Journey of Life

Life is a journey… not the end result!

So you might say… then why are goals given so much importance? Aren’t they the end result of something?

Like I want to graduate from college, I want to land a good job, I want a big house near the city, or I want to become a billionaire!

Yeah, goals do end up seeming like end results at first glance. But if you look deeper, you realize that goals are actually a state of living. For example, graduating from college is a life changing experience. The experience itself and everything that comes in life because of it is what the goal is all about.

The big house near the city – is something you live in. Coming first in a race, or finishing a 10 mile marathon are some other examples. The goal seems like an end result but it is the journey of finishing the race/marathon and then living with the sense of achievement is in actuality what the goal stands for.

Success can be truly achieved and truly enjoyed only when you treat life as a journey. Have fun with what you do, enjoy every moment of the effort and the luck that get you where you want to be.

Life is a journey… not the end result!

Right Things to Focus on…

So what should you actually focus on to be successful?

1)      Your idea of success. As I always say… define what success is to you and then focus on that.

2)      Contributing something. Either to the society at large or to a specific group of people.

3)      Ethics. Make sure whatever you do is ethically right.

4)      Quality. Give your customers what they expect, and then some more.

5)      Punctuality. Stick to the promised timeframe.

6)      Integrity. People should be able to trust you. Why would they do business with you if they didn’t?

7)      Enjoyment. If you enjoy working, it shows! You end up infecting others with it too

Make sure you focus on these 7 simple ‘right things’ and watch yourself become more and more successful by the day.

And yes, success does bring in more money… that’s inevitable! Just as long as you don’t make it the focus J



Little by Little

                               

Just like little drops of water make an ocean, a little effort put in constantly can make an ocean of change!

All you need to do is regularly put in some time and effort towards your cause. You can do a number of things to bring about a positive change in your life as well as the lives of those around you. If your goal is to spread awareness, spending ½ hour a day doing just that on the internet can take you quite far in a couple of years…

If you goal is to make friends, an hour a day on social networking sites and within no time, you’ll be surrounded by friends. If your goal is to make a little extra cash, an hour a day doing odd jobs and you have what you need.

If your goal is to start a new business and you are hard pressed for time, an hour a day of effort and within a few months, your go to plan is ready. If you want to help the needy, an hour a day of fund raising and they can get all the help they need.

Putting in a little time everyday for a specific goal keeps you enthusiastic, motivated and takes you one step closer to success – everyday!

Forgetting Stuff?

How many long pending tasks do you have that are not too important but are also nagging you at all the wrong times?

All of us have these… Like recently, I took on the responsibility of changing my dad’s mobile plan. It’s not too important, not work related and definitely didn’t top my priority list because dad wasn’t in a hurry either. When I was at my computer or near my phone, I wouldn’t remember to do it. And times like while eating, just before sleeping, while watching TV etc. this thought would nag me…

The solution? I wrote it down on my white board! “Blackberry Plan”

The best way to make sure something like this is done is to write it where you can see it. Whenever you remember something small that’s interrupting your normal thought process, write it down. You can use a white/black board like I did. You can also just use a simple post it. Write down the phrase and stick it to your computer screen / desk / wall next to the bed / wherever convenient!

Taking care of the small seemingly unimportant details ensures a smooth journey on your path to success. Never let “I’m too busy” become your excuse for forgetting!

Obstacles

Life is a mixture of good times and bad times. Many times we get to do the things we like to do and many times we are forced to do the very things we were dreading!

Similarly the road to success is filled with fun things; all the beautiful flowers of paradise but you also get thorns and road blocks. Many times, even though you are doing what you love, you will encounter difficulties. This is the way of life…

When you embark on your journey, brace yourself for the difficulties in advance. Prepare yourself well enough to face all the challenges that are thrown your way. If you start your journey expecting it to be easy, you will be in for a big shock and quite a lot of delay. Once you come across a road block and then try to get over it, it gets all the more difficult.  It’s like a 200 meter dash. If the runner is just running a normal race and suddenly a hurdle is thrown in, she stops, and jumps over it. Then, she has to start running and picking up speed. However if the runner was running a hurdle race, she would be prepared for the hurdle. She would then just jump over the hurdle without having to stop or change speed too much.

When you prepare yourself mentally for hurdles and fill yourself with the confidence of overcoming them, you are like the second runner. When the obstacle comes, you will be able to jump over it with greater ease!

Success - Various Forms

It is very important to be successful in life for just about everybody. I’m sure you have an idea of what success means to you… Have you given a thought to what areas in life you want to be successful in? Is it work? Or family? Or Spiritual?

True success is when you can achieve all forms of success. And the true way to success is to work toward all these goals!

Below are all the various forms of success. If any more come to your mind, do add them in your comments

·         Career success

·         Success in relationships

·         Success as a good human being

·         Successful family

·         Spiritual success

·         Success in the roles you play: Sister/Brother/Parent/Child etc.

·         Success in friendship

·         Success in sports

·         Success in leisure

·         A vacation that is successful

·         Success in keeping your mind engaged

·         Successful pet owner

·         Housekeeping success

·         Financial success

·         Success in charity

·         Social service activities related success

·         Success in the stock market

·         Second income success

·         Successful at being happy always

The list can go on…

Make sure you are focusing on all the important aspects of your life!

The First Step

To achieve Success in life, you must be able to define it. I don’t mean the dictionary.com definition from my previous post J

To achieve ‘success’ you must first tell yourself what the word means to you. Not to your friend or your mom or your teacher… but what it means to you personally. Is success having a good job? Is it being settled in life? Is it touring the world? What is it that you want to do that will define your success?

The first step is to have a goal. How will you get anywhere when you don’t know where you want to go? You need to have a set destination, only then will you strive to reach it and only then will you be called ‘successful’. And it’s not just a direction mind you. A destination!

If you say, “I want to make it big in music”, this will be the direction. It’s like starting from New York by road and saying, “I want to make it far out West”. You could be heading all the way to California or Oregon. Or maybe Montana or Idaho is far enough. Either way, you make it far out west! Which of these destinations will you call a success? And is reaching the destination enough; or do you want to reach it in a particular number of days? How do you want to reach it; in any particular state of mind or with any particular company? Only once you answer all these questions will you have a ready goal to achieve. And when you achieve it, success!

So let’s define success in the above example again. You could say “I want to record 10 music albums and rule the hit singles charts” Now that’s more like a goal. That’s also more likely to be a SUCCESS