Midweek Drive: How to Succeed Where Others Failed

1. Be Assertive: 

Never for once should you doubt your potential. Trust and believe in yourself. We all know the road to success is always rough but remaining self-assured will help you conquer where others failed. Winston Churchill famously said, 

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." 

The starting point of all achievement is desire to to succeed void of any cloud of fear or doubt. You've to defeat that negative or limiting perception you have about yourself. Do away with every feeling of 'I can't beat this benchmark'. The moment you end up losing faith in your ability marks the beginning of your downfall while the moment you end up trusting your ability marks the beginning of your resurgence. Start trusting in the ability of the man you see in the mirror. You can only achieve something great when you quit being a self-saboteur.

2. Obviate fear: 

Zig ziglar once said:

“F-E-A-R has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.”  

It gets to a point in life when one will plunge into an ebb. Especially after several attempts towards greatness. Then fear sets in. Life nevertheless present one with two contrastive phases of fear as quoted above. It's now left to you to decide on which you think will act as a spring to bounce you towards greatness. Fear is failure’s not-so-secret weapon. Fear itself is afraid of the spotlight. Get into the habit of confronting it, and soon enough, it will be afraid of YOU. Fear is a stumbling block created by your subconscious mind, acting as a barrier between you and your goals. However, you can transform this stumbling block to a platform through which you climb the ladder of success. As Zig Ziglar said, the choice is yours.

3. Sieve criticism: 

When it comes to criticism, I'll want you to take a cue from babies. A baby may get knocked and picked apart for not quickly graduating from 'crawlers' to 'walkers'. The beautiful thing is that, it (the knocks) doesn't get to the baby because he/she refuse to familiarize with the language and manner of approach of the tormentors. However, if the baby is given the chance to work/walk at his/her own pace, in no time will baby steps be transformed into giant strides. The secret behind it all is not to familiarize yourself with destructive criticism (knocks and roasts). Reject and turn deaf ears when criticism is meant to break you and accept criticism if it's  meant to build you. Destructive criticism will only kill your dreams and aspirations. It'll create an avenue for you to start doubting your ability. Many people have had their dreams cut owing to this. Constructive criticism on the other hand will mould your dreams, renew your belief and spur you on to illustriousness. You can achieve any goal if you take no significance to destructive criticism.

"The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews." - William Faulkner

4. Make mistakes and Learn from them: 

False starts are bound to happen when one is aspiring for success. Mistakes are allowed on the road to stardom. It only starts becoming costly if you refuse to learn from every error committed. Reviewing one's strategy when mistakes and failures are recorded is the best way to succeed where others failed. Ask yourself;

What are the causes of these errors? How can these faults be corrected? What check and balance can be put in place to avoid future occurrence of such distortion?" 

5. Be unique: 

It has always been said that there is nothing new under the sun. Almost everything on this planet has been done by someone else already at one time or another. It is very okay to imitate someone's template but it must be done with discretion. Usually, achievements isn't rocket science. Analyze what you've to do to achieve your goal. What do you have in common with the person who has already attained a goal similar to yours? What else do you need to have or need to change about yourself? What obstacles are in your way and how can you overcome them? What are the ingredients to be added to make your contribution unparalleled? 

The key to success is following someone else's example while making your own contribution unique. 

"A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the dreams of others." – Chin-Ning Chu

6. Keep moving on: 

When your boat hits the rock, don't rest on oars, keep on moving! When it seems like all doors of opportunity are shut, don't be disturbed, keep on knocking! When you encounter obstacles and the only visible option is to turn back, don't give up, keep on moving! Successful people at one time or another faced grave decisions in time of crisis but no success would've been alloted to them had they thrown in the towels. Stormy situations don't last forever. When you've got a face-off with one, go back to the drawing board and come up with a strategy to outwit such situation. That is true mark of someone who will never take NO for an answer. Problems and difficulties will surely come your way when riding on the highway of success. The only justifiable thing to do is face the challenges head on and keep moving forward. Do you know Colonel Sanders? Does Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) ring a bell? Coloner Sanders founded KFC. Do you know how many times restaurant owners rejected his fried chicken recipe till he got one yes? A whooping 1009 times! Don't ever let any slight challenge make you give up on your dream. You'll win through in the end if you believe and remain steadfast. 

"Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds." – Charles Lindbergh

7. Pursue happiness: 

I've discovered that most reasons why people fail is because they ventured into endeavours that contradicts their passion. Going on a passionless mission to succeed is suicidal. It is a time bomb waiting to explode. Doing what you love and giving it your best shot will quicken your steps toward success. An adventure based on unimpassioned endeavours is meaningless and hardly materialize into success. Never make the mistake of delving into platonic ventures. Such success - if eventually attained - is very difficult to manage and at such do not last a lifetime. 

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." - Albert Schweitzer

Finally, we've come to the end of today's inspirational edition of Midweek Drive. I'm so glad you joined us today. I hope to see you again next week wednesday. Until then, do enjoy the rest of the week. Stay positive!

"The big secret in life is there is no secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work" - Oprah Winfrey

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Author: LAMBE OLANREWAJU
Column: Midweek Drive

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