“Formula for Success” From Prof.M.S.Rao

"Formula for success: Under promise and overachieve." - Tom Peters




Success is the sweetest word that excites all of us. But everyone cannot reach it. Only a few can reach it. Why is it so? Is there any magic wand for the successful people?

Success is the confluence of several ingredients such as passion, vision, mission, execution and feedback. Whenever you want to achieve something in your life, you must know what you love the most-passion. Passion is like fire brewing in the heart and if tapped becomes an inferno. Passion is closely connected to more of heart than mind. It is more of chemistry than physics. Passion does not settle for less. It craves for more. It doesn’t let you sleep. It keeps you on toes. It makes you restless. It excites you. It is a typical scenario where it makes you highly focused and task oriented.


Passion:

“The key that unlocks energy is desire. It's also the key to a long and interesting life. If we expect to create any drive, any real force within ourselves, we have to get excited. “- Earl Nightingale

Don’t ape other successful people blindly as it ends up in a fiasco. What clicks others may not click you. What is required is to find out what touches your heart the most. What are the areas of interest that drives you and gives you kick for moving ahead? Most of the people successful in the world are basically passionate in what they did. They did what excited them. They did what brought joy while doing. They tapped their inner talents. They discovered their hidden strengths. They carried forward their raw abilities ruthlessly.


Vision:

"A person without a goal is like a ship without a rudder." - Denis Waitley


The second successive ingredient for success is vision. It clearly tells you where to go in your life. It reminds you of your present status in life. It directs you in a specific direction based on your passion. Most of the successful people are visionaries. They know what they want where they want to go in their lives. They set their directions properly and move ahead successfully. Succinctly, it is like placing the ladder on the right side of the wall.


Mission:

"Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation." - Robert H. Schuller

The third ingredient for achieving success is mission. It tells you how to go. Once the direction has been set, the mission unveils the methods, tools and techniques involved in following a specific direction. It reminds of the resources that are essential for following your path to success. It is at this journey the constant efforts and energies are essential to move toward success. It is necessary to equip the skills and abilities for achieving towards. In brief, it is like climbing the ladder.


Execution:

"Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


The fourth ingredient toward success is execution. It is the toughest task. It is easier said than done. There will be number of practical bottlenecks that hinder the path to success. There are both internal and external forces and factors contribute towards execution. The internal factors can be easily managed as things are very much within human control. Self-discipline, self-motivation, hard work, perseverance, determination and grit will play a crucial role. The external environmental factors which are beyond human control may disturb the path to success. A few call these as fate. Few call the same as luck. It can either make you or break you as a successful person. People who have high internal locus of control don’t believe in destiny. These people strongly feel that their destiny is in their hands. They try to control the external environment as far as possible. If they are not able to manage and face setbacks during the process, they pursue their execution with more energy and enthusiasm. The difference between the successful and unsuccessful people is only effective execution. It will tip the scale towards success.


Feedback:

“If you can't fly, run!
If you can't run, walk!
If you can't walk, crawl!
But whatever you do, keep moving towards your goal........” -Martin Luther


The last ingredient for achieving success is taking feedback. It is a review process where in you look at how far you reached your goals and objectives. If you failed to reach why did you fail? How to overcome the failures and what remedial measures can be taken to pursue the path towards success. Feedback helps in aligning your efforts effectively towards your goals and objectives. Confucius aptly put it, "When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps."


Conclusion:

"Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality." - Ralph Marston

The road to success is not a cakewalk. It requires lot of struggles and sacrifices. To sum up, you need to be passionate in whatever you undertake. You have to set out your goals and objectives which becomes vision. You set out a clear path or roadmap towards your success and that is known as mission. Mere words won’t pay you but deeds play a crucial role for ensuring success which is execution. Finally, it is equally necessary to take stock of the situation periodically for remedial and correction action which is known as feedback. When all these ingredients are effectively integrated success would touch your toes.

“A Warrior Doesn't Give Up What He Loves... He Finds the Love In What He Does.” - Socrates



The End