Universal Formulas for Success

You may very easily find hundreds of books on this topic. It's not a surprise that success, the most relative term, is defined absolutely by various writers. I am daring so but in a different way. It's a very precise presentation of what I learned about success. Unlike thick books on this topic this article will inspire you to change your approach to every thing in your life in just few minutes. So keep on reading.

Though success is a very relative term as it means different thing to different people, I have assumed some context from various part of our lives to understand and define success. You may assume a case of your own. You could be a student, a businessman, a writer, an executive, a public servant, a politician, a sport person etc. You will find the following universal formulas are exclusively specific for your own context.

Formula No 1: Self Analysis

We have tried to learn and understand every thing around us except our own self. If you ask a person about his own preferences and goals in life, he'll be confused to answer a specific response. This is because we hardly know our own self. So start with some self talk and ask following questions to yourself:

• What is my core strength/s which makes be deferent from others?
• What are my weaknesses which I could not live with?
• What is my goal of life?
• Is my strengths supporting or complementing my journey towards goal of my life?
• Are any of my weaknesses diverting me from my ultimate goal?

Answering above questions is not easy. You should be daring enough to be honest with yourself. Majority of us live in a pseudo perception of ourselves. If you are in some wrong believes about your own self it could lead to anywhere except your goal. The outcome of self analysis is loud and clear. If you have some competitive strength it is good. Otherwise you should plan to develop them. Also think out ways to eliminate your weaknesses you do not want to live with.

Formula No 2: Goal Setting With No Compromise Attitude

I call it law of zero compromise. If you are setting a goal for you do not compromise with your inner feelings. A student who wants to be a doctor should not take commerce as a subject in his or her graduation. Remember one compromise will lead to another and all compromises put together will divert you from your goal. It is like killing all your options till you have only one and following your instinct to achieve what you want to achieve.

Formula No 3: Continuous Improvement

Japanese developed KAIZEN, continuous improvement, and changed the approach to manufacturing all across the world. Continuous improvement is a must because all of us have very limited time. Think how you can make today a shade better than your yesterday. Make it a continuous process. Your gain could be anything to measure. It could be knowledge, money, some creative pursuit etc. Follow law of three monkeys to continuously upgrade your personality.

Law of three monkeys is just opposite of Mahatma Gandhi's three monkeys. Imagine three monkeys, one with wide open eyes, one with alert open ears and one with opened mouth for conversation. All you have to do is to follow these monkeys.

Follow Monkey One:

Open your eyes wide enough to see what's happening around you. You will see the world around you is changing faster than your personal rate of improvement. It happens to majority of us. That is why, after some age or qualification or experience people become outdated and new generation starts taking over. You can see it in your organization, in your family and in your society. Remember you will only be updated if your pace of self improvement is faster than that of world around you. So continuously have a close look for things around you. Organization, industry, economy, and society around you still have enough knowledge and insights to give you

Follow Monkey Two:

Continuously listen the experiences and thought process of others. There are infinite knowledge available in the experiences of your elders or seniors which you can gain without going through all they have gone. It is worth learning with minimum investment of time.

Follow Monkey Three:

I have personally experienced that sharing your knowledge is the best way to enhance your knowledge. Knowledge is not like a zero sum game. It is just opposite. It grows with sharing. There is no logic to prove this point all you have to do is just do it yourself and observe.

Continuous improvement is must for continuous growth of your personality. Remember when your rate of personal improvements becomes less than the rate of change of environment around you; you are in trap of process of being obsolete.

Formula No 4: Law of Action

Believe in law of action. You could have a fantastic plan. But success of your plan is uncertain in absence of proper implementation. All of us are very good thinker. But we never dare to rely on our own thoughts to do something different. You can make difference only if you are in action. You can not make any difference only from your thoughts.

That is all. I have not explained any rocket science above. All the above formulae are universal in nature. To summaries; if you have an integral goal supported by your own strengths, and if you know your weaknesses as well supported by your desire for continuous improvements, you are on a right path. Just follow your instinct and act upon.

By Santosh Srivastava