Have you ever noticed that there are lots of people who say they want to achieve something specific, something that they want to really want to have or to be. A large majority of these people often talk about what they want to be, how they dream about what they want to be, and yet like the elusive butterfly it just eludes them, success just doesn’t happen.
In so many cases a large number of these people posses extraordinary skills. They seem to have talent way beyond what is considered to be the “norm” but somehow the right opportunity just doesn’t come along. Yet others who have similar skill sets and talent go on to achieve amazing things. Why is that?
It is something that is beyond our control right? we must be born in the right place at the right time to the right parents in the right city with the right connections!
It’s all about getting that “lucky break” being in the right place at the right time. Being introduced to all those right people you know the ones with the right connections! That’s what life is about pure and simple luck! and then it is absolute clear sailing all the way to the top!
REALLY! I wonder whether anyone bothered to tell some of these people that:
Orville and Wilbur Wright, After numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and stay there.
Oprah Winfrey who was at one stage fired from her job because she was deemed” not fit for Television”
Walt Disney who was fired from a Newspaper because he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.
Elvis Presley who was fired by Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, after just one performance telling him, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.”
Henry Ford his early businesses failed and left him broke five times before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.
J K Rowling before she published the series of novels of Harry Potter, she was nearly penniless, severely depressed, divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending school and writing a novel.
The Beatles when they were just starting out, a recording company told them no. They were told “we don’t like your sound, and guitar music is on the way out,”
Beethoven, In his formative years, young Beethoven was incredibly awkward on the violin and was often so busy working on his own compositions that he neglected to practice. Despite his love of composing, his teachers felt he was hopeless at it and would never succeed with the violin or in composing. Beethoven composed some of the best-loved symphonies of all time–five of them while he was completely deaf.
Colonel Saunders, had a hard time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
This list of people and 10’s of thousands more in every area of life achieve the things they want to achieve. They achieved it using the same principles that we all have available to us. They had a strong desire and a total commitment to do whatever it took to reach their goal. They had faith in their ultimate outcome. They weren’t put off because of other people’s opinions they kept going, practising more, doing more over and over again.
Achieving what you want to achieve has nothing to do with where you were born or who your parents were or who you have been introduced to. It has everything to do with your vision and your persistence, perseverance, commitment and desire to achieve.
A lot of people argue that knowing the “right people” is important and I absolutely agree with that, of course you want to get to know the “right people”. But just knowing them is not enough on its own, you must have something to offer the “right people” and that my friends come from developing skills and talents that add value and benefit. When that happens you will be amazed at how many of the “right people” cross your path
It’s easy to say it’s too hard and just give up. It’s easy to blame people, places or things. It’s easy to say he or she said I am no good at what I am doing so I am giving up. Unfortunately that’s what most people do they just give up, they use other people’s opinions or criticism’s and short term setbacks as their excuse to quit.
To create success you must be willing to do whatever it takes. Learn the skills you need to learn and keep practising until you have reached the level where what you do does add value.
No matter what you choose to do in life, your success in that endeavour is controlled by whether you think you can or you can’t, and either way your right!
Yours in Success
Linda Cargill-Selfe
