Have you ever wondered how to be successful? What’s your definition of success? Is it fame, or money, or becoming the CEO of your own company? No matter the goal, it takes time and hard work to achieve success. Unfortunately, most of us have also become accustomed to the instant gratification we get from Netflix, high-speed internet, and our smartphones. We don’t know how to be patient anymore, and we don’t know how to appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
Success is just as much about the learning experience and hard work that go into achieving your goals as it is about the end result—some might even argue the journey is the success, and the achievement itself is just a bonus. It’s not enough to have talent and a goal—if it were, everyone would be successful. No, success is not for the impatient or the unwilling. It is only for people who practice the three pillars of success of reaching your goals: perseverance, accountability, and consistency.
How to be successful
Perseverance
Because we’re so used to getting what we want as soon as we want it, we don’t know how to persevere or push through tough situations and failures. Instead of throwing your arms up in defeat as soon as things don’t go your way, learn from your mistakes and figure out how to overcome them in the future. Nobody is truly an overnight success. Successful people face rejection and failure constantly! They just get back up each time they fall down.
Remember: obstacles won’t suddenly go away once you achieve your goal, so it’s better to make mistakes when you’re starting out than to never know how to handle yourself after a failure.
Accountability
When you do encounter obstacles, it’s easy to blame others or fall into a cycle of self-pity and self-sabotage. Accountability is an invaluable pillar of success because, while you can’t control situations and circumstances, you can always control how you react to them. Nobody ever became successful by blaming others. Regardless of who is at fault, playing the victim will never bring you success. Blaming others is also a foolproof way to alienate the people who may actually be able to help you in becoming successful.
Consistency
You may only fail once or you may fail a hundred times—but chances are it’ll be closer to the latter. Perseverance and accountability are meaningless if they aren’t applied consistently. You never know which attempt at reaching your goal will be the one that finally gets you there. Stephen King was rejected by 30 publishers before his first novel was finally published. Imagine if he had given up after his 29th rejection. Put 110% into every attempt at reaching your goals, because you’re only going to keep getting better and growing stronger.
It’s easy to convince ourselves that if we can’t get what we want right away, we should move on. But success isn’t just about getting to your goals. It’s about everything you learn and achieve on the way and everything you continue to learn once you’ve achieved success. By practicing the Three Pillars of Success, you’re guaranteed to get where you need to go. So stop thinking how to be successful and start doing it!
