The secret to success

Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM, was once asked by the young journalist Arthur Gordon, “Mr Watson, how can I be more successful faster?” Watson replied with these profound words, “If you want to succeed faster, you must double your rate of failure. Success lies on the far side of failure.”

Brian Tracy on his part, believes it seems that you will fail far more times than you succeed. Murphy’s Law will apply to every new goal that you attempt: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. And of all the things that can go wrong, the worst possible things will go wrong at the worst possible times, and cost the most money.”

The first corollary to Murphy’s Law is that, “Murphy was an optimist.”

Overcoming your fears

The way that you develop the habit of courage is by acting courageously whenever courage is called for. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that the most important lesson he learned as a young man was, “In every situation do the thing you fear.” He concluded, “If you do the thing you fear, the death of fear is certain.”

You develop the habit of courage by moving toward the things you fear. You develop the habit of cowardliness by moving away from or avoiding the things or people that you fear. Each time you face a fear and overcome it, not only does your courage increase, but your self-esteem and self-respect goes up as well. You become a stronger and more confident person.

Eventually, by continually doing the things you fear, even when your natural tendency is to avoid them, you will reach the point where you are not really afraid of anything. You will recognize that facing fear is just something that leaders do each day, like driving through rush hour traffic. It is unfortunate, but inevitably unavoidable.

The true test of the leader

Peter Drucker says that the only event that is inevitable in the life of the leader is the “unexpected crisis.” It is only when you encounter a setback, an obstacle, a difficulty or the inevitable crisis, that you demonstrate the kind of person you really are. “It is not what you say, wish, hope or intend that reveals your character. It is only your actions, especially your actions in the face of adversity and possible setbacks or losses.”

The Greek philosopher Epictetus once wrote, “Circumstances do not make the man; they merely reveal him to himself.” Develop the habit of asking this question, “What one great thing would I dare to dream, if I knew I could not fail?”

Dorothy Brande once wrote, “Act as if it were impossible to fail, and it shall be!” Develop the habit, from this day forward, of identifying the things you fear that may be holding you back, and then confronting each one of them until they contain no more fear for you. As Shakespeare said in Macbeth, “Take arms against a sea of troubles, and in so doing, end them.” Put another way, “Leap, and the net will appear.” Leap and build your wings on the way down.

Make it a habit to do the things you fear, and the death of fear is certain. As your level of courage and confidence increases, your fears and doubts will decrease. The more you confront your fears and eliminate them, the stronger and more confident you will feel. Your self-esteem and self-respect will rise. As your fears diminish, you will become more powerful and persuasive.

You are responsible

Once you have developed a clear vision for your ideal future, and resolved to develop unshakable courage by doing the things you fear, you must develop the habit of accepting complete responsibility for yourself and for every aspect of your life.

Leaders accept responsibility. Followers do not. Leaders refuse to make excuses while followers hide behind them. Leaders see themselves as the primary creative forces in their own lives. Followers see themselves as victims, and spend much of their energies rationalising, justifying and explaining away their failure to make progress. The acceptance of complete responsibility is as essential to leadership as is courage.

Emerson once wrote that you could measure the size of a person by looking at the size of the responsibilities that he or she is willing to take on. There is a direct relationship between responsibility and a sense of control. The more responsibility you accept; the greater control you take over the various aspects of your life. When you accept total responsibility, you feel completely in control of yourself and everything that is happening around you.

Take charge of your emotions

Make it a habit to continually repeat to yourself the words, “I am responsible!” Whenever you feel angry or frustrated about some person or situation, immediately cancel this thought and feeling by saying “I am responsible!”

Emotionally, it is impossible to accept responsibility and to remain angry. When you accept responsibility, you relax and your mind clears. You become more focused and effective. When you take complete responsibility you feel in charge. You feel like a master of your own destiny. “The habit of taking responsibility unlocks your mental powers and makes you a more positive and optimistic person. It characterizes you as a true leader.”

Tell the truth

Perhaps the most important quality of leadership is the habit of integrity. You develop integrity, and become a completely honest person, by practicing telling the truth to yourself and others in every situation. Shakespeare in Hamlet wrote, “To thine own self be true, and then it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

The most important asset you develop through life is your reputation, and the quality of your reputation is determined by your level of integrity. Shakespeare also said, “He who steals my purse steals trash; but he who steals my good name, steals all.” You must guard your integrity as a sacred thing, as the most important statement about you.

In every part of business and society today, the first quality looked for in another person is the quality of honesty. You must develop the habit of living in truth with yourself, and with everyone around you. This does not mean that you will always be right, but you will always endeavour to tell the truth, as you see it. People will know that they can always rely on you and your word. They may not like what you say, but they will know that you always speak the truth.

Decide what you stand for

Living in truth means that you live consistent with the highest values that you know. This requires that you develop the habit of thinking through who you are and what you believe in. You continually clarify what you stand for, and what you will not stand for. Once you have decided that you are going to build your life around certain values, you refuse to compromise those values for anything. “Integrity is not so much a value as it is the value that guarantees all the other values.”

When you set integrity as your highest value, it becomes much easier for you to make decisions in each area of your life. You simply ask yourself, “Is this consistent with the very best that I know?”

If it is not, you refuse to do it. General Norman Schwarzkopf, the theater commander during the 1991 Gulf War, once said that the most important leadership principle he learned, from a senior officer, was simply, “DO THE RIGHT THING.” Whenever you are in doubt about a course of action, simply ask yourself, “Is this the right thing to do?” And then behave accordingly.

The men and women who are the most admired, esteemed and respected in societies, living and dead, are those who live or lived lives of exemplary honesty and integrity in everything they did. They were absolutely trustworthy. They always told the truth. You could always count on them and believe in them.

The post The secret to success appeared first on Ghanaian Times.