Challenge is the pathway to engagement and progress in our lives. But not all challenges are created equal. Some challenges make us feel alive, engaged, connected, and fulfilled. Others simply overwhelm us. Knowing the difference as you set bigger and bolder challenges for yourself is critical to your sanity, success, and satisfaction.
‘No one can make you successful; the will to success comes from within.’ I’ve made this my motto. I’ve internalized it to the point of understanding that the success of my actions and/or endeavors doesn’t depend on anyone else, and that includes a possible failure.
Albert Camus, a great humanist and existentialist voice, pointed out that to commit to a just cause with no hope of success is absurd. But then, he also noted that not committing to a just cause is equally absurd. But only one choice offers the possibility for dignity. And dignity matters. Dignity matters.
Make treating yourself a priority and always remember your life is happening now. Don’t put off all your dreams and pleasures to another day. In any balanced personal definition of success there has to be a powerful element of living life in the present.
When the United States first went into Afghanistan in 2001, it devastated the Taliban and Al Qaeda in a matter of weeks using only a few hundred C.I.A. and Special Operations personnel, backed by American air power. Later, when the United States transitioned to conventional Pentagon stability operations, this success was reversed.
The only way to permanently change the temperature in the room is to reset the thermostat. In the same way, the only way to change your level of financial success ‘permanently’ is to reset your financial thermostat. But it is your choice whether you choose to change.
To this day, just always treat people the way you want to be treated. Whether it’s family or friends or co-workers, I think it’s the most important thing. Whether you have success or don’t have it, whether you’re a good person is all that matters.
Super-success is not for everyone, and you will endure weeks and months and years of hard work, obstacles, failures, victories, pain, and any manner of ‘negative’ experiences to reap the rewards of success, drink from the golden goblet, own the brass ring.
Thinking like an entrepreneur means establishing a core audience of early adopters and constantly experimenting to make your product better and better. If your initial concept is showing promise and early success, keep iterating to refine and evolve your idea.
From my point of view, it is not the coach who becomes world champion, it is a team. Not just the players who played, but the whole squad, and also the team behind the team. Because if you want to achieve success, the whole team has to work perfectly, like a machine, and all the pieces of the puzzle need to fit together into one picture.
Sometimes we may ask God for success, and He gives us physical and mental stamina. We might plead for prosperity, and we receive enlarged perspective and increased patience, or we petition for growth and are blessed with the gift of grace. He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence as we strive to achieve worthy goals.
In order for our country and economy to get on the right track again, we need a leader who understands how the real economy works and has the vision to fundamentally change Washington. That leader is Mitt Romney. No other candidate in the field possesses his lifetime of success in both the private sector and as a governor.
Most companies target women as end users, but few are effectively utilizing female employees when it comes to innovating for female consumers. When women are empowered in the design and innovation process, the likelihood of success in the marketplace improves by 144%!
Punctuality and showing respect in the workplace are the foundations of success. Success is meaningless without them. I’m always looking to pass these lessons on to younger players, because they are the secret of excelling and developing your game.
Success is no longer about changing strategies more often, but having the agility to execute multiple strategies concurrently. And success requires CEOs to develop the right leadership capabilities, workforce skills, and corporate cultures to support digital transformation.
As a boss, as a CEO, as a creative director, as a chef, I’ve learned that failure will always come. I’ve learned to give it a big squeeze, smile at it, humble myself to it and then use it as a springboard to send me on my way to strength, success, and fulfillment.
Whether you’re successful or not, you’ll never actually feel the joys of accomplishment unless you love yourself. Success can be very difficult to deal with. You have to stay in the center. If you let your success define you, then you’re really just setting yourself up for failure.
I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic.
My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.
We need quantitative assessments of the success of education. We need certification and qualifications both for teachers and for pupils. It is not a choice between quantity and quality, between access and excellence. Both of these will happen together if people really do believe in the importance of education to change lives.
There will always be competition, especially in showbiz. There’s always someone younger and hungrier standing behind you; there’s always someone with more contacts; there’s always someone whose grandfather or father is a filmmaker. I think your job is just to be there 100% – you work hard, and there are no shortcuts to success.
I grew up surrounded by all types of cultures – French, Indian, Arabic – a melting pot of cultures, sounds, foods, people, and religions. It opened my eyes early, and I’m grateful for that. It’s not about success in one area; it’s about exploring the world musically and spending time in those places whenever you can.
You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear.
I’ve been asked many times if I considered myself a narcissist, so I looked up the real meaning of the word, and I came to the conclusion that indeed I am one. I think of myself as better than other people, not every person, but many, unique and talented, and I aim to success.
A lot of my favorite battle rappers didn’t have that much commercial success, so I figured I might as well figure out how to make songs, because I don’t want to have a short-lived career or a career that is confined in just that realm of music.
