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| Otafuku, Goddess of Mirth |
Here are 12 nuggets sifted from the many books I've read in the last few months, plus one extra, in a list. And, readers, I dreamed it. Isn't that weird? That's only happened to me once before. I dreamed a poem, and then I sort of woke up, so I scribbled it down on a notepad. When I got up for real in the actual morning, it was just a line of gobbledygook, of course. Alas. My life might have taken a totally different course. (Possibly a terrible one--poets are usually obscure and earn very little dinero until they go out in a flame of tragedy, Billy Collins and Maya Angelou excepted. No thank you.)
- Smile and be strategic. Think what you want to achieve from any transaction. (Dale Carnegie)
- Build your goals around solid principles. (Stephen Covey)
- Find people who believe in you to help you believe in yourself. (Noah St. John)
- Shape your mind to support your goals through positive thinking, affirmations, or intentions. (Norman Vincent Peale and Everyone Else)
- Focus on the present. (Carnegie and others)
- Find time to meditate. (Deepak Chopra and others)
- Make sure you rest. (Carnegie)
- Develop a growth mindset—believe you have the capacity to change and improve. (Carol Dweck)
- Choose goals that are difficult but achievable. (Heidi Grant Halvorsen)
- Find work that is intrinsically rewarding: provides you with autonomy; provokes your desire for mastery; fills you with a sense of purpose because you're doing it to make a difference in the world. (Daniel Pink)
- Work that challenges and engages you will help you achieve Flow, which leads to the feeling of satisfaction, happiness and success. (Czikszentmihaly)
- Practice, practice practice, but practice wisely. Seek out coaches or mentors who can keep you working your edge. (Matthew Seyd and others)
- Don’t worry about success, find meaningful work and do some good in the world. (Real actual people I know who are successful)
This is an excellent summary of the many concepts on success, Hope. Thank you for doing the research for us.
ReplyDeletePerseverance, talent, intelligence—yes, all factors in success, but the thing we can't control is...drumroll...#3: the presence in our lives of a mentor/coach who believes in us, or the customer base that is willing to pay and keep paying for what we offer. Not having that can mean a lifetime of striving and never arriving. We can look, look, and look some more, but ultimately it's the other person's decision.
I think the coach you mentioned in your post on June 20 might've chosen his table tennis proteges based not only on potential but likeability—"someone he wanted to work with." I once had an interviewer tell me that he'd hire an applicant who was more affable, and therefore easier to work with, than one with more talent.
Which leads me to believe that the talented but difficult ones will have to work out their success on their own, minus the corporate net.
P.S. You're the second person I know who has mentioned dreaming an achievement but not being able to realize it upon waking. My college buddy says he dreams his paintings, and I've dreamed of essays chockfull of wisdom.