Reaching a state of success is a journey; a climb that is lifelong and undulating with unpredictable highs and lows. Many people start off having unrealistic ideals about how their journey will start and grow successful, and soon realise that it’s not all smooth sailing. Rather, it is something that is built upon taking risks, being adaptable to change and learning to grow and develop as an individual. Success also comes hand in hand with failure and that’s not a bad thing because it teaches you to cope, learn new tactics and strategies and to gain resilience to face the inevitable.
Now that you are on your journey to success, it is important to eliminate any unnecessary factors that could be weighing you down. You’ll want to adopt a positive mentality, hang around the right crowd and create a healthy environment in which to thrive. To get you started on your journey to success, here is a list of how you can manage some of those unwanted factors that might get you down.
- Negative People and Toxic Environments
There are many reasons why someone could be labeled as a ‘negative’ person. In some cases, the person at hand may be completely unaware of the negative impact they are having while others may derive joy from creating chaos and pushing the wrong buttons. A toxic person usually carries traits like using speech that slanders other people, tries to gain pity from others for their own cause, or being blind to their own destructive behaviour. Ultimately, being subjected to this type of person or working in such an environment naturally generates a lot of stress and tension and these distract you from achieving success. In these cases, which are often tricky, you’ll want to avoid spending any extra time with that person.Keep conversations brief and don’t share too much personal information that could be used against you. Just remember, it’s THEM, not you.
It’s important to set some boundaries up so that they are aware that what they might say or do is offensive to you. You are also not obliged to tiptoe around them or make excuses on their behalf and remember, you are in control of far more than you realise. It takes courage and belief in yourself to overcome their effect on you-you can do it!
- Procrastination and Making Excuses
You are one of your biggest obstacles when it comes to achieving your goals. Procrastination may come off as looking lazy or disinterested but it also stems from anxiety that you’re going to do something wrong or fail. The first step to overcoming procrastination is to determine why you’re doing it. Write out a list if it helps and then remind yourself that you are not perfect. As long as you complete something to the best of your ability and are proud to put your name on it, then it will be good enough. It also helps to set goals that you can routinely re-examine and track your progress. Break tasks down, work backwards, reward your achievements. These help to keep you on the right route. - Fear of Change
The only constant is change. And success means change. If you try something and you fail, you go back to what you knew, back to your comfort zone. If you try something and you succeed, you are headed into unchartered territory.This is a scary place because it’s the unknown. The fear of the risks involved and the hurdles ahead. In some cases, it could also be the fear of success that scares us like; ‘what if I actually pull this off?’, then what? This is also a new dimension of the unknown with limited visibility. But, entrepreneurs are known for being risk-takers who jump with both feet in despite knowing they could fail. It really comes down to YOU.
As humans, we tend to create ways of self-sabotage; excuses such as blaming our families, upbringing, spouses, circumstances or clients. It really boils down to you taking responsibility and not being afraid of the results and the changes that come with it. So, what if you DO succeed? You might be able to make a big difference and that’s not so bad after all. Change is inevitable.
Achieving success will never be a walk in the park. It comes packaged with negative moments, doubt, excuses made and fear of the unknown every step of the way but if you are determined, willing to adapt and grow and never give up, it will all be worth it.
