Key to Life long Success!

No, no.. not black magic or even black money.. no way!!!

And no, it is not a sarcastic statement.

Let me start by asking you, dear reader, a question? Do you want to be successful in your life?

Aha! What is that I hear? That was a very loud and resounding YES!

My, my.. you do know your minds, don't you?

I agree, it would be very difficult to find one human being who does not want success, that too life long success.

Of course, there are variations on how each one defines success. But I bet all of it involves moving from point A to point B and perhaps beyond.

Ok, ok.. a bit more patience and I will get to the point. :)

The key to life long success is:

A life long learning attitude!

There, now you have the answer. Beautiful concept, isn't it?

What does it look like.. this learning attitude?

You grab every learning opportunity that comes your way. You are hungry for knowledge. You cajole, coax or sweet talk people into sharing their experience and knowledge. You read widely and discuss your view point openly. You choose to advance your learning either formally or informally. Where you have chosen to go with the formal way.. you stay committed to the program. You do the reading that is needed and participate in the classroom learning process. Heck, you even show up for classes as often as needed. :)

Now here is the killer.. when you to do some activity for the learning process, Do NOT ask: Is it enough to do this much? Instead ask: How much more CAN I do?

It is not one of those political statements, though it might remind you of the famous saying of John F Kennedy 'Ask not what the country can do for you, ask what you can do for the country.'

In spirit, it is somewhat similar. What I mean by 'How much more CAN I do?' is this: When you work upto your maximum capacity, a different set of mental gears fall into place. This set of new gears open new thought processes, which mean new opportunities. New opportunities are what keep your life on the straight track, don't you agree?

Maximize learning, minimize risk of failure.

A bit of back story

What set me off on this post is this little incident.

I found myself wandering the first floor hallways of a school this weekend. Along with the usual coaching classes and practice tests, there were some exams happening for a national level job placement. Two young persons came up to me and asked me which floor were those exams happening. There were two more floors up and being a visitor myself, I did not know the answer. However, I knew where the office was and pointed it out to them. It was about 10 feet away from where we were standing, but the youngsters would need to go back to the ground floor and climb up a few stairs.

Any guesses on what the two aspiring employees decided to do?

They looked at me, aghast, as though I was advocating walking on hot coals and said "But, we will have to go downstairs and climb back up again!"

They chose to wander the hallways in the upper floors instead, running the risk of being late for the exam, or showing up in the wrong room!

The learning attitude may at times seem like having to climb up and down stairs, even steep ones. But look at the alternative, you will be left wandering strange hallways, and perhaps be late for an opportunity or even miss it!

Foster, nurture and develop a learning attitude.

And success is yours!

See you next week!

Gayatri