Mindset – The Only Formulae for Successful Professional
About six weeks back, I happened to discuss with a successful lawyer about a successful career. This lawyer made a tongue-in-cheek remark: “People have a habit of attributing their professional success to everything except their temperament, abilities, and hard work.” The next day while interacting with post-graduate students at a 75 years-old university on the same subject about successful professionals, I realized the fallacy about contributors to success.
I browsed through examples of successful individuals from all walks of life, including my mother, who remained a highly successful homemaker for the years. Taking inferences and learning from them, I discovered some common attributes that can be referred to as Mindset. The common attributes lie in something other that the ecosystem one gets, like family roots, the lineage of educational institutions, global exposure, coaches, access to resources, or even luck or the opportunity they come across.
I believe these only help to a certain extent because If that was the case, why is everyone from Ivy League universities unable to create a highly successful organization, or does everyone coached by the same coach not become a great sportsperson, or does everyone with special needs not end up living miserable lives? It is all about the MINDSET. I am not defining success here, as it is highly individually oriented and contextually influenced. But let me explain the ingredients of MINDSET that can help us in becoming successful.
1. Passion: Discover your zest for life :
For most people, the choice of profession is often based on the outcome of a successful career. Nothing wrong with it. However, success is almost guaranteed when you discover your passion, which may be at any stage, and pull all stops to convert the same into the profession. Passion is not a hobby. It will likely be a hobby when it doesn’t bother you when you stop doing it. Passion is about pursuing it irrespective of time and resource availability. If you think about it constantly and don’t feel like doing anything else, it is Passion.
2. Energy: Be Vibrant Everywhere, Every time :
People draw inspiration from the way you walk and the way you talk. Every aspect of your behavior reflects the presence or absence of personal energy. Energy brings speed and agility. Most of the time, it is contagious and a hallmark too. There are plenty of daily distractions in our life, and everyone faces similar distractions. However successful professionals still maintain that poise in their actions and their interactions. The reason is their ability to self-talk, create pressure on themselves, and ensure they remain energetic even in solitude. It’s important to understand that energy maps could be different for each individual and one must identify his/her own energy source and nurture that.
3. Courage: Start somewhere; Leave worries of fallouts :
We all experience challenging situations in life. Everyone is vulnerable to failure. Every time such a situation comes, one could get into a dilemma of choice. They say choosing between a Devil and a Deep Sea is difficult. But then, choosing rather than not opting for any choice is better in almost all situations. Those choices will break your comfort zone and might end up giving failure. But that courage to take risks, try new approaches, and challenge the status quo can lead to innovation and growth.
4. Learning: Learning is always Multi-source and Continuous :
The best laboratory to learn is experience. However, if you don’t learn from those experiences, they become missed opportunities. Learning is not necessarily only from successes or could come only from successful preachers or practitioners. It could also mean learning from the failures of self and others and learning from everyone around us. Learning from every moment of truth we experience and then emulating those learning to own professional pursuits can only be a journey that is continuous with no destination, only directions.
5. Opportune: Every Moment is an Opportune Moment :
This life is short. Every new day brings new opportunities. With every challenge, discover new capabilities in you. Every moment could create endless possibilities for your professional pursuits. Although there is always a next time, the lesser one waits for the next time; the faster the success comes. The faster one embraces that moment, the quicker one’s presence in the Present; the higher the chances of discovering more successful paths.
6. Resilience: More the Practice, More the Resilience :
Resilience is not just facing failure. It means bouncing back. Resilience means having faith in yourself and the ecosystem to bounce back. Resilience is more than just experiencing a problem or roadblock but involves finding ways and means to solve or manage those roadblocks. Most people show very high resilience when they get stuck in traffic jams. We have no choice but to maneuver our ways to reach the destination. Resilience fuels confidence and builds credibility.
So, let us define and reach success and not leave them to chances…Let us create and nurture a mindset to be successful! Remember: Nurturing them at any stage of life and in any situation is possible.
