The Road To Success

8 Steps To Become Successful

The Road To Success; Don't walk it in this way

Short stories with lessons - How to become successful

When I was very young, I love to practice some funny stuff. There was a day I closed my eyes and started walking to see how possible it is to cope without eyes.

It is fun, and I was enjoying it.

After about 6 to 8 steps, I quickly opened my eyes to see if I am still on the right track. Then I closed my eyes again to explore the BLIND WORLD a little bit further.

As the saying goes; "a dog that will go astray will never hear the whistle of the hunter". Although, my ancestors have whispered in my ear that "stop this thing you are doing, you young boy", but I refused and disobeyed. 

As you can guess, after another 6 to 8 steps, I hit my forehead with the wall " GBOOOS!"

Lesson from the story

1.Find your vision before setting out on your success journey.

2.Don't allow ignorance to blindfold you

3.Take advice from superior minds

HOW TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL

Success isn't about big houses, expensive cars, or any other material things. You are not created just to go to school, get good grades, get good jobs, marry a wife/husband, give birth to kids, build houses, buy huge cars, get old, retire and die. NO! True success is all about the lives you impacted,  the ability to give to the less privileged, and the legacy you left even after you are gone. Success is about pursuing things that actually make a lasting difference.

You can become successful in any area of calling, but to achieve that, you must take action. No single factor guarantees achievement to one person but prevents it for another. When you focus on your goals, take steps and have a little faith in yourself, you can achieve noteworthy success.

All great men who made history had something in common which made them attain great height, and these are the major things listed and explained below:

STEPS TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL

1. Discover Your Vision

Vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom, It can be termed as 'far-sightedness.' Your vision defines who you want to be, what you want to be known for and the set of accomplishments you aim for. Your vision helps define the goals by giving you a framework to evaluate those goals.

Vision simplifies life and it controls your choices. Once you know where you are going, you also automatically know the road that won't take you there. This will make you focus on the most important things. Vision should be your source of motivation and that is why it is an important step for you to be successful in life.

Discovering your vision is a step you must not skip. You need to have the map of where

you want to be if you want to be successful, that 'map'  is your vision.

2. Belief In Yourself

Only what you believe is allowed to happen. Positive things are not exempted. And if you don't believe in yourself, no one else will. You need the right mindset to do so. You have to believe that you can do it to take the right steps toward the desired aim or plan. There are some qualities you need as an individual to position yourself for greatness in your area of calling, do not neglect the right attitudes which you need to travel your life journey successfully.

If you don't believe in your abilities you can never be successful in anything you lay your hands on. You may have been asking yourself within your mind that how can I be successful, or someone has come to you asking the question "what are the steps to become successful?" You should be aware that believing in yourself is one important factor that determines how far you can go.

3. Set Goals

Goal setting is the process of taking active steps to accomplish your desired result. Goal setting involves the development of an action plan created to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Hence, setting goals means that an individual or group has committed thought, emotion, and attitude towards attaining the goal. In doing so, the goal setter has defined a desired future state which differs from their current state, thus organizing a mismatch which in turn stimulates future actions.

There are different types of goal setting, ranging from personal development goals, business goals, academic goals and other aspects of life. The bigger the goals, the more effort you will need to put forth to achieve those goals. However, do not forget the rules for goal setting which is SMARTA. The meaning of that acronym is stated below

S-SPECIFIC

M-MEASURABLE

A-ACHIEVABLE

R-REALISTIC

T-TIME BOUND

A- ALIGNMENT

Goal setting is one of the key elements of attaining noteworthy success. It is an elaborate topic that needs to be studied if you want to set achievable goals.

4. Be Disciplined

Discipline doesn't mean punishment or making ourselves do something we don’t want to. Discipline is what you may not like doing, but have the opportunity to do to get the results you would like to have.

You need the discipline to keep yourself moving forward and as well towards the life, you want to live during those times that don’t seem to be producing immediate results. Without discipline, successful life is not attainable.

