How
is success measured? Is it related only to money, or can personal
progress and overcoming difficulties be considered successful? Each of
us has his or her own definition of the essence of success, but it
doesn’t matter how we define it when many of us are still struggling to
reach it and sometimes find ourselves giving up altogether.
To
lift ourselves out of the dust and return to our path of success,
sometimes we need guidance from people who went through journeys similar
to ours and who can help. Author and spiritual mentor Robin Sharma is
an excellent example of a person who has taken many paths, and whose
approach and perseverance have led him to succeeding in them in an
inspiring way. His 10 smart tips for success will certainly help you
succeed in life.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
Many
spiritual teachers in the modern era, Robin Sharma went lived a unique
life until he earned this title. Born to parents of Indian origin in
Canada, Robin wanted to succeed in his environment, and so he completed
two degrees in law, following which he became a lawyer. In time, Robin's
work did not satisfy his spiritual needs, and he decided to change the
course of his life and began to write. His writing led to one of the
most successful spiritual books in recent years - "The Monk Who Sold His
Ferrari."
In
the book, Robin describes the life of a lawyer who has had a heart
attack in court, a crisis that brings him to seek meaning in life and to
reveal secrets that many of us never decipher. The success of the book
was not long in coming, thanks to the fact that Robin successfully
combined spiritual elements from the East with Western and modern
principles of success - a combination that many people related to. Today
Robin continues his work as a writer and teaches many people how to
achieve the success they aspire to in any area.
Robin Sharma's 10 rules of Success
Finding
the balance between the spiritual and the material led Robin to
formulate a number of rules for success that draw inspiration from his
own experience as well as from people he admires and values. The
following 10 rules will inspire you with a thought about life and its
purpose and will help you achieve success as you define it, and this is
exactly the secret of their magic:
1. Implement your ideas
Our
world is full of people who have a variety of ideas and knowledge they
have acquired over the years, but here is where their success usually
ends. A head full of knowledge and ideas is essential, but worth nothing
if not implemented and applied, just as we see them in our imagination.
Do not be one of those people who sit at home with a lot of useless
knowledge, feeling frustrated that they aren't moving towards the
success they have defined for themselves. Instead, be the people who got
up from the couch and did everything in their power to implement their
ideas and to express the knowledge they had acquired.
2. Aim as high as possible
"The
greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and
falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark,"
said Michelangelo. Robin Sharma uses this powerful sentence to show that
there are many people who settle for mediocrity and do not try to reach
goals that seem too high and far away. This may be due to fear of
failure and inability to reach the goal, but think about it: If you set
yourself big goals and try to reach them, even if there is little chance
of success, is it not worth the effort? The very experience will teach
you man things. That small journey you’ll take will be a success in
itself.
3. Write down your plan on one piece of paper
Sharma
recommends that you write down your plans and your goal for success on a
single page of paper and look at it every morning to give yourself a
kind of visual motivation. When something is in front of you every
morning, it is hard to ignore it, and if you see your goal in front of
your eyes every day, it will be hard to ignore it. This simple method
can do wonders for the excuses we tell ourselves in order not to do
anything on the road to success because it creates a kind of daily
nagging reminder that we have something important to aspire to, which we
said before, is really hard to ignore!
4. Be enthusiastic about your life
When
we feel a lack of desire in our lives, we often do not have the energy
to try to achieve what we want. It is important that you remove the
black cloud over your head, look at everything you already have and
realize that you already have many things you can be passionate about.
Appreciating what you have will allow you to feel better with your life
and achieve what you want with a smile on your face.
5. Don’t forget the environment
A
dangerous phenomenon of success is the forgetting of the people around
us as soon as we breathe the air at the top. In order for this not to
happen to you, try not to act at all times only for yourself, but also
for the people around you who express support for you. Our lives are
short, and Sharma emphasizes the importance of acting for others, not
just for ourselves, for humanity and compassion are a success in their
own right, and it is important to always remember those who surround us.
6. Accept your failures
The
word "failure" is particularly jarring when it comes to striving for
success, and many people prefer not to try at all than to take the risk
and fail along the way. Despite this fear, we must remember that failure
is an inseparable part of success, and you must not let it get you
down. The fear of failure can trip you up more than anything else, and
therefore it is not particularly wise to focus on the small defeats on
the way to great success.
7. Focus on the goal you see before you
Robin
Sharma advises developing "tunnel vision" on the road to success so
that it can be reached. When you set yourself a goal that you want to
achieve, it is important that you focus on it and on the person you want
to be so that you are not distracted by the diversions that come your
way.
8. Use the 20/20/20 formula
Laziness
is a trait that many of us will not admit to having, but we must not
give in to it when trying to reach a certain goal. Hard work is the way
to succeed in life, and for that, you will have to sacrifice one hour
each morning. You can get up earlier, or plan your day in a way that
allows you to do so. Once you’ve chosen the hour you’d to invest you
must divide into three 20-minute segments.
The
first 20 minutes you will need to devote to a strenuous workout that
will increase your heart rate and make you alert. Besides these
benefits, the workout will also release hormones that will make you feel
energetic, focused and happy, which will help you achieve your goals.
Take the next 20 minutes to plan what you need to do on your way to
success. You can, for example, build a quarterly plan for the three
months ahead, and record and fix every day what you need to do in the
coming days.
The
last 20 minutes should be dedicated to learning the things that
interest you, and the world of success. You can do this by reading
biographies of successful people, reading a newspaper and keeping up
with the day's affairs, or anything else that will give you more
knowledge than you had yesterday.
9. Understand the importance of small wins and achievements
When
you strive for success, there is no such thing as too little an
achievement, since every action you succeed in advances you towards your
goal. Therefore, it is important that you do not underestimate the
small daily successes you reach, but take a few moments to express
enthusiasm and joy for what you’ve achieved and what you have now but
did not have yesterday. Celebrate your big and small achievements, and
realize that every little step you make is more meaningful than its
momentary size.
10. Stop making excuses
"Victims
make excuses. Leaders deliver results" Sharma says of excuses which
many of us tell ourselves and others on the way to achieving our goals
and success. According to Rubin, excuses do not serve us, or our goals
and certainly don’t help us achieve the success we aspire to. It is easy
to tell ourselves to give up and do nothing, but in the long run, the
fact that we did not try to do what we wanted best makes it difficult
for us. Therefore, excuses will bring you momentary relief, but over
time they will be the most difficult factor for you, and there is no
point in them, only in attempts, failures and finally success.
Source: Unknown