, adapt.
Remember that success is subjective. You do not have to found a new Amazon in order to be successful.
Train, run a marathon, start small and gradually build your way up to your goal and you will be successful.
This is what everybody gets wrong about success and there is hope that this article has help someone to take a brave step and achieve success in any field of life they want to.
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