For years I searched for the secret of success…I read about success, I listened to CDs, attended seminars trying to figure out how to be successful. Initially I heard that success would come if I worked hard. Then I heard that success comes if I associate with successful people. Another set said that if I confessed my success often enough and hard enough I would become successful – the ‘name it and claim it’ ‘if you say it you can receive it’ crowd! Did you also hear those who claimed that an Ivy League education would be your yellow brick road to success? Yet another set of ‘success gurus’ I listened to said that there was really was no secret to success after all. I was in a quandary, I wanted to be successful, but was very unsure of how to go about being successful. The thing is I think they are all right AND they are also all wrong.
I’m going to throw my hat in the ring with all these success gurus – mind you I don’t count myself as being a success guru – more [an advanced] student than anything else.
First, the perfect recipe for success is one executed over a lifetime of practice. In other words success does not just happen. It doesn’t happen in 4 years at an Ivy League school, nor does it happen after your master’s degree. Success does not necessarily happen after 25 years at one company patiently climbing the corporate ladder.
I actually believe that Success starts with the first step towards change habits. I call them change habits, because they are habits that move your life towards changes that bring about success. So if you want to start a journey that will end in success for you, you have to take steps to form habits that will lead you to success. Then keep taking these steps with consistency and then build a successful life.
When a child is born, we don’t wait till the time when he has to go to secondary school to start feeding him, teaching him his alphabets and numbers, do we? No! We start when he is about twenty four months (some younger) teaching him how to tell colors, recognize shapes, do sums etc. At first it’s difficult, later it becomes easier, and afterwards doing sums in his head becomes easier and faster to accomplish. He has learned and internalized the knowledge as a habit.
Same thing when you have a novice seamstress, no one gives her the task to sew a million naira wedding dress. She has to have mastered her stitches, mastered her cutting, and understood the nature of her fabrics. Sewing in a straight line is a learned skill, but it’s also a change habit. This change habit is the difference between those chaps who carry the Singer sewing machines on their shoulders and ply our neighborhoods’ (aka Obioma) and a designer/seamstress/tailor who can command a million dollar fee on one wedding dress.
So, if success starts with the first step towards change habits, each of us has to identify what our change habits will be, and our necessary first steps. It all depends on the sphere of life you want to experience success in. Let me give you an example of my own journey towards success in the area of my health.
I was morbidly obese (Doctors term, not mine…LOL), with this came high blood pressure, join pains, migraines and such – it was obvious that I was not very successful in my health life at the time. I tried confessing myself slim, tried quick fix fad diets, attempted starving myself skinny… all to no avail.
Fast forward three years and I can report some success having lost almost 50kg and have dropped a few dress sizes… success right? It all started in my mind; the day I had had ENOUGH! Enough of ill health, giving the bulk of my pay to doctors…ENOUGH! With my change of mind came action – I registered in a gym and signed up for swimming classes. Obviously, I have had to take other steps (like portion control, eating quality not quantity etc.) and the journey has not been easy nor is the journey over. Success isn’t only the destination, it is mostly the journey. I am still working on losing more weight and solidifying my success, and making it last.
Next to your first step, a success habit is the most important thing you will need to form to assure you of success in your endeavors. Have you thought about what habits you will need to form? May I suggest a few generic habits that everyone needs to launch them into the realms of success? Make a habit of improving yourself aka personal development– if you can do one thing each day to increase your knowledge, increase your skill, improve your discernment and decision making capability you would stand shoulders above many in your grade. Also don’t be reticent about asking questions. I completely agree with Jim Rohn who said that questions reveal and reinforce value as well as reinforce behavior. You want all these benefits in your life if you are to know success. In addition, you would do well to find someone who is as successful as you want to be and model that person.
There are obviously other ingredients to this recipe for success, but let’s leave off for now – these are the basics. As with any worthwhile execution of a recipe, practice makes perfect. So start practicing today and I assure you your tomorrows will be successful.
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