Discipline is needed to back up goal-setting to accomplish the aims and objectives.

5. Develop Persistence

I am very sure that this is not the first time you will hear this statement "winners never quit", right?

You can't be aspiring to become successful and then you are afraid of failure. All successful men you see today have one or more times fail in one thing or the other, but they never give up on their dreams and that is why you see them winning today. Persistence is another thing you must have as an individual to become successful. If you try and fail, try again and again and again until you accomplish what you desired.

There are several real examples you and I know of very well, remember Abraham Lincoln, a one-time American president who tried several times before he won the elections as a president of the United States. Another man I won't do without mentioning is Thomas Edison who failed at several attempts when he was trying to create the light bulb we use today. If he did not persist, will he make it a reality? absolutely no!

6. Have Courage

You have to get courage, you need it to scale through the moments of fear of failure or danger. There are several risks you must be willing to take with the courage to get what you want. You need the courage to act outwardly on what you see inwardly. If you fail to do so you will end up regretting that you didn't take a bold step toward your desire. An how do you face challenges of life that may want you to quit due to fear? at that moment, you have to focus on your ability and not your weakness, if the I CANT mentality has overshadowed your ability, then you will not be able to take bold steps.

Courageous people are not concerned about the time it would take them to get what they want. What they are always concerned about is how to carry out their plan and other necessary things that must be put in place to give the result they want.

7. Live A Life Of Influence

If you ever want to be successful in life, you must strive to be a guide to others. If you can develop other people then you are truly a successful man or woman. Don't just build yourself and stay satisfied, build others as well and you will see your result multiplying rapidly.

What is influence?

Influence is the capacity to affect the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself. This key step of becoming successful that I  mentioned is about the positive ones. I am not talking about the negative influences that have corrupted our society today such as people who train armed robbers, kidnappers and so many other negative businesses out there. Ensure the Impact you are trying to make is a positive one, because that is another key way of becoming truly successful.

If you notice the first statement in this write-up which says; Success isn't about big houses, expensive cars, or any other material things. Success is about the lives you impacted. Success is about pursuing things that actually make a lasting difference.

8. Obey Your Creator

Who is your creator?

God right?

You need to commit yourself to your creator and listen to his voice. He knows the plan he has for your life and he alone can direct you to the right path. If you disobey Gods command, your success is not a solid one even if you ever made It. He has given us a book full of promises and commandments. The reason God gave some commandments to us is due to his love for humanity, he wants us to live in peace and comfort. If you study the holy book very well, you will discover that God intends to make us come to him and enjoy the beauty of his love. And if anyone obeys him, such a person will receive God's grace to scale through life hurdles.

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The Struggles Of Our Life

Inspirational short stories with lessons - How to advance through adversity

Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it.

She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.

Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.

The daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners.

He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she quickly replied.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft.

He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich flavour brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity (the boiling water). However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter.

“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

Lessons from the story:

1. In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is how you choose to react to it and what you make out of it.

2. Life is all about learning, adapting and transforming all the struggles that we experience into something positive.

HOW TO ADVANCE THROUGH ADVERSITY

Challenges are bound to occur in our journey through life. You must be aware that no difficulty is permanent. For you to advance in times of adversity, you need to develop the willpower not to give up. That is the assured way to overcome, if you don't give up, you will define win.

9 STEPS TO OVERCOME ADVERSITY

When adversity occurs in an individual's life, most people tend to look for the escape route. Withdrawing from adversity is not the best step to take. Whenever disaster struck against any individual, all he/she will want to do is to find an escape and avoid the disaster. Such a response to adversity shows that the individual is weak or has not developed personally.

There are two responses to adversity

1. The first one is to exclaim, "Life is so terrible" or "why me Lord?" and most times weak individuals will say "but you don't understand what I am going through." The issue of adversity is a personal one, and that is why many feel their situation is worse than anyone else's.

2. The second one is to think positively "if I can't pay the price, then I don't deserve the prize". And then such individuals position the mind to find the perfect solution to such a situation.

