Conquerors

Successful people are achievers, but there is another class of successful people. The people for whom success is a habit, it is a trait which is part of their being. I call such people conquerors. Because you need to conquer over many things to let that happen to you.

Conquerors are people who are purposeful, who embrace adventure, and who keep forcing themselves out of their established comfort zones and into zones of high achievement. They are the people who learn how to overcome the deadening force of habit and routine in their lives, people who transcend “good enough “and learn how to demand the best from themselves on a regular basis.  They are continuously on self-improvement trip and they are persistent achievers for they believe that there is nothing beyond achievement. 

The conquerors possess uncompromising integrity. They strongly believe that there are no shortcuts in life. They never cut corners, during good times and bad times. The conqueror’s values remain the same. They never violate their own ethical standards for long term or short-term gains. At the end of the day, they are ready to face themselves in front of the mirror and look straight into their eyes.

The conquerors are energy powerhouse, they develop and maintain extremely high personal energy levels. Its due to, have a discipline not to waste their energies on frivolities, but on things which are important, they know that not everything that is interesting is important. They are very selective on things that they would pay attention, because they know that attention is an energy drainer, so it should be used very meticulously and judiciously. They focus their energy on things and people that energize them, and they usually radiate their energy to energize others in the process. They are never petty in their transactions, you will never find them discussing people, they will always discuss on concept, ideas innovations and avenues of development.

The Conquerors are experts at prioritization. They can very easily sift urgent from important and they never allow to convert the important into urgent. They don’t get side-tracked by momentary challenges that don’t carry much real significance, and they don’t put off little problems that carry big implications. In Brian Tracy’s terms, if they got a frog to swallow, they don’t look at it too long, they swallow it immediately and if they have got more than one frog to swallow, they swallow the biggest one first. For those of us who haven’t read Brian Tracy’s book “Eat that frog”, the frogs are the problems or difficult situations or challenging work, the longer you let them linger they keep on growing bigger, so they need to be resolved immediately.

Courage is another significant attribute that the conquerors have. They understand that either they are in-charge of a given moment in time or fear is. They know that life is a series of risks – and that avoiding each one of those risks is pretty much impossible. They know that driving on road is risk and poses unexpected challenges, but that doesn’t make them drive in their parking lot. They drive on the highway, anticipating and expecting sudden challenges are mentally tuned to handle them as and when they come.

As conquerors know that there are no short cuts, they are strong believers in hard work. They need no supervising, and they are masters at motivating themselves. Conquerors know what they love, and they love what they do. The outside world may look at that as “working hard” but they don’t. They just keep on charging ahead.

Conquerors are sort of iconoclasts, they are unorthodox, they are not afraid of avoiding beaten track, they are ready to sail into uncharted waters. They don’t worry of sounding or looking unique, different or unconventional.  They are not afraid of challenging established routine. They are not afraid of making mistakes, they are quick to learn from their mistakes, so they seldom make the same mistake twice.   

Conquerors are goal oriented, they believe in the maxim mentioned in my previous blog post - “Success is goals and all else is commentary”. They take clear steps that are meant to bring them closer to a, predetermined goal. They measure their every act against the goal that makes the most sense for them, and they are willing to face adversity for a time to achieve that goal. Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, when asked, how he managed to stand fast during the savage punches opponents would launch against him in the ring. He responded – “If I see what I want real good in my mind, I don’t notice any pain in getting it”.

Conquerors are always brimming with enthusiasm and optimism, they inspire and “infect” others with their enthusiasm. They brighten any room they enter and “turn on” everybody around, with their verve. Their enthusiasm is contagious. They are self-enthused and self-driven, as accomplishment of their daily goals inspires them. You must have noticed Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the great scientist and ex-President of India always had a sparkle in his eyes and shine in his voice. The brightness of enthusiasm always radiated from him. In today time, notice our Shri Narendra Modi, our Prime Minister, whenever he speaks and interacts, you would find similar brightness. That is the reason he can connect so well to so many people in our country and people across the world.

Conquerors are not pompous, they are not fake. They are level headed. The never pretend. If they don’t know something, they would accept that honestly and would be eager to learn from someone who does. They are supremely poised, even in situations that others would find daunting or confusing. They have a knack for bringing a sense of order to the most turbulent situations.

Conquerors have very strong self-image, and zero ego. They never feel threatened by others, they are rich conscious people. They help others grow. They never put people down or talk down to them. They never scuttle the dreams of others, rather they do whatever they can to help them realize it for them. They give due credit to the people for their help and assistance.  

Look around you, find the people who inspire you, who you think are the persons whose attributes you trust, are worth emulating. Read this post all over again, now keeping those persons in your mind. You will find them possessing all or many of the above-mentioned attributes. Bad news is, probably there won’t be many people having all the above-mentioned attributes, but an extremely good news is that all these attributes can be inculcated. So, make an inventory of attributes that you think you’d like to change to become a conqueror yourself, and start your conquest.