People always ask whether there is a royal road to success. We can see some people succeeding in life while others lag behind. Why they fail to succeed in life has been the talking point among psychologists for a long time.
After many experiments and research studies, they have come up with some winning combination of traits that leads almost inevitably to success. Almost all of us want to know that secret formula. The main criterion for success is not wealth or social position, but your achievements in a field. Psychological research points out a number of traits that recur among top achievers. Let us have a close look at some of them.
First and foremost, you should have common sense or the ability to render sound, practical judgments on everyday affairs. To do so, you have to sweep aside extraneous ideas and get right to the core of what matters. As a business magnate has put it, the key ability for success is simplifying. Reducing complex problems to simplest forms is highly important.
Sometimes we wonder whether people are born with common sense or not. In fact, even if you were not born with common sense, you can develop it with correct guidance. We learn this skill at school while taking part in debates. Another way to increase your common sense is to observe it in others and learn from your own mistakes. In a university study in the United States, 79 percent of the participants said they had common sense to deal with life’s problems. They also believe that common sense is necessary to achieve success in life.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States said, “They say I tell a great many stories; I reckon I do, but I have found in the course of a long experience that common people take them as they run are more easily informed through the medium of a broad illustration than in any other way and as to what the hypercritical few may think, I don’t care.”
Dr. Karl Compton, the noted physicist’s sister lived in India. One day she was having a simple electrical installation done by a native electrician. He troubled her so much for instructions that she at last said irritably. “You know what, just use your common sense and do it.” The electrician politely said, “”Madam, common sense is a sure gift of God. I have only a technical education.”
Common sense
A Persian proverb says, “One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it. Samuel T. Coleridge went a step further and said, “Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.” Psychologically, common sense means the totality of generally accepted and frequently unrealised methods used to explain and appraise observed phenomena of the outside and inner world.
After common sense, you need a specialised knowledge in your field of activity. Geologist Philip Oxley, President of Tenneco Oil Exploration and Production Company, attributes his success to having worked in the oil fields. By sitting on oil wells and bird-dogging seismic crews, he learned the tricks of the trade first hand. At university, you do not get such knowledge. Those who need to succeed in their chosen fields should have a practical understanding of the crafts in their business.
In developed countries, young graduates are recruited as interns immediately after graduation. They learn the tricks of trade during their internship. If this system can be applied here, young graduates do not have to take part in protests asking for jobs.
A few years ago some Mass Communication graduates were recruited as interns at a newspaper organisation. Most of them learned the tricks of the trade during their internship. Even a highly qualified photographer needs on the job training for better performance. Specialised knowledge you gain through self-education is more important than formal teaching at a university.
Do your homework
The president of a big corporation has advised his employees to do their homework. He believes that nothing helps success more than knowing what you are doing. Such self-education reduces the risks and works like an insurance policy for your own ability. Specialised knowledge is something you can be proud of. The learning process will continue until retirement.
Another requirement for success is self-reliance. Primarily, you have to rely on your own resources and abilities. Self-reliance does not mean how you feel or how good you are. It is whether you have the gumption to take definitive action to get things moving. For this, you need loads of willpower and the ability to set goals. Most of us have clear goals when we start our careers. However, you should have the willpower to become a self-starter. Some people expect others to push them forward, but this does not happen in real life.
To do any job you need general intelligence. Without it you will grope in the dark not knowing in what direction you should move. General intelligence means your natural ability to understand difficult concepts and situations.
A person endowed with general intelligence is quick to analyse a problem and find a solution with the usual methods such as by I. Q. tests. Although it is good to have a high I.Q. rate, you need an extensive vocabulary and good reading and writing skills. You have to read both fiction and non-fiction. In addition, if you wish to succeed in life, an inquiring mind and broad-ranging interests are necessary.
High achievers
When you go up the ladder of success, you should have the ability to get things done by others. High achievers rank themselves very high in accomplishing their tasks. A professor at a state university says his success was due to sheer hard work with the ability to get things done by others.
Successful people never feel tired. You feel tired only when you fail. Start-up fatigue and performance fatigue are two stumbling blocks to success. In the former case, we keep putting off tasks that should be done today. Such start-up fatigue is something real. To prevent start-up fatigue always tackle the most difficult job first. On the other hand, performance fatigue is difficult to handle. Difficulties appear to be insurmountable. If you face such a situation, work as hard as you can and then let the unconscious take over.
Sometimes the snare is not in the problem itself, but with social situation. For instance, you feel that others are preventing you from succeeding. There is no need to blame others and shrug off your responsibilities. William Shakespeare put it very succinctly when he wrote: “The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. If you have to do a particular job, do it without listening to others.”