We may feel like a situation is too terrible and there is no solution to it but that is not true. There are ways we can approach unavoidable situations in our life. You must refuse to be discouraged. Below are the steps to overcoming adversity:

1. SPEAK POSITIVELY TO YOUR SITUATION

Each time the fear of failing grabs you, speak positive words aloud to that situation. Here are some positive affirmations to repeat regularly:

" all is well"

"I will conquer"

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength"

"This is not the end of my life"

" I am unstoppable"

"I shall not grow weary" "I am unstoppable" 

2. SELF MOTIVATION

At times, we become overwhelmed by the issues we face every day. And when stress is becoming much, it leads to depression. And to avoid breaking down in this situation, you have to brace up and encourage yourself. Take a look at the goals you set that gives you hope. Colourfully view the future and encourage yourself with what you can accomplish. It is not a bad thing to fall, you only need to get up and start moving again when you fall.

3. THINK OUT OF THE BOX

If you address the situation with an emotional state, it will keep getting worse. That is why you need to detach yourself from the situation first and then you can think of the way out. You will agree with me that it is easier to show how somebody else can change the situation they are in. You can spot the ways they can get out of a situation in which they found themselves since you are not emotionally attached to the situation, and it is easier to look at the problem from a different and better perspective.

This doesn't mean that you should throw away the box. You don't need to throw away the box, you only need to think out of it. To overcome adversity in your life, detach yourself from the situation and look at it from a different perspective. Treat it as another man's case and you will find a solution to the problem.

4. FIND OUT THE CAUSE

Most times, the hardship or problems we find ourselves in are the outcomes of our past actions. If you can investigate the source of the crisis, it will help you to get the right solution to the problem.  Because to change your situation, you need to change your thought and actions, Henry Ford said 'If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.' Wrong decisions are part of the cause of adversity in our life. You must try to figure out the cause of the problem and Look into how to change that situation. Find a way to face and surpass the challenges that are holding you back from success. Never blame other people, the system, or the government for your misfortune.

5. DEVELOP RESILIENCE

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. It refers to the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events. Being resilient does not mean you won't experience stress, emotional upheaval, and suffering. Being able to recover readily from misfortune, tragedy, setback, or any other form of adversity. You need to be willing to try again after every fall. Instead of thinking of quitting, map out the plan of how to get back on track.

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”

― Maya Angelou

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

― Thomas Edison

6. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE

Words from other people can affect the way we see situations. If all you got around you are people who always see doom in every circumstance, it will affect your progress, it will either prevent you from moving forward or reduce your ability, making the situation look harder.

But to save yourself, never move with people who always see impossibilities in every situation.

"Resilience isn’t a single skill. It’s a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive.” 

― Jean Chatzky

7. INVEST IN YOURSELF

This sounds like a proverb, right? You may be asking that what do I mean by invest in yourself? Investing in yourself is all about spending as little or as much money to develop yourself. 

It is the ability to gather enough information about ways you can move from point A to point B and finally reach your goal. You will surely overcome adversity if you can develop yourself for the result you desired. Here are ways you can invest in yourself:

• Discover yourself.
• Read good books.
• Read blog posts that deals with what you intend to improve on.
• Develop new skills.
• Never stop learning (That is the number one key to success, however, learn only things that are important to your journey)

8. LINK UP WITH SUCCESS

Adversity is a barrier to success, and the only way you can scale through is to find the 'ladder' or 'bridge' that will help you get to your dream. BELIEVING IN YOUR ABILITY is one of the bridges, having FOCUS is one of them, setting and accomplishing GOALS, making the right CHOICES, can be the bridge you needed.

When limits are broken, adversity vanishes. This means that when you can link up with success with the right ladder, you won't fall.

9. FIND A MENTOR

There are key steps to finding the right mentor. You need a mentor especially for rapid growth in your career/ business. A mentor will guide, motivate and even share experiences with you. The importance can never be overemphasized.

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