After hundreds of interviews with people who are on top of their field of expertise, I have come to the conclusion that the biggest impediments to success are:
- not being committed to your goal,
- having little self-confidence, and
- not having a clear focus.
Dreams are free. Don’t be afraid to have one
One of our biggest motivational forces we have is our ability to dream. At one time one of my biggest dreams was to come to Canada. I dream about it, I took action and now I live in Canada. Another dream that I had was to become a podcaster. I spent hours watching YouTube videos, trying things out, and now I am a podcaster.
Don’t be afraid to dream. Once you have zero-in on a dream, write it down, submerge yourself with information about it and finally, take action.
Recently, one of my cousins told me that she wanted to come to Canada. I found the forms on the Canadian immigration website, plus the fee of about $CAN 1,000. My cousin decided not to apply. She became afraid of her own dream. Her dream became something that others do, but not her.
You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.”
-Rumi
How to gain self-confidence
I have heard this piece of advice so many times:
“Be confident in yourself!” “You can do it, all you need to do is to be confident.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
Actions precede confidence.
This means that you have to try something many times, fail until you run out of failures, then succeed, then have confidence.
When I was learning public speaking at my local Toastmasters club, I was a mess. I wasn’t able to speak coherently. After many failures, I build some speaking skills, and not I feel more confident.
Learn how to focus
Covid-19 has been a big eye-opener for me.
Before Covid-19 I used to have many side hustles. I had my dance classes, my photography business, some consulting, writing on my blog, and podcasting.
As time has passed by, I realized that I want to focus 100% on podcasting. I want to leave all my other activities in order to try to perform well in one of them. Nowadays, when someone proposes something which is not aligned with my goals, I simply say no.
If you want to be extraordinary in one area of your life, you might have to say no many other areas. The example of Olympic athletes come to mind. All those athletes are extraordinary in what they do, but in order to get there, they had to say “no” to many parties, many restaurant outings, and many other activities that were distractions from their main goals.
Conclusion
To have a successful life is simple but not easy. You have to have to want it, you have to take action, and you have to focus and avoid distractions. We all can do it.
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