Starting From The Bottom: The Hard but Inspirational Way of Growing

Success is very subjective, each person defines and achieves it differently.

Regardless of where you start and where you hope to get go, you can apply approaches to assist you in achieving your goals.

Here are 5 ways to challenge yourself to grow towards success:

Failure isn’t to be Feared

Failing is part of the success equation — there is no sidestepping it.

In order to become great at a skill or activity, you have to first learn it, then practice it to become proficient.

This means failing multiple times, learning from the failures and then adjusting behavior to go a bit further each time.

A recent study found students who had a fear of failure were more likely to pursue activities that they were good at immediately to validate their ego and ignore their own personal interests and developments — all this to avoid failure.

Not only that, students who had a fear of failure were more likely to cheat.

The journey towards success is full of stumbles, missteps and difficulties.

These aren’t to be feared, instead if you embrace the snags and glitches, you’ll see the gift in them.

You will learn more about yourself as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

You goal will become more refined as the failures provide you with clarity on what you truly hope to achieve.

Failure is merely an opportunity for you to reaffirm what you want and how you will continue to pursue it.

Think Big

It doesn’t matter where you get your start — it matters where you end up.

This holds true for many successful people.

Apple Computers started out in a garage and is now a worth more than 500 billion dollars. 

The co-founder of the company, Steve Jobs, dreamed big but he made sure to do so in a very tangible way, with bold, specific, concise goals, which he was consistent about.

Work Hard

Opportunities and success don’t get handed out freely.

It might appear as if successful people have luck on their side, but really they aren’t more blessed than anyone else.

Behind-the-scenes of successful people, they have put in the time and effort to get good at what they do.

It’s what they did before the success came that is telling — the practice they put in when they aren’t being watched.

They have invested in themselves with education and practice that takes raw talent and transforms and focuses it.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, that people with weak work ethic don’t incur emotional costs when they aren’t succeeding or face unemployment.

If they don’t feel strongly about their letdowns, they won’t commit themselves to working hard to achieve them.

Evaluate your Influences

Not all relationships are good for you.

Some people in our lives build us up and challenge us to be our very best, while others can be detrimental to our well-being.

This starts when we’re young as adolescence can be a turning point.

This is exemplified by the 23.5 million Americans suffering from addiction, many of whom began their substance abuse as teenagers with friends.

If a friend or family member is not supportive of healthy and productive opportunities in your life, it might be time to consider distancing yourself from them.

Don’t Play Victim

You have choices.

Blaming others for your position in the world is waste of time.

You are merely victimizing yourself.

You have control over what you do, what you say and where you go.

These actions are within your control.

Instead of being paralyzed by perceived unreasonable or threatening situations make appropriate adaptations.

Take action on the matters you can influence, be your own advocate and stop waiting for others to take care of you.

If you step up you’ll be surprised who will take notice.

Knowing where you want to go is part of the equation of success.

The next important step is to take action towards your goal.

Waiting for someone to hand you a golden opportunity is a waste of the time you could spend working hard to better yourself through education and practice.

You can have fear around how and if you’ll succeed but move forward anyhow.

Know what you want to achieve, ignore people who want to hold you back and start putting one foot in front of the other.

Life is full of choices and you get to make them!