Chapter Two

Secrets to Your Success

What Is Success?

Everyone craves for the seven letter word success. Everybody has their own definition of success. For instance, success in career, relations, life and so on. Succinctly, success is nothing but accomplishing goals and living in peace and happiness. For some people, success is about achieving whatever they aspired for. For others, success is about doing better than what they did in the past. For some other people, success is competing and outsmarting others. There are also those who believe that success is sharing their knowledge. Yet others think that success is about making a difference in the lives of others.

People often sacrifice their present life by dreaming about the future and the taste of success that they will experience. In fact, success lies in living in the present with a great hope for the future. We need to focus more on the journey of life rather than the destination. Ben Sweetland rightly remarked, ‘Success is a journey, not a destination’ .

Success Stories

Several great leaders had setbacks in their lives. But they never viewed their setbacks as failures. They viewed their setbacks and failures as lessons and moved forward after learning lessons. Let us read about some of them:

• Bill Gates: He is one of the richest persons in the world and the founder of Microsoft. His original name is William Henry Gates. He had a passion for computers. Initially, he faced several setbacks. However, he finally succeeded in founding Microsoft. He says, ‘It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure’.
• J. K. Rowling: She is the author of the famous Harry Potter series. She also faced several setbacks initially. She was penniless and had a number of financial and family challenges. Currently, she is one of the richest women writers in the world. She achieved her celebrity status through her imagination and passion for writing.
• Akio Morita: Many of us may not know his name, but we all know his company, i.e., Sony. We all know it produces great products; but its first product was a rice cooker. The product was not good as it burnt the rice instead of cooking it. Even though his first product was a flop, it did not stop him from moving forward. He kept on looking forward and now Sony is one of the biggest companies in the world.
• Colonel Sanders: He successfully founded KFC. He failed a number of times initially and underwent a lot of rejections and ridicule. However, he ultimately proved himself as a successful entrepreneur. He also proved that age was not a deterrent for achieving success as he achieved entrepreneurial success in his old age.

There are several famous people in the world who have converted their scars into stars. Some of the best poetry about nature was written by Milton who was blind. One of the best American leaders, Franklin Roosevelt, worked from a wheelchair. All these people achieved success despite several setbacks as they did not take failure personally.

Success Sutras

Nobody is successful overnight. Several leaders have become great because they followed some sutras and implemented them effectively to reach the top. Here are some sutras for your success:

• ABCDE is the acronym for A-attitude, B-belief, C-commitment, D-decision-making and E-enthusiasm. You must have these five essential things for achieving success. You must have the right positive attitude. When people display a positive body language, others appreciate and respond positively. You should have a strong belief that you will be able to accomplish your ambitions. Commitment is essential as it helps you to reach your goals. Making the right decisions at the right time also helps you reach success. Above all, you must have enthusiasm to reach your goals.
• Passion is the first and foremost prerequisite to achieve anything and everything in this world. Choose the area you are passionate about. Love doing it. Have a clear vision about what you want to be and work towards it constantly.
• People don’t get opportunities all the time. They must be on their toes for the same and grab them. The Swedish proverb rightly says, ‘God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest’.
• It is said that a winner never quits and a quitter never wins. To achieve success, we should never stop when faced with
• Impress others with your communication skills. When you communicate well with others, you build bridges and develop a network. Such a network is very essential in today’s world to grow rapidly.
• Follow the path which is less travelled. Choose an area where there is limited competition and high success rate. Robert Frost quoted, ‘Two roads diverged in a wood and I—I took the one less traveled by.’ When you look at Steve Jobs, he followed the road less travelled and became an innovation legend.
• Maintain a diary and jot down the lessons that you have learnt in your life and ensure that you don’t repeat the same mistakes.
• Additionally, there are other secrets to your success such as dreaming more, thinking big, choosing the best, analysing twice, planning well, being confident, working hard and executing well.

Christopher Morley once said, ‘There is only one success—to be able to spend your life in your own way’. Everybody has only one life. You cannot blindly follow others because what worked for them might not work for you. Spot your talents and passion and work towards success. Here is a piece of caution—don’t worry too much about success as you will be more concerned about results than efforts. Do your duty sincerely and success will touch your toes one day. To conclude in the words of Jonathan Winters, ‘I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it’.