There is no substitute for hardwork in any worthwhile endeavour because in time, our hardwork will produce results that can be improved. At some point in our lives we will know of people who have started something but have stopped long before they reached their goal. This can include business they being or projects and in the end they have not accomplished that goal.
Not accomplishing a goal the first time round or the thousandth time is not failure and I would to think some thought goes into the reason for the minor setbacks between the first try and the thousandth otherwise we are bordering on insanity here to say the least.
What I have found from listening and interacting with people who have failed in some endeavour is that they are hardworking and dedicated. They gave up their time, resources and many other things to pursue the goal and to focus on that one thing but as fate will have it, failure was the outcome.
Questions and More Questions
So it begs the question. What did they do wrong? Before you embark on any project it is important to bear the following things in mind because anything done for the first time will not be perfect and naturally, effort is required depending on ability, to traverse the learning curve and begin to see results.
Asking the right questions and reflecting before beginning an endeavour is a good place to start as it helps with improving focus and removes any distractions.
Attending seminars, speaking with experienced people in what you are looking to do, getting advice, having your idea scrutinised and examined are part of the process and while all of the points above may not be relevant, find out what is relevant and apply it.
You should be in contact with people who have walked that path and have a level of success. Why? Because they have paid the price for that success and you can leverage their knowledge and experience.
Why
One of the questions to ask is yourself is why. It is necessary to understand why you chose that endeavour to help determine if that goal is worth it and how the route you have chosen will get you to your goals. Your real wealth is your time and freedom and how you choose to spend it.
Not being able to choose how your time resource is spent can be seen as a form of want. How we choose to spend your time is lot more than going on holidays and while rest is important, we can derive satisfaction by giving back to our communities in one form or the other. We can spend more of our time with family, friends, doing charity work or enriching ourselves.
What
Another important question to ask is the ‘what’ in as much detail as possible so you pay the right price. If you want to be successful in Blogging, immerse yourself in it. You want to be a successful Copy Writer, or you wish to start in e-commerce or be a Designer? Whatever the case may be it is necessary obtain as much relevant knowledge as you can. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outlier comes to mind and it is a good read.
You will not know everything to start in the beginning but you will know enough to prevent many costly mistakes and more importantly rather than working hard paying a price, you working hard paying the price.
What is ‘the price’ in this context? Consider this example. If you want to be a Day trader (i.e trading financial instruments), you need to acquire the relevant knowledge and this takes a considerable amount of time.
You read books and follow the markets, understand the financial instruments you want to trade, you learn about fundamental and technical analysis, develop a strategy, open a practice account, get a mentor, have a risk management plan in place and the list goes on.
In this context, working hard by attending seminars on its own or reading one or two books or even ten will not cut it. Are you hardworking? Yes however have you paid the price to succeed in that thing you want to succeed in? The answer is most likely to be no.
Other Points
It is important to keep track of what you have learnt because you can revisit things you learnt and applied that caused you to progress further in a shorter period of time.
Outline the with the help of mentors and obtained knowledge, the required steps to accomplish your goal. Once you know have this, work on it until you see results. Understanding and setting the right goals is the price to pay to be successful.
Final Note
Being successful in a endeavour goes beyond the desire to be successful. It requires planning, sacrifice, hardwork and an element of luck. Before you decide to go out there and do what you think it takes to succeed, it is critical that you obtain information and guidance from relevant people and sources.
The outcome of this will help you determine what needs to be done, how much work is required and how to devise a strategy. Work hard doing what it takes so succeed in the venture rather than assuming what you think it is. This is a costly mistake and time lost will not be recovered.
