Path to success

Success is an elusive, multifaceted concept that captures our imagination in one form or another. How we define and achieve it are different for each of us, and I think it’s fair to say that as we progress through life’s journey, our view of success changes and evolves with our experiences, but remains grounded in our core values. We encounter individuals who have achieved extraordinary success and marvel at how they did it. We may think they had an easier path or resources that gave them a greater advantage over the rest of us average achievers; however, in most cases, the path to extraordinary success is littered with setbacks and obstacles that had to be overcome. I have come across some identifiable attributes that characterize extraordinary achievers and might offer some perspective in our own life pursuits:

• People who achieve extraordinary success approach problems or obstacles by re-defining and re-framing fundamental questions to find solutions others haven’t discovered
• They are unwilling to accept what they identify as artificial barriers that stop others and push through them
• They relentlessly test their ideas, question what works and what doesn’t and test them again
• They have a lifelong thirst for knowledge and willingness to learn from others
• They are humble enough to give credit to others that contribute to their success
• They have a healthy attitude about failure, see it as a friend and teacher, gain strength and build on it to achieve success
• They are fully engaged in their pursuit, tireless in working to improve and refine their craft. Malcolm Gladwell calls it the “10,000 hours of practice rule”

These are by no means the only defining principles for great success in life, but they certainly give some framework. It is important for each of us to determine in our own heart and mind our vision of true success, whether financial, relational, spiritual or vocational and pursue that path. An important question to remember is “how will it impact the people around me?” Personal achievement at the expense of others will not ultimately result in the finest kind of success.

 

Personal branding (In Moderation)

I admit that I get enamored with fancy words and cool catch phrases. Then, they get overused and become an annoying distraction. I remember when the idea of personal branding became a marketing concept years ago and I thought it was so creative. Now it is probably ready to join “think outside the box”, “paradigm shift” (which I must admit I am guilty of using), along with bad PowerPoint presentations. A generation ago if you talked about personal branding people might have thought you were getting a tattoo to remember who you were or belonged to. Ranchers brand their livestock to communicate identity. So, personal branding is really about how you frame yourself, what you represent, your motivations, how you can bring benefit, and communicating that message in an authentic way to your audience. The ever-expanding world of communication brings new opportunities for great personal communication, but also brings the pitfalls of poorly wielded personal power.

The world of social media has brought the concept of personal branding, personal marketing, what I would even call “personal social positioning” into sharper focus. Just like everyone became their own publisher when personal computers became ubiquitous, now, via social media, everyone is their own personal PR expert.The problem with these endeavors of promoting ourselves to the world comes when it is unprofessional   and inappropriately presented, or we overexposed our “personal brand” because…well, we can.  People light up Facebook and LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, blah, blah, blah with countless banal personal “highlights”, stories or quotes. It’s the age-old good thing becoming excessive and overused, so it becomes ineffective. To be fair, a lot of the social media traffic isn’t necessarily motivated by self promotion, but just people sharing ideas and life experiences for fun and edification; however, if you take a step back and observe a slice of the social media blasting across our computer screens, we have kind of gone over the top. Personal branding can be a good thing, let’s just make it worthwhile. I’ll send you a Snapchat.