7 Ideas for the Journey to Success

7 Ideas for Success

Success, excellence, opportunity, focus, teamwork, change,
and innovation

Success is a journey we decide to enter into

Success is something we decide not only once but all throughout
the journey of our life. We will never attain success if we do
not decide to enter into the process itself: a process of going
through the obstacles, finding solutions to problems, servicing
despite the difficulties, providing answers despite the awareness
of our limitations, and doing a lot of hard back-breaking work in
order to ethically succeed.

Success involves perseverance and determination. Every time we
encounter something that challenges us in our journey to success,
we muster all the God-given resources the Lord has gifted us with,
never give up despite all the odds, and pray for the gift of faith
that will make us achieve the goals and objectives of our venture.
If we fail along the journey; if we experience a setback; or if we
ourselves experience a loss that can paralyze and debilitate our
confidence and courage, this is exactly the elements we need to
push us on and make us stand up again to continue with the task we
believe that is necessary to place us back in the process of
gaining the success we dream of. And the key to all this is simple.
Hard work. Dreams can inspire us but hard work makes things happen.

The Philosophy of Success is Found in a Vision of Quality

Constantly striving for excellence and continuously improving.

Success depends on the vision that inspires us to move on and work
hard to make our dreams come true. The vision can be religious.
It can be personal. It can be dreams for our family. Or it can be
what we wish our corporation or company or business to be. Whatever
the vision that fires up our energies and lets us move positively
forward for the good of many, nothing can take the place of the
ideal and value of excellence. It can be excellence in terms of a
service or a product. Or it can be in how we treat others or how
we fulfill the mission entrusted to us. Or it can be an all-
consuming desire to be the very best of what the Lord wishes and
wills us to be so that He may use us as His instrument to make the
world a better place for many people.

Excellence is attained when we use all the opportunities
presented to us

We are given natural talents and skills that we have learned since
childhood to attain the ideal and value of excellence in whatever
job or task we need to do. Some may have more talents in one area
while others have more talents in another area. But we all have
talents and giftedness. These are opportunities by which we can
succeed in life. If instead of natural gifts and abilities, we
rather have learned skills and a lot of training in special skills,
then this too is a great opportunity to use in our journey to
success. All of us are rich in opportunities. We only need to see
and discover where they lie. This entails a lot of faith and
positive thinking. We need to have the gift of faith: in ourselves,
in others, and in God - who is the source of all excellence that
will always be produced in the world.

Success is really achieved through teamwork and
cooperation

It is true that when we attain some form of success we may attribute
it to our own power and through our own abilities. However, we must
realize that it was because of a certain teamwork (in the family, in
the workplace, in the parish, or in the mission) that we were able
to succeed. We cannot do things alone and on our own. We need
others as much as they need us too. And more than this, we need the
graciousness and generosity of God's gifts so that we may attain the
success we really want to achieve in our life. 99% of what we do,
including the help and cooperation of others, is not enough to make
our success perfect. It is that 1% that comes from the goodness of
God that makes it perfect and really a success. We may think that
that 1% is small, but in God's eyes, it is powerful enough to make
all the 99% efforts done by all of us to be 100% - the perfect
state by which we want it to be. So, without God, success is really
not the success we dream of.

Success is focusing and targetting

If we pursue two or more things all at once, then it is likely that
we will never succeed at anything. Our efforts will be diffused and
scattered rather than focused and concentrated on a particular field
or discipline. If we do only one thing, but do it with a spirit of
excellence and an outstanding quality, we will hit it to any top ten
position anytime. And the more we keep at it and maintain our hard
work, the more we will always be at the top of the heap. But, we
must be realistic to believe that we will not always be at #1 even
though we focus and target all our efforts at one thing. But if we
are stable at our attitudes of never giving up, always having faith
in our goodness, in other's goodness and the goodness of God, then
we can hit #1 many times in our lives.

There is only one thing certain in the journey of success:
Change

Success is a process that involves adapting to the many changes in
our life circumstances, our life's environment, and the very world
in which we live in. Generations die and generations are born. The
values and the customs of the generation that has died may have been
imparted on the generation succeeding them. However, that succeeding
generation has adapted certain new values and customs that are
needed to survive in the generation they were born in. This cycle
of change continues on as we go down along the line of generations.
So, if we are really intent on entering the process of success and
really serious about 'making a life', then we really need to adapt
to the changes that are present in every generation that is born.
And we also need to say goodbye to the customs and traditions that
we have learned to live by together with the generation that has
passed away. We need to ride the wave of change; otherwise we will
find ourselves beneath all the waves.

Success is using change so that we have the opportunity to
innovate

Change brings with it so many things: opportunities, challenges,
problems, difficulties, progress, and so on. Whenever change brings
with it certain difficulties and challenges and obstacles, then we
can use this reality to use innovation so that we can bring a future
that will better the human condition. So that we do not find
ourselves under the wave of upheavals and great changes, we are
called to innovate in many ways - through an idea, or a concept, or
a service, or a product, that will eventually create a solution to
life's problems and difficulties. Innovation need not be complex or
truly attention-getting. It can be a simple innovation that will be
enough to bring great improvement in the lives of many people.
Before the Internet, we had the mass media of broadcast and print.
And before the era of broadcast and print, we had the golden era of
the Renaissance culture. Let us not therefore wait until the apple
falls down from the tree before we can eat it. Rather, we are
called to innovate and do something so that we can build a future
for ourselves, our children, and our children's children.

When we give up, we do not journey anymore

When we give up in our journey to success, we give up many
opportunities for growth, building, and progress - both material
and spiritual. Therefore, as long as we have the ultimate end
in mind, heart, and soul, we will be given the courage and the
strength to get up (like the Blind Bartimaeus), and move on
towards our goal. The Holy Spirit, who is called the Encourager,
the Comforter, the Paraclete, will grant us the gift of fortitude
and courage to continue on despite the many tests, trials, and
difficulties that often weigh us down and keep us without hope.
So, the next time we are tempted to give up, let us always
remember that as the Spirit gave courage again to the Apostles
to spread the gospel of Jesus, He will also give us the courage
to do what God wills of us in our state of life and in the
tasks and responsibilities we have in our Christian life.