photo by vu
Success comes in many forms and for me it has to do with opportunities that present themselves to where I have the chance to display my capabilities. The formula for success that I am describing here has to do with a project you are working on or the work you do, where there are competitors or others that might be ranked and compared to you or what you do. For example, if you are given an opportunity to work on a project that is outside of your everyday job duties that will expand your skills and also give others a glimpse of what you are capable of, you might be compared to others who have gone through the same process as well as those who come after you. My formula for success is to set the bar so high by implementing my success formula, that whoever wants to be compared in a better light then myself would have a lot of work ahead of them.
The success comes from doing what you are given to the best of your ability and giving it your all. You can apply this formula to many different situations, but this could be readily used in your professional work.
My formula is simple, yet tough to implement. My formula is to work smarter, work harder, be better prepared and to go above and beyond.
WORK SMARTER
As we go through our academic and professional life, we pick up smarter ways to do the work we do. I can remember when I first started a new job or my first day of college and that "freshman" feeling of not knowing what to do, or where to go is usually the challenge we face. As we progress, we simplify our daily routine activities to where we work smarter. There comes a time when everything really clicks and we get in the flow of our work. Do you usually stop there to continually improve the work you do? Personal innovation has to do with continually seek to improve with each passing day. We tend to slow our progression once we get all the necessary tasks under control and we stop looking for ways to work smarter, or it is tougher to find the different areas to improve. If you look closer, there are numerous things you could improve or get better at.
The first step for my formula for success is to find out the basic tasks that I need to master to work smarter, then raise the bar and kick it into advanced mode. This mike take some exploring and trying different ways to do things, to see if there is a better approach. The first step is to find ways to work smarter.
WORK HARDER
If you are given a task or project, do you work at it to the best of your ability or do you do the minimum to just have it completed. Most people will go the easy route and just get things done without putting too much into it. If you work harder at something and when things seem tough, you pull the extra effort from within to give a little more, this is where your work will set you apart from the others. The reason for this is that the feeling of wanting to stop and complete the project will be the same thoughts as your competitors or others who do the same thing, if you push forward and give it even a bit more, you have given more and expanded more than the next person.
BE BETTER PREPARED
Working hard is only part of the success formula package. Not being prepared is another area that needs to be focused on and this also crosses into working harder. Preparing for possible outcomes, objections, problems and having solutions will set you apart from the person who only spent a limited amount of time preparing for whatever it is they are doing. With preparation, you will grow confident in all that you do and the additional benefits of not only having solutions ready in your back pocket but the impact of confidence behind your work.
GO ABOVE AND BEYOND
Do you strive to go above and beyond what you do or do you just seek the minimum? There are times in my professional career where I have felt that my hard work and dedication falls on blind eyes, but it is hard to ignore when you strive for excellence and a trending consistency of smart work, hard work and the confidence of being prepared. If you go above and beyond versus the next person, the difference will be very visible and success comes from the different people that are exposed to your level of work and dedication with consistency. These are the things that are hard to ignore and the reward is success.
I must congratulate you if you have read this far, because the topic has to do with doing more work than is necessary. People are afraid to go the extra mile because they feel that it would be wasted energy. In my experience and from what I have seen in my professional life, success always catches up to those who follow this success formula, and for the ones that take the easy route, they will be the ones wondering and hoping for success versus the person who makes it happen. Remember if it is easy, then everyone will be doing it.
