Thank you for checking in on what’s up with us! Let’s keep it REAL, everybody wants to be successful, but the issue is the idea of success. It’s different for everybody. We all want the same success, but it will always look different for everybody. That might be where the disconnect is between wanting success and actually achieving success. We will define what our idea of success is. This does not mean that you should use our definition for your own success, but we need to use a common definition to refer to for the purpose of this blog.
As simple as we can, we define success as accomplishing a goal. What is a goal? A goal is an accomplishment that’s achieved by staying loyal to the process that’s necessary to achieve the accomplishment. The goal could be as small as tying a shoe or as big as selling a start-up business to an investor. The key is that successful people achieve a set of smaller, minor goals that are necessary to achieve the end goal.
That’s where the success begins. The smaller goals are met with obstacles that a successful person has to figure out how to solve in order to achieve the smaller goal. By achieving the smaller goal, the successful person can not only get to the next step toward achieving the end goal, but the successful person was also able to learn from the obstacles and use what they learned to achieve the next goal. This means that the process is simply a continuous learning experience; and once you learn the necessary lesson, you can move on to the next goal.
A successful person uses critical thinking skills to solve difficult situations. These skills are cultivated throughout the learning process. It’s almost like a video game. You can’t get to the next level until you pass the previous level. The lesson learned from the previous level is usually needed to pass the next level as well.
We like to think of this mentality in terms of chess. We love using chess as a foundational example because the lessons learned in chess can always be applied to life in a positive way. Basically, the object of chess is to trap the other player’s king so that the king can’t get away from trouble. In the case of life, think of the king as success. The objective of life is to find a way to trap success. You can’t trap success with just one move. It takes a process of moving as efficiently as possible toward achieving success. There might be times when you have to sacrifice a piece; use this as a learning experience. There might be times when you slip up and life takes away a powerful piece; but the game isn’t over so use this as a learning experience. There might be times when you take away a piece, just to realize it was a trap; also use this as a learning experience.
The point here is that a successful person builds a strategic game plan for how they plan on succeeding in life, then creates the process by which they plan on achieving success. Finally, they achieve the minor goals that are necessary for the progress toward success and learn from the experiences they go through along the process.
We like to call successful people REAL Ones. A REAL One is somebody who takes advantage of every opportunity to positively elevate their life toward success. Many people think negatively about hustlers, but we think the hustler mentality is necessary to achieve goals and dreams. Without this mentality, people aren’t fulfilled and lack a sense of urgency and care. People who hustle in ways that are detrimental to their growth toward success are obviously counterproductive and will most likely not get to experience the positive potential of their mentality.
A REAL One understands that the only way they can achieve their goals is to act. They’re aware of the opportunities around them and take advantage of as many as possible. If this means networking, then they will find mentors to interact with and learn from. If this means picking up a side job while they’re in school then that is what they’ll do.
REAL Ones don’t make excuses because, just like chess, they are under the time pressure of life and want to succeed as soon as possible. They don’t have time to waste making excuses and complaining. They are efficient in the moves they make because they know, just like chess, one wrong move can cost them their success. REAL Ones move in silence, until they’ve reached their goals, then they give advice and feedback to people who are about to go through the same situations. The greatest gift is the ability to give back to those who will come after us. This gift cannot be taken for granted because our future is the progression of now. The advice, feedback, encouragement, etc. that we give now will dictate the progression of our future.
Thank you again for checking in and being a REAL One. We appreciate all that you do for our future leaders. If you’re a future leader, thank you for taking the time to educate yourself about what’s REAL.
Keep It REAL.
Recognize Education And Learning 