Talent? Good luck? Hard work? Discover the truth about being successful

We all dream about being successful, but what does it mean? Is talent enough to achieve a success? Or maybe it is just a matter of coincidences and good luck? Frustration and jealousy often make us think that success is reserved only for chosen individuals. I believe that everybody can be successful if success means to do things with passion, according to one’s vocation. Do you agree?

Text and picture by Joanna Wroblewska

I have heard many stories of successful people. It might be surprising, but they were not about being rich and beautiful. In fact, money and attractiveness do not guarantee a happy life. Nowadays, in the world of endless possibilities and fast changes, being successful means to find your niche and do something with dedication and passion. Not everybody is lucky enough to discover the vocation in the high school or even earlier. For some people, it is a life challenge, a process, an adventurous journey with no predictable end. It is both fascinating and terrifying, isn’t it? Find the courage and dare to try!

Talent is not enough
There are millions of talented people around the world. They could become painters, architects or writers. They could make a difference… So why does their high potential get wasted? It is because talent does not always translate to success! Successful people have many other skills that help them to achieve their goals. But to work on your talents, you have first to discover them.

Start with convincing yourself, that each single human being is unique. There is no other person like you. You are creative and gifted. Your task is to experiment, discover and develop your greatest talents. A talent can be something that you love to do or that you are good at. It might also be something different from what you think it is now, so maybe one day you will surprise yourself with a challenging discovery? If you still feel like searching, just search. It is not a waste of time!

Hard work makes sense
Once you know what you want to do, just do it. Be regular, fight the fear and get things done! There is no other way to success. Almost everybody experiences diverse fears and creative blocks. Almost everybody has doubts. But it should not stop you from taking the risk of working hard on your ideas.

Have you heard that one needs to practice for at least 10.000 hours to master a skill? It means that there is no easy success. It might be helpful to look at the stories of famous writers, painters or entrepreneurs and discover the process behind their spectacular successes. You will be astonished by the huge amount of work that all those people did. Always when you get jealous of somebody’s success, realize how hard it was for that person to get to the top. How many hours did he (or she) exercise? Would you sacrifice as much as that person did? Probably not, so focus on yourself and do not become too bitter. Comparing to others is a real waste of time.

Only happy go lucky?
Good luck needs some help from us! Positive thinking, life appreciation, and mindfulness will surely support you in becoming successful. In the same time, try not to act based on strong emotions. Give yourself time and space to make important decisions.

Be process-oriented and do not focus just on achieving complex and distant goals. A bit of flexibility will help you in case you decide to change the direction. Being flexible does not mean to leave things unfinished, so get them done, even just for personal satisfaction. Each project will teach you something valuable and change your perspective.

Appreciate the role of networking and connecting with others. Good luck is in many cases based on contacts. Be open-minded, take the time to work on friendships, go for networking meetings, subscribe to a community of passionate people, become an enthusiastic and active student of the SAE Institute. A random conversation at a dull party or a short chat at the school corridor can be a life-changing experience. It happened to me many times. Would you call it good luck? I would call it a conscious choice.

Finally, acknowledge your mistakes and failures. They are necessary elements of self-development. Every crisis should force you to take care of yourself, rest and gather the energy to work further. After all, being successful means to be full of energy, confident and fulfilled. Do you agree?

Learn more:
Top 10 Qualities of Highly Successful People
The Common Traits of The Most Successful People
14 Things Every Successful Person Has In Common