How To Be Successful

Some interesting thoughts on how to be successful

1. John Buchanan (Damon Kitney, 2008), the famous Australian coach of the one of most successful international cricket teams in recent times, asserts

- you don't need to be the expert. It is better to have an understanding of people and bring in expertise as required

- you need to have an attitude of never being satisfied with your current performance, irrespective of how good it is. You need to continually review your performance even when you are going well. At the same time, stay, positive.

- you need to be aware of personality and ego clashes and be prepared to back away if this happens.

- you need to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Use your strengths to handle your weaknesses and/or get expertise around you to handle your weaknesses.

2. Bobbi Brown (Katarina Kroslakova, 2012) is a New York-based make-up artist who started the trend of natural make up in the 1980s. Her company was purchased by Estee Lauder in 1995 and is worth in excess of $US 500 million). Her advice:

- follow your dreams and passions;

- have a clear vision of where you want to go to and then work out how to get there;

- don't take "no"for an answer; find other ways of doing it;

- if you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything;

- have both short-term and long-term goals and work out how you want to accomplish them; be patient in achieving them;

- work on your expertise and network;

- be polite and work hard;

- listen to your instinct as well as your head in decision-making.

3. An Internet survey of 500 successful people - the common elements of their success was based upon the following

- being passionate about what they are doing;

- working hard and having fun at work;

- practicing to become very good at the work;

- having focus;

- push both mentally and physically (it is of interest to note that most successful people have a "pushy mother");

- having resilience to handle self-doubt;

- being persistent enough to handle failure;

- work is related to a cause and adds value;

- being prepared to listen, ask questions, observe, be curious, good at problem solving and making connections;

- being receptive to ideas.

. The 3 circles approach, ie outermost circle "what", middle one "how"& innermost circle "why", ie

- what refers to "what do you do?", ie produce excellent products & services

- how refers to what are the processes, systems, etc used to produce excellent products & services?

- why refers to "why do we do it?", ie articulating their core values and beliefs

(source: Simon Sinek, 2011)

 . Do not give up too early!!!

During World War II, the fall or battle of Singapore (1942) when the Allied forces, led by British officers, surrendered to the Japanese military forces is an interesting study in "giving in" too early. Some post-war analysis has shown that the invading Japanese were at the limit of their supply lines and only had a few hours of ammunition left. In other words, if the Allied forces had counter-attacked and/or maintained their defensive positions, they could have defeated the invading Japanese. As a result of this surrender, around 80,000 Allied troops (mostly British) became prisoners of war; it was the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. (Wikipedia, 2016c)

(source: Sylia Duckworth, 2017)