What does it take to be successful?
Recently I was asked about success and luck: “Is success being in the right place at the right time or is it preparing and being ready to be in the right place at the right time?” I believe it is the latter of the two. Preparation is key, so you are ready when the opportunity arises. Take the initiative to know yourself and to grow above your current position. Take the initiative to jump and grow your wings on the way down to follow your dream. Never be afraid of failure but learn from your experiences.
I remember my first job was cleaning hotel rooms for $2.10 per hour. I would wake up every weekend (when most teenagers want to sleep in) and went to work at 7 a.m. and worked until I got all the rooms cleaned. I did that job so well that I got a raise to $3.70 per hour. Luck? Absolutely not! Hard work, dedication, perseverance, commitment? YES! I would wake up every weekend (when most teenagers want to sleep in) and went to work at 7 a.m. and worked until I got all the rooms cleaned.
My next job was waitressing the night shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. so I could work another job at a local dress shop during the day. I then got another waitressing job working the shift after my husband got home from work so we didn’t have to pay a babysitter. Luck? Absolutely not! Hard work, dedication, perseverance, commitment? YES! I continued my education while raising our baby.
My husband and I started a business and we would work 6, sometimes 7 days a week. We recently retired from the business and our three sons now own and operate the company. Did they get lucky? Absolutely not! Hard work, dedication, perseverance, commitment? YES!
When I started my consulting business, in my training for DiSC, I was in a room full PHDs. At the end of the week we were given a test about what we had learned to apply it to different positions. I thought great I am sitting in a room with all of these highly educated people, and guess who aced it? Yep, I got lucky and aced that test. What I realized was that while others were studying, I was doing, and studying at the same time to constantly get better. Doing what I love and building my wings on the way down! I don’t say these things to pat myself on the back, I say these things to demonstrate that if you strive for excellence and work hard, you can get lucky too. There are so many tools available now that can help people grow and learn. Everything DiSC is still my favorite tool. Knowing yourself and how to communicate is the best starting point for everything.
I think you get my point. Luck had nothing to do with success. Hard work, dedication, perseverance and commitment has everything to do with it. I worked hard, continually improved myself, learned something new every day and had a relentless of excellence in everything I did. I wasn’t perfect. I failed probably more times that I realized success. The bottom line? I didn’t expect anyone to make my life or work easier. I did more than what was expected and did the best I could.
One of the best ways to improve yourself is with my exclusive performance and productivity personality and behavioral assessment called DiSC. It’s a simple, quick and powerful assessment tool that will give you specific steps to take to get you moving forward in your success. It is the foundation for all of the work I do with my clients and they love it.
Send me an email with SUCCESS in the subject line and I’ll contact you right away with all of the information.
Here’s to your success!
Emily Lindus
“Let me EM-POWER You!”