By: Michael D. Ringrose
What are the factors that enable and facilitate the realization of one's potential. Why are some individuals so successful or others not so? How does one become successful? What is success?
Some interesting questions but we need not get too philosophical and burried, perhaps, in an attempt to address questions that arise in all individuals over time, no matter what position they might occupy. Here, we are not necessarily discussing "success" in its' totality. One might achieve the pinacle of "success" in their own terms without having any material wealth or evidence of ostentatious living. There is a host of examples in contemporary life and throughout history of spiritual leaders who have exercised and continue to exercise global influence on the lives of generatlons of people of all classes and creeds but had no material wealth. Now, in many walks of life, material wealth and only that, is used as a yard-stick of success. Success is determined by how many dollars, how much property, what kind of automobile, yacht, mansion, form your list of assets. This article is not offering any value judgement on the innate differences inherent in such classifications, rather, it will attempt to identify what are some of the key driving factors that enable an individual achieve "success" in whatever terms it is defined.
We are each creatures of influence. Parental influence over our lives is critical in positive and negative ways. Expectations of parents of their sons or daughters, will influence the direction of their childrens lives, in some instances, long after the parent(s) have passed away. There remains a residual drive to meet the expectatlons of father or mother or both. If those expectations were positive, encouraging, supportive and realistic, the chances are that the child will go a long way towards realizing them and being confident in their own inner-selves of their capacity to succeed.
If, on the other hand, and it is by no means uncommon, that the expectations are negative, unsupportive, failure-orientated, expressed in terms of being critical of effort and outcome, suggestive of failure, "No point, you will never get that," "You will always be in trouble", "Johnny is an average student", then those expectations will be reflective of outcome. Child will not have a store of inbuilt positive attitudes in relation to it own potential and will, on average, be average at best.
Other key infuencers are those we admire and respect and again, the social environment can be a determinant of outcome. If one lives in a socially deprived area, in regular and perhaps constant contact and communicatiion with, for example, criminal minds, there is sufficient evidence to support the suggestion that they will be influenced their behavious by the actiions of such people, unless it is counter-influenced by stronger values imbued by parents or others, such as teacher, sports coach,. etc.,
Belief in one's self and in one's capacity to succeed in critical to success. Nurturing that self-belief and taking actions that will re-enforce it, such as reading, attending work-shops and seminars, studying the lives and actions of accomplished leaders and individuals who have been singularly successful, assist in building understanding and supporting self-confidence.
"Knowledge is Power" is an old expression, but its' value is in appreciating that the more accomplished, expert individuals are in mastering their role, their work, their sport, the more they can influence others and the more others will be prepared to be influenced by the and follow their direction.
