Success is simple: Work
I recently had the opportunity to speak to a large group of college education students. I told my story about disrupting the system, using LinkedIn to build a personal brand and thinking outside of the box as an educator and entrepreneur. As is customary with events like this, the Q&A session comes after the talk. The first question came rolling in: “What is the single most important factor contributing to your success?”
My answer came without having to pause and think. I looked at the student and said, “Work.”
Make no mistake, to be successful in any career field it takes work. Lots of it. That’s it. That is all there is and ever has been. Work.
Being successful takes lots of work but here are some ways to maximize your work.
Take no shortcuts
There is a magic to the process. For me, the path to success is more gratifying than reaching the finish line. I know it sounds nuts, but there is a part of me that wants to be perpetually hungry for the process. That said, to make the most of your process, don’t take shortcuts. More often than not, shortcuts end up as setbacks. Whatever it is that you are doing, the path of least resistance is ordinarily the wrong choice.
Struggle turns work into fuel
A man once studied the process of butterflies when they emerge from cocoons. For his study, he placed two cocoons under a heat lamp near the estimated hatch date. With one cocoon he made a small incision in the pod to make it easier for the butterfly to emerge. On the day they emerged, the butterfly without assistance fought and struggled to break free from the cocoon, pushed its way out and flew off. The butterfly with assistance easily pushed its way through, spread its wings and flopped over dead. Butterflies need to struggle and fight to emerge from their cocoons for the blood to flow to their wings and build up enough strength to live.
We are very much so like a butterfly in our professional lives. We need to struggle to win. We need adversity to give context to our wins!
There is no way around it
Show me a successful person who did not work to get into their position. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. I know there are people who inherit money, I get that. But the vast majority of even those people work to stay where they are.
You cannot get around hard work. It won’t happen. My advice to students and professionals is this: Figure out what things in your life are holding you back from working to full capacity and eliminate them. Don’t binge watch Netflix for three hours a night. Use that time to work on your career goals or passion projects. Sell that game system, turn down the happy hour invite, or say no to the Saturday night club scene. I am not saying that you should have no fun. I am saying that you should figure out what your capacity is to work, what your work demand is, then adjust accordingly.
_________________________________________________________________________
I taught in a traditional school setting for 5 years before entering my current role where I design curriculum, plan projects and motivate students to break all of the rules. I'm interested in change and finding the next set of large innovations to the classroom through the use of adaptive learning technology and AI. The world is rapidly innovating and it is my belief that schools must follow that trend. Connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on Twitter to keep having great conversations.
