What You Need to Become Successful in Life
Most of us poke around, studying and dissecting the successful people of the world, hoping to unearth the secrets hiding in their stories. We read articles about them, follow their social media moves, and take notes, hoping to replicate the success we’ve seen through them. The truth, however, is that there isn’t a tried and true formula for what success looks like. Some are creatively talented, others analytically, and others are straight visionaries. There’s no single trait, or magic pill to swallow that separates the top one percent from the rest. It does come down to two essential skills that we can all develop, and it starts with one’s mental state.
Successful people have a strong conviction to what they believe and see as possible, as well as their ability to execute it — to bring it into the world. They are willing to try things that might not work, in order to eventually bring their vision to life, knowing that they can flesh things out along the way. To be a confident, successful leader takes courage, as it’s often lonely up top. In the midst of doubt and uncertainty, however, the confident leader will almost always find a way to make it work, leaving no stones unturned. Confidence takes trusting one’s gut and knowing obstacles will arise. The confident leader is mentally strong enough to handle such setbacks, and is able to breed a sense of confidence within their culture. They are able to instill a sense of assurance and trust within their team and followers, giving them reason enough to weather the storm, to take the risk; a risk that many might deem as foolish.
On the surface, certain people appear as if they’ve got everything made, however, every single one of them will tell, without a doubt, that failing is a part of the game.
“Failure, is a part of the journey towards success.”
In fact, failure is a prerequisite to achieving greatness, on any level, because in order to try anything new (something that’s never been done before), requires stepping out into the unknown, in order to give it a shot. Even the most successful companies in the world have had to face the naysayers, have had to break through the noise, and be resilient in doing so. It’s required, to convince a certain “tipping point” of people that their idea makes sense, that it could change the world — on some level.
We see chefs and restaurant owners push the boundaries of what customers are used to, and in doing so, create dishes and restaurant concepts we never could have imagined. On different scales, we see folks like Blake Mycoskie, of Tom’s Shoes, starting a shoe company in an already crowded niche. He’s not really in the business of selling shoes though, he’s in the business of helping people. For every pair of shoes someone buys, he gives a pair away for free, to a child in need. He discovered a way to sell shoes in a way that people could connect with, and since, we’ve seen his business model replicated, most recently, by companies like Warby Parker, the trendy eye wear company who does the exact same thing. Scott Harrison of Charity Water created a new transparency to fundraising, which has allowed us, as donors, to more easily see where our charitable dollars are going. He didn’t invent the idea of charity, merely a new model for which we could connect with it. All of these ideas, and the people that have created them, have faced adversity and struggle along the way, and in doing so, have developed a sense of resiliency — it’s part of what’s made them into the respected brands and people we’ve come to love.
Their resiliency, however, means nothing, if it’s not for something greater, something bigger that these visionaries believed in, which comes down to the confidence in themselves and what their ideas represent.
The most widespread example of confidence and resiliency in our culture today would have to be Uber, a company that, like others previously mentioned, was entering a crowded niche. To the average person, Uber is a glorified taxi service, but they are selling more than a ride to the airport, or a DUI-free trip home from the bars — Uber is selling time. They discovered an inefficiency in the market, and jumped in, head first, confident the market would appreciate their service. Talk about any company’s need to be resilient, and it’s Uber. They’ve had to battle the mafia of yellow cabs in every major market across the country. Law suit after law suit, time and time again, Uber has seen opposition to their offering, as it’s disrupted an entire industry, but Travis Kalanick, it’s founder and visionary, has stood strong and confident in his mission. Now, Uber is worth an estimated 50 billion dollars.
Around every single corner, Travis and Uber have had to be resilient, knowing that with each challenge, comes a new opportunity to learn about how they could better show up next time, and the next time…. and the next time… It all started with confidence, in what could be — knowing the world would appreciate and be better off with what they had to offer.
I don’t know your life. I don’t know your struggles, nor do I know your setbacks and the walls you’ve had to scale along the way. I do, however, know that if you don’t find something worth fighting for, something that you are confident in standing up for, you’ll regret.
The way I see it, confidence is huge, as is resiliency, however, put those two side by side, and you’ll see that they matter far more than your IQ or than the number of zeroes present in your bank account.
To believe in yourself and your ideas enough to fight through the storm, to overcome the obstacles, and to keep moving forward when anyone else would have called it quits — that’s what it takes.
Confidence + Resiliency, we have control over both.
Let’s start acting like it.
-CH
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