Have you ever tried to define the term success?
The modern man is forced to develop specific skills that help him succeed in the material world. Those skills usually come down to the ability of making money.
We often see people becoming less thoughtful when they want to become more successful.
It’s time to remind ourselves of the real meaning of success. Money can be part of it, but it cannot be the driving force. You can’t be successful if you’re a bad person. That’s just how the way things work.
Try to think of a really successful person in different aspects. Let’s take Steve Jobs as an example. He was a man of ideas. He knew when and how to take risks. He didn’t allow the billions to make him forget true values.
This man gave a lot to the world. The least we could do is try to learn from his example. We’ll give you 5 secret tactics that can help you reach success the way Steve Jobs did.
5 Secret Tactics
1. Envision the Future
Successful people figure out the direction where things will lead to. Then, they lead things in that direction.
Steve Jobs loved a quote by Wayne Gretzky: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” This is a great motto to live by if you aim for success. Jobs had a great talent to anticipate and create future trends. The iPhone practically revolutionized the way we live.
You can have this attitude towards any profession. If you are a physiotherapists, for example, keep pace with the new methods and do your best to take them further. Aim towards progress, so you won’t stay in place.
2. Consider Other People’s Points of View
Steve Jobs was successful because he always considered the perspective of the user. He wanted to know what the perfect user experience would be, and he kept trying to deliver that. Commitment to perfection was one of his secrets for success.
Whatever you do, always try to make people happy through the way you act. Think how your actions have potential to change their lives.
Every single job is related to providing products or services for others. You are connected with people, so you should do everything in your power to improve their experience.
3. Keep Your Focus on the Positive
When Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, asked Steve Jobs for business advice in 2006, this is the answer Jobs gave him:
“Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff.”
Right on point, right? Find the positive aspects of your work and inflate them. Identify the negative points and overcome them. If you were looking for the definite secret of success, that’s the one.
4. Do Something You Love
Everyone knows that Steve Jobs dropped out from college. He was smart enough to study without much effort. It wasn’t lack of commitment. He realized he wasn’t supposed to waste his time with something he had no passion for.
He started taking courses he was really interested in, but soon he completely gave up on college because he felt like he was wasting his parents’ money.
No, we’re not saying you should leave college.
The lesson here is: when something you’re doing doesn’t feel right and it doesn’t line up with your goals for the future, don’t waste time with it.
If you are struggling with a job you hate, look for other options. If you really want to be doing something else with your life, why don’t you just do it?
5. Learn from Failure
A tip such as, “don’t allow yourself to fail”, doesn’t belong in a realistic guide to success. Everyone fails. It’s the human way. In 1984, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, his own company.
When he spoke in front of the graduates at Stanford in 2005, he explained how this failure made him grow:
“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”
Failure is not the end. Understand it as a new beginning in your life. Where will you go from there?
Success doesn’t always come easy. In fact, it almost never comes easy. We have a lot to learn, but fortunately, we can get the most important lessons from great leaders like Steve Jobs.
About the Author
Jessica Freeman is a freelance writer at Australian Writings. She is interested in traveling and online learning. She enjoys writing on education, technology innovations, and blogging tendencies. Find out more about Jessica’s work by visiting her writing blog.