The Perfect Recipe For Achieving Your Goals In The Workplace

I don’t think you need me to tell you that the business landscape has become increasingly competitive, with job-markets saturated with talented and over-qualified potential employees and workplaces bursting at the seams with staff. We compete for likes on social media in our personal lives, promotions in our professional lives, and the limelight in both. And competition is a good thing, right? For the most part, yes, healthy competition in the workplace is free of prejudice, hatred, and disrespect. But there can also be a negative side to the competition: the necessity to fight for success. That competition, which should spur us on to succeed, sometimes has the opposite effect.

So, let’s take a look at exactly what variables need to be present in your mind to succeed in today’s workforce. 

A Success Recipe

Life wasn’t ever meant to be easy, and it’s completely normal to get weighed down by the stresses and pressures of the day. But don’t lose sight of your aspirations and end-goals; you can do pretty much anything that you put your mind too—within reason, that is. Also, success is entirely subjective—there isn’t a defining factor on what your success is, so set a goal, big or small, and aim to achieve it. 

Here are the three ingredients that’ll boost you to success in both your personal and professional life.  

Intelligence

Intelligence, in this respect, refers to both creativity and smarts. There isn’t a silver platter available for anybody in today’s business world, so you’ve got to play the game to win smartly. What do I mean? I mean that anybody can dream up a strategy for their success, but without the smarts to implement it and the ability to get creative during the process, it’s less likely to work. 

Listen, anybody can achieve their goals if they go through the workplace like a wrecking ball, but those who use their smarts and creativity can find a solution to any problem via a route that won’t ruin anybody else’s opportunity or damage their chances. 

Positivity and Optimism

Nobody got very far in life with a constant air of pessimism about them. But have you ever noticed that people who exude confidence and positivity tend to reach whatever their goals may be? That’s because, if every cloud has a silver lining, nothing will ever wholly dampen your spirits, and setbacks are just that—a setback that can be overcome with a new, creative strategy. Surround yourself with positivity, and avoid the negatives at all cost; nobody ever smashed their goals in an environment that dragged them down. 

A Greater Focus on EQ

EQ, or emotional intelligence, continues to be arguably the most important attribute of employees today as increased adaptability is needed in the workforce. Honing EQ will make you flexible in other areas. Increased emotional intelligence allows better relationship building, better empathy, a reduction in stress and anxiety, better problem solving, and increased reasoning skills – to name a few. Having more perspective in our arsenal will never be a bad thing and can only bring value to an organization.

Hard Work 

For all the smarts, creativity, and positivity, there is one crucial element to make it all pay off: hard work. There’s nothing like getting into bed at the end of a long day, shattered, but knowing that you’ve pushed yourself to the max. Without hard work, the “intelligent” person may well know the solutions to their problems, but they won’t ever realize their potential because they’re just too lazy to crack on. On the other hand, a hard-working person will work tirelessly until he or she finally reaches the goal. And, from experience, even if we are faced with adversity or a hurdle, we’ll either launch ourselves over it or smash straight through it. 

As I said, we all know that today’s business world is saturated and overly competitive, but you can always reach the top if you keep the right mindset and maintain a high level of motivation. It’s easy to get bogged down now and again, and it’s important to remember that one off day does not mean it’s the end of your journey. With a little bit—sometimes a lot—of perseverance, some creativity, a sprinkle of optimism, and some good ol’ fashioned elbow grease, you can launch your prospects straight through the stratosphere and into the stars. Keep it up.