I have been asked to prepare a speech labelled ‘the recipe for success’ for students who are leaving their university education and hopefully moving into their chosen fields of work.
We are all individuals with our own circumstances that either help or hinder our endeavour for success. I have always believed that whether a person achieves what they want depends solely on the character that is taking on the challenge. With this as my starting point I’ve thrown together a few thoughts that may help you in your own ventures.
Firstly and most importantly you need a goal. So many people make the error at this point by not being really specific. You don’t just get in your car and drive without having a specific destination to go to. Students at school often say ‘I want to do well in Maths’, but for me this is too general. What exactly is ‘doing well?’ It is better to say ‘I’m going to get an A in Maths’, that way there is no escaping the realm of failure. The same applies at work. How many times have you thought ‘I’d like to earn more money’? Get specific by putting an actual monetary value on what ‘more money’ means to you!
The second step is to focus. Always keep your specific goal in your mind. I’ve known people to write their specific goals down on post it notes and leave them around their house or their office at work. One person I know even sent himself an alarm with the goal via his mobile phone everyday just to remind him of where he was supposed to be going.
Be prepared for obstacles.
There will be times when you will fail. You can not change this, it’s guaranteed to happen. The test of a true champion is how they recover after a defeat.
I often speak of sacrifices. What are you prepared to give up to make your dream (specific goal) come true? I have learnt that to achieve a specific goal somewhere along the line a sacrifice has to be made. I watched the X Factor at the weekend only to see a young girl walk away from a girl group she occupied with her best friends in order to progress in the competition.
Another key element is desire. How badly do you want to achieve your goal? Things like making sacrifices will happen automatically if you want your dream bad enough. People who give up on their dream didn’t want it enough and weren’t prepared to risk everything they have in order to make it happen.
Ask yourself another question. How disciplined are you? Discipline is how you behave when no one else is watching. It’s when no one else will know whether you are putting in the hard yards.
It also still amazes me how many people talk about ‘luck’ when talking about achieving their dreams. Luck has nothing to do with it! If you work towards your specific goal every single day, stay focussed, over come the obstacles, make the sacrifices when needed because you want the goal more than anything in the world and stay disciplined, luck will take care of itself!
I could carry on but I think for now that is enough. Good luck! (You won’t need it!)