Assalam,
Successful people possess or exhibit the combinations of some of the following eight (8) elements.
When
reading newspapers on daily basis, I do always make it a point to browse
through the various advertisements. Indeed, many of them are educational in
nature. Believe it or not, many of the advertisers are using a common word
“success” in their advertisement copy.
For consistency, I will write down some of the advertisements.
These examples are taken from that of institutions of higher learning; public
and private colleges and universities. I did collect them over the past few
years.
- Climb the ladder of success with our MBA.
- Our graduates are proof of our success.
- Successes built upon constant strive for excellence.
- Foundation studies; A stepping stone to success.
- X College; Your partner for success.
- Your trust & our commitment for lifelong success.
- Y’s Foundation in Science; The formula for success.
- Your Foundation for academic success.
- Computing for success.
- Today’s hands-on experience moulds tomorrow’s success.
- Knowledge is the key. We’ll lead you to the gateway of
success.
- To be successful in a tough job market, let our degree
speaks for you.
- You can’t climb the ladder of success if it’s not based on
something solid.
- Z College built on the success of students.
- Briefcase of success; XXXUC gives you the extra edge in
the corporate world.
- Set for success with our experience.
Having said that, what is the meaning of success then?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines success as “the
accomplishment of an aim or purpose; the attainment of fame, wealth or social
status; a person or thing that achieves success”.
We can say that successful people as those individuals who
purposely set higher goals in their lives. They also work progressively toward
the completion of these goals and who enjoy a dynamic, well-balanced life in
the process.
Earl Nightingale used to say, “Successful people form the
habit of doing what failures do not like to do”.
The writer has his own definition of success. His
definition is, “success is when my two daughters are better off than me”.
Successful people are clear about their goals, write them
down and review them on daily basis. In order to be realistic, your goals
should be in line with: your background, work-related or personal; your level
of experience; your education; your physical condition or health; and your
monetary worth and cash flow (although that is not always being a factor).
In addition to the above, your goals will have to be
specific, measurable and achievable. They must also be realistic, that is,
attainable within a certain time frame.
You need to break your goals down into smaller ones called
objectives, and attain one objective before moving on to the next one.
Having good relationships with others is also part of
success. Successful human relationships are really the art of making other
people feel good about themselves.
Building relationships is an important key to personal
success. No one is truly a self-made person. Human society is built on
cooperation, and we need to be able to count on the assistance of others.
People who are truly successful take time to nurture their
relationships with spouses and children. The payoff is in solid support on the
home front when things get tough in businesses and careers.
It is a fact that successful people have a positive
attitude. Your attitude determines your actions, and your actions determine
your accomplishments. You may or may not like to think about it, but the person
you are and where you are today are the results of your attitude.
People with a positive attitude focus their time and
attention on solutions, not problems. When you have a positive attitude, it’s
easier to be persistent.
Now we touch on the aspect of time management. How good
are you in managing your time? Time
management people suggest organizing one’s time by breaking the 24-hour day
into three broad segments: 8 hours’ work; 8 hours leisure (eating, travel,
entertainment, others); and 8 hours’ sleep.
Often work hours overlap into leisure hours, and leisure
hours sometimes rob hours from sleep – that is, unless you take control of your
time.
Good time management is not just an issue of work; it is
an issue for all of life. To spend your time is to spend your life; to waste
your time is to waste your life. To spend your time wisely is to spend more
time doing the things you enjoy.
Effective is doing the right things while efficient is
doing things right. In our working and personal life, we waste time in two
ways, that is, being ineffective and being inefficient. Remember to eliminate
ineffectiveness first, then work on inefficiencies. When effectiveness and
efficiency work hand-in-hand, they create tremendous results.
Jeffrey J. Mayer (1999) in his book, “Success Is A
Journey” stated that a good follow-up system is also one of the most important
tools you need in order to be successful. With that, a person is able to spend
more time working on the things that keep him or her busy.
In business, honesty is absolutely essential. The best
principle is “under promise and over deliver”, as stated by Richard Denny
(1997), in his book “Succeed For Yourself”.
When people love their work, they are often willing to put
in more than the standard eight-hour working day. One characteristic of high
achievers is that they tend to show up earlier and stay later than their colleagues.
Here
is something for you to ponder: loving what you are doing certainly helps; but
to love all aspects of what you are doing is not necessary.
In
summary, some of the elements of success as described here can be abbreviated
into a positive mnemonic – GRATEFUL. It stands for Goal; Relationship with
others; Attitude; Time management; Effectiveness & Efficiency; Follow-up; Under Promise
and Over Deliver; and Love.
We
do not have to go to Harvard or Cambridge to learn about this powerful
mnemonic.
2 Rabiulakhir 1436H
