Creating Your Own Success Story
I love a good memoir. Reading the journey of a person’s road to success is something I often find very inspiring and motivating because the one thing they all have in common is that no-one has it easy. In life, business, relationships, whatever it is, there is a series of of ups and downs, highs and lows, rough patches and smooth sailing, and those who make it out on top are those who know how to rise and push through the challenges.
Most of the world’s most successful people such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, to name a few, are those who have, in certain ways, broken the mold; be it in their thinking, their radical business strategy, their solutions, their methods, and more often than not, their paths, their habits and their ways are unique to them, and are then idolized and emulated by the rest of the world.
I have seen articles with countless titles such as “10 habits of successful people”, “How to think like Steve Jobs”, dozens of blog posts about the sparse wardrobe choices of billionaires, writing habits of famous writers, creative process of famous designers, and so on and so forth, all of which attempt to isolate a certain factor of such a person’s life and re-brand it as a key factor of their success. This results in millions of young minds, keen entrepreneurs focusing on the new buzz that is life hacking, as opposed to finding their own process, and doing great work.
These “10 things to make you successful” life hacks only create more noise around the confusion around what it takes to become a successful individual, and most likely is only a fraction of what makes up the entire pie of the famous person who practices it.
We have to learn to trust in our own process. Sophia Amaruso wouldn’t be the #Girlboss she is today if she tried to do it all by the book. If she allowed herself to swallow the deadly pill of fear, and examined her credentials and found herself sorely lacking in the experience and skills needed to grow a fashion e-commerce business, Nasty Gal would be a now fading e-bay store, and the same could be said for many other unlikely success stories.
Before any skills, knowledge or talent we acquire or hone, our first and greatest weapon is our authenticity, because in our authenticity lies the ability to connect with people.
People don’t buy products or services, people buy into other people.
Our ability to interpret and solve problems in our own unique ways, our own approach to things, what you genuinely have to offer the world is something that nobody can ever take from you and its something that you cannot learn from anybody else. We each have our own words, our own thoughts, our own voice, and our own methods, and judging from the 2% of successful people in the world, those who use their stories and approach their business from their own unique point of view are most likely to have a greater connection with people, which in turn creates a loyalty that makes their business more successful.
Yes, it is important to have mentors, and it is also extremely important to keep learning from those more successful than you are. But we have to be able to extract the real juice from the entire fruit, and know when and where it fits into our own lives and businesses. There is no copy and paste formula for success and it certainly doesn’t come by mirroring another person’s playbook. What works for Mark Zuckerberg may not work for you, and you will do yourself a disservice to measure yourself against someone’s process.
One thing I have learned is that there are no guarantees with success. You may wake up everyday at 4am, work 80 hours a week, operate on no sleep, wear the same outfit everyday, create an office space with table tennis and siesta rooms, follow the exact same process person xyz followed, and still be waiting for the big bang “aha” moment. Instead, while we learn from others we must also learn about ourselves. What is your process? What makes you tick? When are your most productive hours? How many hours do you need to sleep to be active in the morning? What unique approach do you have? Do you need to jump in and attack it or do you need to work slowly? Do you need formal education or are you a quick on-the-job learner? Is everyone doing it in one way but you want to do it in a completely different way? What can you do with what you have now, and where you are now?
I used to be a passive participant in my life, and try to follow other people’s process or ideas. I let other people’s definition of success determine mine, and I walked in shoes that didn’t fit and felt uncomfortable because I was trying to do things in a certain way that was not really true to who I was. Every day I am in the process of learning and unlearning, and in doing so, I am forging my own path.
Everyone is going to give you their 2 cents on how you should get things done, and it’s not their fault; The world is obsessed with creating the most accurate narrative on what success is and ideas on how to get there quickest. The real challenge is to stay focused on your lane, and enjoy the process of creating your own story, because you never know what you may learn about yourself or what avenue you may create that never existed. Good luck! :)
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