There is no point in sugar coating the process of becoming successful. It’s a challenging path to walk on and with numerous hurdles to jump and various curveballs to dodge along the way. One can never delineate a clear route to achieve success because everyone’s interpretation of it varies.
The key to finding hope and motivation in adversity is to have the ability to turn problems into opportunities and make the best out of limited resources to work towards achieving one’s goals. Tina Seelig, in her book called “What I Wish When I Was 20”, says that life is like an open book exam. The signs are obvious and the learning opportunities are always wide open for us to grab and utilise to grow and thrive.
Ultimately, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, and breaking that bubble around you is the only way to reach the goals you have in mind. Here are some important things to keep in mind to work towards excellence!
EMBRACE FAILURE
Facing rejection, falling on your face even after putting in a great amount of effort, and going through an unexpected turn of events can break your heart and can seem to crush your hopes and the faith you had. However, these failures teach you the biggest lessons and they point out your flaws clearly.
It is absolutely essential to break down the series of events that had caused the downward spiral and think about where you had gone wrong. Analyse the events and critically think about what you could have done differently that could have prevented the failure. Extract important lessons from each failure and always take ownership for your mistakes!
STOP BLAMING OTHERS
Some things are under our control but many other extrinsic factors are out of our hands. One has to learn how to take control of a situation based on the factors they can influence. It is not possible to control others’ feelings, opinions, or actions and it is unwise to blame someone when things have gone wrong.
Even if others around you had a huge role to play in your failure, the responsibility is still yours and you have to be the one who takes the ownership for your failure instead of blaming others. This might seem unfair but when we think about it in greater depth, this just goes to show you that you chose the wrong people to surround yourself with.
In order to achieve excellence and attain your goals, you need to be around people who exhibit maturity in their thoughts and actions. Students can seek help from parents, tuition teachers and other such parental figures. You need to socialise with individuals who are much more knowledgeable than you, as that’s the way that you can learn effectively and efficiently.
ACTIONS AND REACTIONS
Good and bad, sadness and happiness, life and death; these are dichotomies in life that every human being has to go through and there’s no way to escape from it. Newton’s third law of physics about every action having an equal and opposite reaction is a phenomenon that applies to every aspect of life beyond physics.
Every decision you make, every word you utter and every action you take has a series of consequences that follow. Like it or not, you will have to face them whether it’s good or bad. You need unflinching determination and be mentally ready to equip yourself to deal with every hurdle that comes in your way.
If you react with apprehension or decide to take flee from a predicament, you will get knocked off your feet. And this is certainly not what we want.
A GROWTH MINDSET
Don’t fix yourself in a box and label yourself in front of others. The key to keep moving forward is staying true to your authentic self. Analyse and understand what your weaknesses and strengths are, but never define yourself based on them. When you are open to possibilities and opportunities, your dreams and aspirations will be morphed into a success story one day.
Don’t be afraid to walk on a path that seems to be “unconventional”. Sometimes the unexpected detours offer you knowledge and experiences which you would have never thought of gaining! Never doubts your capabilities, get rid of the imposter syndrome that you face and trust your instincts along the way.