Most people strive for success in life, but how do you actually achieve it? After five years in law school, I have discovered three things everyone can do in order to achieve success.
Intro
This is part two in my three-part series on success.
The objective of the posts is to help you all become successful and achieve your goals and dreams. If I can play a little role in helping you along the way, well then it has been well worth writing the posts.
In part one I covered the benefits of networking and how to network. However, there is more to success than networking. How you work and how hard you work is just as important, which is why I will cover this in part two.
What is hard work?
The kind of hard work I’m writing about in this post, is the focused effort you put in on top of your daily work routine and chores. It's not just meant as a physical effort. Hard work can also be a psychological effort that incurs mental fatigue.
What I'm talking about is a work ethic where you go the extra mile. It's a mindset that takes you out of your comfort zone and takes you to where the magic happens. It’s that extra effort that, if applied consistently, will guarantee your success in the end.
I’m already hearing people saying:
But cryptodan, I thought I was supposed to work smart not hard
And besides, I think I’m already working hard enough
I want to learn how to work smarter
Well, hold your rabbits guys and gals
Yes, working smart not hard is something we all want to do. But let’s be realistic here folks.
All successful people have achieved their success by consistently working hard towards achieving their dream.
I have never seen someone achieving success just by working smart.
Elon Musk, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Jobs, Serena Williams and Madonna all worked hard to get where they are today.
In order to be truly successful you will need to have a unique skill set. It takes hard work and consistency, and you can’t do it without grinding it out day by day.
After doing the hard work, that's when you will have the skill set. That’s when you need to specifically focus on working smart.
Work smart not hard
Allow me to clarify.
I’m not saying that you should first get the skills and then work smart. You should always try to work smart (networking is a good example), but it shouldn’t be your primary objective until you have the unique skill set.
When you have the skill set, you should focus on increasing your productivity. One of the keys to working smart is efficient time management and creating helpful habits. There are many ways to do it, and I encourage you to experiment and find out what works for you.
Here are some things that worked for me:
1. Get up early
The early bird gets the worm, as the saying goes. I’m most creative and I get the most work done in the morning when I’m rested after a good night’s sleep. Another benefit of getting up early is you simply have more hours to do your work. So try to make a habit of being an early riser.
2. Be proactive
If you haven’t already, you should take ownership of your life. The best way to do it is to think and plan ahead in everything you do. It minimizes the risks of things going wrong.
3. Make a list
Write down your short and long-term goals and tasks. Make sure to set goals that you can measure and share them with your network. There’s a good chance they can help you achieve them
4. Prioritize
Once you have made your list, you should prioritize your tasks. This ensures that you get the most important stuff done first
5. Schedule
Keep a tight schedule and stick to it. The schedule should have mini objectives for each day that you can realistically achieve. This way you will be most efficient.
6. Organize your work
Systematize you work and create routines, but don’t become too dependent to your routines. The key is to keep experimenting and try out new work techniques. Organizing also helps reduce inefficient time wasting and you will get more done in shorter time.
The best day to start was yesterday, the next best day to start is today
Remember success don’t come over night, so keep going when it gets tough, because it will get tough if you want to achieve something extraordinary in your life. Success through hard and smart work is the single thing that no one can take away from you. So go out there and become successful!
Here is the link to part one in the series:
Three Factors That Will Guarantee Your Success – Part 1 Networking
That’s it for part two and thank you for reading. I will be posting part three within the next week so be sure to keep an eye out for it.
Your comments are much appreciated and feel free to ask any questions.
