If you ever visit bookstore and not just hanging around the stationary or magazine sections, you probably see self help section is one of the big section, comparable to fiction section. Titles such as 43480132382210 steps to be successful, 981732129 ways to live like a millionaire or even how to invest in stocks in 921732193299 days should not be unfamiliar to you there.
The fact is, what are the criteria of successful people?
1. Passion is overrated
Read any book that teaches you to big success, they will ask you to do something you passionate. Fair enough but how do we actually know what our passion is? Most of us don’t and probably it will take some time to find out. Passion is an important ingredient but it is one of the hardest to obtain. My advice, don’t focus too much on this, but still try to find what you passionate.
2. Luck is underrated
We always attribute unfortunate events to bad luck. But not successful life with luck on your side. A successful person rely a lot ofn luck. Fortunately, luck something that can be improve on. Try to increase randomness. Don’t live tomorrow like today. Explore new way to do things and meet people. If you use path A to go to your class, try path B tomorrow. Luck is all about probabilities. If you are a statistic major, you couldn’t agree more.
3. Resistance to fear
Usually what held us back is fear. It is not true that successful people have no fear, instead they overcome it. They attribute fear as a positive emotion. Fear is kinda like a self defense mechanism. When there is a big decision has to be made, fear hold us back to evaluate the whole situation again. We should not let fear cripple us, certain risks are worth taking. Failures are necessary for a successful path.
4. Persistence
In short, never give up! Never let failures stop you from doing what you are doing. Whenever you failed, don’t criticize yourself and no one could destroy your self esteem. You are better off than that!
5. Set the bar high
When you achieved something, don’t just stop there. Aim higher. Don’t fall into the trap of comfort zone. When everything seems right, most of the time it isn’t. If you stop after a small milestone, your competitor would keep fighting and cream you!
