Work Yourself to Success Feltham says, "The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and exercise of ordinary qualities. These may for the most part be summed up in two - common sense and perseverance." In other words, the surest way to succeed is to determine not to fail. There are other factors way to succeed is to determine not to fail. Success will remain a stranger to you if you play host to worries. You will never be able to concentrate on the job in hand. Worry will consume a lot of energy.
You will give only crumbs of your energy to your main task - of achieving success in life. A man engulfed in worries is like the engine of a car locked in the garage. The engine is running and consuming fuel. The car does not move an inch. The running engine fouls the atmosphere with poisonous gas. This is the case with the worrying man. He consumes energy. But he does not move an inch towards his goal.
Do away with the habit of 'thinking' too much or brooding. Make up your mind and then act. Action is the greatest antidote to worry, which is nothing but a sort of pessimistic inaction. Learn to control your thoughts. Never lose sight of the vital fact that worse seldom comes to worst. If you adopt these as your mottos, you will have taken a significant step towards success. Improve the quality of your work. The secret of success lies in first-rate performance. Slipshod and slovenly work brings failure. You cannot improve your performance if you look upon your work as drudgery. What you do is a part of yourself, an expression of what you stand for.
The way you perform your job reveals the inner man in you. Look upon your job, not as an unpleasant necessity, but as a means of expressing the best in you. William Hazlitt, the famous English writer, has written in his essay Indian Jugglers, "What have I been doing all my life? Have I been idle, or have I nothing to show for all my labour and pain? Is there one thing in which I can challenge competition, that I can bring as an instance of exact perfection in which others cannot find a flaw?" Repeat these questions to yourself, answer them honestly and find out whether you are successful or not in the real sense of the world.
Great men of the world who have achieved pinnacles of success were not freaks of nature. Success did not fall into their lap for heavens. They sweated for it. Tolstoy's name is often mentioned as a great writer. But few know that he wrote his manuscripts six times before sending them to the publisher. Samual Johnson was willing to turn over half a library in search of a single word. Nietzsche sometimes wrote his text fifteen times. Spencer remodeled his System of Philosophy five times. Little wonder they enjoyed success which all envy but few achieve. Hard work is the price of success. Your life is inextricably linked up with that of others. Rubbing shoulders with others comprises a major part of your life.
If you learn how to live harmoniously with others, you are going to add considerably to the chances of your success. In this respect bear in mind two basic points which cover most others: never speak ill of another if you can do without it. Always be generous in praise. If you have the habit of backbiting, try to curtail it by reminding yourself, "How shall I feel if someone were to speak of me like this?" If you have to criticize, use fine, cautious words. You have to criticize, not damage the reputation of the person. Be discreet and employ restraint.
Praise is the lubricant of life. It facilitates human relationships. It is the mark of a successful man that he does not withhold a compliment when it is due. However, be warned. If overdone, it becomes flattery which is the mark of knave. "We can do anything we want to do if you stick to it long enough," says Helen Keller and she should know. Simple virtues of tenacity willingness, readiness, alertness, courtesy and hard work will carry you further than mere smartness.
A successful business man was asked by a group of students the secret of his success. "I jump at opportunity." "And how do you know of opportunity?" "I keep jumping." There is no such thing in life as standing still. We are on the way up or the way down. We all possess a spark which can life us on to achievement, but this spark must be nourished into a flame by resolution to achieve your goal. A lazy boy did not discover the telephone. A lazy person did not learn how to control waters. A lazy person does not reach the moon as they are attempting now. Success is a matter of talent and opportunity but, much more, of concentration and perseverance.
When you have set the real goal before you, next step is to make adequate preparations for its achievements. Until and unless you acquire the necessary education, training or experience to give you the know-how you cannot achieve your goal. One who wants to be a doctor has to undergo training in a medical college, and one who wants to become an advocate has to study law. Since most of us go through life without a goal, without any purpose, without having any specific objective, we do not care to acquire specialised education. The result is that we live, a purposeless and aimless life. Now you can very well realise that those who succeeded not only had their cherished goal before them but they also developed the necessary qualifications for its achievement.
Every person who aspires to be successful first educates himself to be able to pursue his specific goal. However, education does not mean simply book learning but also the development of personality, leadership, sociability and a sensitivity to discriminate between the true and false values of life and the ability to imbibe those which lead to harmony and happiness.
You may have chosen your goal. You may have even planned out and prepared yourself with a view to achieving your goal. You may have good health too. Still you may not make any progress towards your goal because you may not have enough drive to work for your goal. Actually success is accomplishing something. It is activity in the right direction. The difference between an active and an inactive person is simply that the former gets what he wants and for the latter it remains as empty as ever. A half-hearted attempt, a luke-warm effort might take you a little way toward your goal, but it will never get you far enough to reach it. When the sportsman puts every ounce of his effort and will into the game, nine times out of ten, he is bound to win the race.
A person who puts a constant prod on himself and makes an all-out effort is more likely to succeed than the one who makes half-hearted attempts. One of the reasons why people do not rise above whatever job or work they may be doing is that they have no drive, no will to work. They do not make an all-out effort. They work leisurely, poke around, sit down and gossip, or simply do nothing. And there is no wonder if they do not make an outstanding progress. Without an all-out effort no one can hope to be successful. Not only an all-out effort is necessary for success, it is also vital that you should be able to maintain the tempo, keep the drive intact till the goal is achieved. There is the story of the gold prospector who bought a promising piece of rocky land and continuously for five years he mined the land. Everyday he would go down to deepen the tunnel he had made. But there was no sign of gold in sight. One day his patience gave in; his desire for gold became dead. He threw away his mining tools and sold his land to another prospector for a song.
The new prospector enlarged the mine only a few inches more and there he found a large seam of gold running through the rock! Had the first prospector persevered a little more, held on for a few inches more the would have surely found what he was after. "The majority of people are ready to throw their aims and purposes over-board, and give up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune. A few carry on despite all opposition, until they attain their goal," says Napoleon Hill. Thus for success it is not enough that you should have drive and stamina but persistence too. Persistence is the main force which sustains your drive and makes you go on working for your goal through thick and thin. The quality of persistence "is to the character of man what carbon is to steel.' In this world, everything perishes and will perish, but, ideas, ideals and dreams do not.
