Human beings have an intrinsic desire for their life to be ‘about something’, to leave a legacy and to exist for a reason that is greater than themselves. This legacy may be financial, it may be the creation of a product, item or business, it may be fame or power. Aspirations of “success” are a basic, fundamental human need, as explained by Human Needs Psychology. Whatever ‘success’ looks like for you, you will be chasing it, but whether you will achieve success depends on whether you are playing the rules according to it’s fundamental law.
The concept that we have of success is based upon the role models that are place around us and the celebrities that we respect, look up to and keep a close eye on. If you desire serious wealth then you may look up to Richard Branson, if you pursue fame in a sporting field you may look up to Beckham, you may desire to be a world famous musician or a political leader because of someone you admire in those specific arenas. These role models are a pointer to the visual success that we would like to have in our own lives, the success that we desire is modeled before our very eyes. Nevertheless, if you aspire to the “success” of your hero, you will never achieve it because you are looking for success externally, rather than actively developing success from within.
Let’s take, for example, money. Many human beings aspire to be successful in the area of money – to have more money than their wildest imagination. You may have a list of things you would love to buy if you had the money – a mansion, a boat, an island, all the latest Apple products! If you decided that you wanted to be wealthy, your hero may be Richard Branson and you may be motivated to have everything that Richard Branson is fortunate to have and much, more, his very lifestyle motivates you to achieve the same. If you focus on gaining the success of your hero let me tell you now, you will never ever achieve success as you see it.
I am 100% guilty of this. I have always wanted money, for many, many reasons. I started my life with a dream of what it would be like to have money. I remember, when I was younger, I used to dream of Alton Towers (a British theme park) closing to the public for a day, just so that me and my friends could go, in the same way that the theme park shut down for Michael Jackson. As a result of wanting this financial success I chased money.
When you desire money because you want the lifestyle of those who have it then you only goal is getting the dollars. The result is that you will play with a business idea, you will burn some cash, you will make some mistakes and you will move on to a new idea and repeat the whole process again and again. There is a slight, slight chance that you will become incredibly rich, there is an even greater chance that you will become incredibly poor.
The absolute and fundamental law of success is that success is a by-product that comes to those who are fixated on their passion.
When you look within yourself and discover your passion, the very thing that keeps you alive, that keeps you breathing, that keeps you awake in the night and you learn, nurture and skill yourself in that area. Success is a by-product of working diligently on your passion. When the going gets tough, your passion keeps you motivated and inspired. When you want to quit, the knowledge that your passion is a very part of your being means that you won’t. When you focus on your passion, as a by product, success will come.
If you try to find a short-cut to success, whether this be money, fame, political influence or a sports start it will never ever come to you and you will never become the person that you were created to be.
If you want to be successful, however you define success you can start this very moment by focussing on your passion, by discovering it, working on it and see it come to fruition. If you do this, I guarantee that it will change your life forever.
Receive free life change resources by subscribing to my e-newsletter in the right hand box at the top or by clicking on this link: Mark Bowness – Life Change Instigator Newsletter.
Please also go ahead and ‘like’ my Facebook Page to ask questions and engage with a growing community of people just like you, people committed to Life Change. It would be great to see you there! Mark Bowness – Life Change Instigator – Facebook page. Or follow me on Twitter @mark_bowness