Motivation for Success

If there is one thing that we can probably all admit to, that thing is undoubtedly going to be success. Success can be anything or everything, whether it is in relationships, popularity or earning a lot of money. It is there and we all want it but only a handful can truly call themselves successful. Growing up I have observed a number of highly successful people, these are both people in the media and in our day to day lives. These are the qualities that I have noticed every so often and I have compiled them in order to produce this post.

1. Relentless Work Ethic

Unfortunately we live in a world where most individual accredit talent as the singular reason of success. We all know those individuals that will comment on the talent of that famous soccer/football player or that musician or even actor, they will always claim that these individuals were extremely lucky to be so talented and that is why they are so successful. That cannot be further from the truth, talent is an important factor there is no doubt about that however talent can only take you that far.
One of my favorite actors Will Smith always suggested that the only reason why he has reached his worldly success is because of his relentless even sickening work ethic.

An interview with Will Smith on Focus and Work Ethic

This theory however is not just limited to the likes of Will Smith,  we can always note that talent alone is simply not enough. Another individual that comes to mind is Christiano Ronaldo, currently the highest payed football player in the world.

We can all complain about the way dresses or the number of times he gets his haircut during a football game but we cannot deny the fact that he has an incredible work ethic. A couple of years ago, Christiano starting out in Manchester United was easily outshined by his fellow team mate Wayne Rooney, however one can easily note that Christiano has truly managed to make a great of himself by the amount of distance he has moved in such a short period of time.  His work ethic was so incredible that he managed to compete with and beat the likes of Lionel Messi, a no doubt incredibly astonishing player.

2.  Planning

Planning is absolutely essential for any form of success, I simply cannot emphasize this point enough. 

                                          “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”- Benjamin Franklin

Envision yourself as a captain of a ship and you have decided to set sail across the seven seas,  the one thing that you need to know before even setting sail is to decide upon a destination, life  can be seen as the same way. We are all captains of our lives however most of us have unfortunately have not set a  destination for their voyage. That is also reflected later in life as most of us will end up lost at sea or if lucky end up on an Island. This metaphor was used previously in a very entertaining documentary that I looked up a while ago and it was all about the significance of planning your life. Statistics show that most young 20 year olds have an outstanding outlook on life, they all believe they will attain success and riches whilst only a handful actually reach their goals. A large number of them even end up receiving financial support from the government.  I do not believe that all of these individuals simply gave up on their hopes or dreams however it is likely that some of them did but the truth of the matter is that many of them did not have a plan to begin with therefore they all end it up lost in the sea of life.

Floyd Mayweather, the most successful but also the most hated boxer in the world.

3. Standards

Whilst listening to one of my favourite motivational speakers, a man by the name of Tony Robbins.In one of his famous speeches, Tony mentions a very interesting point about standards during his speech, he tells that the gap between good and great is a lot smaller than a lot of people think. You see, good workers will work and do their job to the best of their abilities however they will never get the credit they deserve for it. On the other  hand great workers only push the boundaries a little higher than good workers and they get all the credit possible. The reason why good workers are good whilst great workers are great is solely because of standards. I would like to use Floyd as an example, Floyd was originally one of  Bob Arum's fighters, a famous fight promoter in the world of boxing. However after a number of disputes, Floyd decided to start his own promotion company namely Mayweather promotions. The media always was highly critical of Floyd because of his flamboyant lifestyle however there is a reason that a number of people tend to overlook. The reason why Floyd is the why he is, is simply because he is true to himself. Bad boy or not, Floyd is as outspoken as they come. The reason why Floyd decided to leave Bob Arum is simply because he was sick of being the B-side in boxing whilst the famous Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya had all the prosperity. Floyd decided to become his own boss and take matters into his own hand, this is because Floyd always had standards and always believed he was simply the best fighter of his generation. Hate him or love him, his success speaks for itself and he has secured a  place for himself amongst the greats of boxing.

The lesson to be learned here is to set your standards high  and be true to yourself no matter the consequences.

“You're born an original, Don't die a Copy!”- John Mason

4. Tenacity

I was fortunate to grow up to all the Rocky movies, as it was back when movies had a well made message behind them. If there is one thing that i loved about Rocky, then  that is his incredible tenacity. Rocky took hits from incredible opponents on several occasions but always persisted even if the odds were clearly put against him. I have met a number of highly talented individuals, whether it was guys in my science class growing up, my martial arts club or at the workplace. Unfortunately most of them seemed to have largely unfulfilled potential, the truth is that you can be smartest guy on the planet but you may still fail your job interview. That does not make you less of who you are but life sometimes just decides to throw you a curveball that you simply cannot control.  You have to persist and keep moving forward, if you are push back then push forward and keep going until you reach your goals. Always remember that failure is a part of success.

“When you fall, fall forward”- Dr. Denzel Washington

5. Belief

“A man can change his stars and I won't spend the rest of my life as nothing”- William Thatcher"A Knight's Tale"

I firmly believe that we are all blessed in some way or another however unfortunately not all of us are born into an ideal home or live an ideal life. Some of us  have problems at home or were born from a poor background and sometimes having an optimistic outlook in life is truly challenging.  From all the points that I have mentioned earlier, this has to be the most essential one and one that I have witnessed over and over again in a number of highly successful individuals. Although the Knight's Tale was not exactly a blockbuster movie for me personally however I found it admirable that the protagonist although came from a poor background managed to become a highly successful individual later in life. I am quite aware that it is all fiction but I have personally witnessed this same quality in a number of people from all different walks of life. As I am a big boxing fan, I will have to take into consideration the 8 division world champion Manny Pacquiao.

Manny was brought up in a very humble home and had to at times gone days without any food. He had to pick up boxing in order to get food for his family. He always had the belief that he will get out of poverty and become an incredibly successful boxer, owing to his belief and work ethic he managed to become one of the most wealthy boxers of our generation. If he can do it, what is your excuse?.

Another person that have clearly defined her destiny is JK Rowling, mainly known for publishing arguably the most popular fictional story of our generation Harry Potter. Before Harry Potter hit the top reading lists and made it into world cinema, the book was originally rejected by not one or two but by 12 different publishers. Joanne however had belief in her book and the book was then published by the 13th publisher.  

To conclude this post, success is something we all can achieve and nothing but ourselves can truly stop us from achieving it. It is about the hard work we put in, our standards, our belief and our go-getter mind set that makes us successful individuals.  Stephen Covey mentioned in his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People " that a person must always concentrate on his/her circle of influence and improve himself/herself in the way that is available to him/her.  Do what you can do to be the best version of yourself, become a better person today than you were yesterday.

Note that I personally do not see myself to have truly fulfilled my full potential and attained my goals in life, however I am in the same boat as a lot of other people, I am simply working on myself and trying my best to make my dreams come true just like everybody else.

Thank you for taking your time and reading this post, I hope that it has somehow encouraged to you to work harder and achieve your success.

Thank you and God bless.

An amazing quote by an even  more amazing mentor.