Law of Success Simplified – 2 - Decision

So what do you want to do? I am sure you must have heard this question in your life. In fact this decision box question in our life’s flow chart is the most persistent question.  Our parents, our teachers, friends, colleagues, spouse ask this and we also pose this question to self quite often. This is not only very persistent question but sometimes most dreaded one also.  Because at times we end up answering it as – “don’t know”, “not sure”, “have not decided yet”, “you tell me” and hundreds of variants of same sentiment. 

Since we are not willing to make a decision, we end up doing nothing in particular. Before we know it, its Monday again and all we have accomplished is watching TV, reading newspaper, surfing internet or doing something which didn’t pose this dreaded question.

We are afraid to confront this question, and move on to the next even tougher stage – the stage of commitment. But tell you what? Earlier you confront that question, the better, but it’s never too late.  At whatever age you find yourself, you can decide what you want to do with the rest of your life and you can begin doing it. The first step is decision.

Wilfred A. Peterson (American author and columnist) says Decision is the spark that ignites action. Until a decision is made, nothing happens.

Why are we afraid from taking decisions? Because probably we are afraid of making commitments, because that would mean trading off certain comforts of your life - your leisure time, your TV time, your time with friends, leaving your home town, your friends or just plain inertia, status quo.

Success is not an either/or proposition. Success consists of finding a happy balance between work and pleasure. This importance of balance is also stressed by author, speaker, motivator Stephen R. Covey, who in his cult book “Seven habits of highly effective people”, has stressed that no public victory is fruitful without private victory, suggesting that professional success is useless if there are unattended challenges in your personal front.

You won’t really succeed unless the things you accomplish bring you pleasure and satisfaction.

What is success? When would you consider yourself successful? There can’t be one answer for this question for everybody. The meaning of success varies with every individual and also with time for an individual. As told by Robin Sharma in his book – The monk who sold his Ferrari. This book is a fable about Julian Mantle, a high-profile attorney with a crazy schedule and a set of priorities that center around money, power and prestige. As such, Mantle represents the values of our society. The story is told from the perspective of one of his associates, who admires Mantle’s great success and aspires to be like him.

But when Mantle has a heart attack, he drops out of the game and disappears. He sells all his possessions and goes to India to seek a more meaningful existence. When he comes back, he’s a changed man. Really, it’s as if he’s a completely different person. He’s learned from some mythical Himalayan gurus who give him mystical and yet practical advice, which he shares with his former associate. Now his old definition of success is replaced by new definition which is around Seven Virtues of Enlightened Learning

1.      Master your mind

2.      Follow your purpose

3.      Practice kaizen

4.      Live with discipline

5.      Respect your time

6.      Selflessly serve others

7.      Embrace the present

Now the definition of success for Mr. Mantle revolves around these seven virtues and to what extent he is successful in attaining it.

So you begin your climb to success by deciding what success means to you. You can start with asking following three questions –

1.      What am I good at?

2.      What do I enjoy doing?

3.      What values are important to me?

When you have identified something that you do well, that you enjoy doing, and that supports the values that are important to you, you have defined success in your terms. And this might be your compass for your life’s journey.

When I was sharing information, knowledge and wisdom with my students, I always asked my students what they are good at, what are their qualities, what are their best attributes. Barring few students most of them never came up with a list having 3 or more attributes, but some said, they don’t have any quality worth mentioning or remained silent.

I told them what I strongly believe – “You are talented, there can’t be anyone who doesn’t have at least one good attribute.” I asked them if they believe in God, and they always responded in affirmative, then I asked do you think God can ever create a person with zero quality. Then I used to ask them to prepare their inventory of qualities.

Everyone is talented in something. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. Your own estimate of your abilities is the most important estimate. So identify your strong points give them the recognition they deserve, and use them to do what you like to do. 

You don’t have to be brilliant to be successful. Thomas Edison observed – “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration”. The action, effort and concerted effort make one successful. The good old fable of hare and tortoise communicates exactly this. The secret lies in determining where your strengths lie, then focusing those strengths on your objective.

Your opportunities for success will be brighter if you pursue a career that makes the best use of your talents and provides you with personal satisfaction. So, What do you enjoy doing?

To determine what activities give you the most satisfaction, ask yourself these questions –

a.       What do I do that gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment?

b.      What do I do that gives me the greatest feeling of pride?

c.       What do I do that gives me the greatest feeling of confidence?

d.      If I had a year to spend doing anything I wanted, what would I do?

Usually the things you enjoy doing are the things you do well. When you have identified the activities that meet these criteria, you have identified things that will allow you to use your best talents in an enjoyable and satisfying way.

Now the third element to identify your definition of success – What values are important to you?  

Different people value different things. You may view some values as negative and some as positive. What you value, determines the principles by which you measure your behavior.

Applying your talents without reference ot your values and principles is like using your car’s accelerator without touching the steering wheel. It may take you far and fast, but it probably won’t take you where you want to go. And it may take you over a cliff or into a brick wall.  

It may lead you to the same dilemma that Julian Mantle (The Monk who sold his Ferrarri), had to face. After achieving all the “Success” he felt disillusioned and then had to discover the real objective, meaning, goal and value compass to navigate in his life’s journey.

It’s always a good idea to arrange the things you need in your journey before embarking on it. It’s a choice, it’s a decision. A decision that one has to take and its always better sooner than later.

KK