Success takes time – and it does suck. But keep at it! (Image Credit: The Awesome Team at Bethesda Softworks)
If you are familiar with DISC profiling at all (even lightly) and know me from my videos or personally – you will know I am a strong “D” (being Director / Dominance type).
In short, I am the sort of character that can be incredibly goal focused, competitive and am very fast paced to get things done. In a way, I am a product of my environment. I grew up actually being more of an “S” type (being the kinder, Steadiness / Relater type of personality) however my times in life turned me into a D.
I had to!
Just to survive physically in the government or to survive emotionally once living out of my car. As a “D” one can be very impatient about success which has described me. When I was starting out in business, I was forever impatient and I am like that today.
Not so much anymore, but more a while I had a big issue with people who were more successful than me. I know this sucked and it’s wrong and I shouldn’t be like that – and I consciously worked to remove this negative side of my personality. As I have matured in business, I think there are two sides to this discussion.
Sure, you want to be grateful and supportive of those who are successful, but a dose of competition is a good thing to keep you moving. One key thing that is importance I find in this is playing your own game.
It’s true, you get that whizz person who becomes a billionaire overnight – but really the odds of that happening to everyone isn’t always the case. For many of us (including myself), it takes a lot of hard work to really get traction and to succeed and for me in finishing my fourth year, I feel like I am getting some great traction.
Patience combined with intelligence is critical. You don’t want to do nothing or be lazy and rationalize it by saying “Well, I am patient”, but equally speaking drive yourself insane or take reckless risks.
I had an interesting one actually. A month or two ago, this “Great Speaker” contacted me wanting to sell me some of their services actually. They had some good ideas, I heard them out – but equally speaking, I knew they were “very green” and I could tell they were inflating their own success.
The person tried to actually dominate me in conversation by saying they were “more successful than me” and this went incredibly badly for them. Whether they are 100 x more successful than me or not is fine – but their arrogance only got hostility from me. They were quite intelligent however, they knew they crossed the line and started being more reasonable with me (they actually gave me a stack of free tips too which was great. Some sucked, but a few were great).
I knew they were making it up and trying to control me – and that was great! It inspired me to be extra focused on my game and smile.
My advice and take on all this? Some people will make a billion dollars, most of us won’t and that’s awesome. Play the hand you’re dealt and keep working hard and doing your best.
Many people I know took 20 years to become an “overnight success” and that is awesome in my book. For me, I have reached a level of success sure – but I got a long way to go. It’s okay however! Keep at it and smile – let it happen one day at a time.
Push yourself for results, but don’t push yourself over the edge! Bit by bit, do the best you can!
Love your work, go hard, succeed & smile.
One response
Hi Edward,
Most people have to go through mistakes and challenges in order to grow. I have ‘D’ character as well – that helped me focused on getting results. However, that EGO of mine had also diverted me onto other paths, thinking that I could do it ‘my way’!
My advice? Follow someone who have the results you want. Small success steps are fine. Success is a journey! Whatever level of success you are at, it is okay. Consistent efforts repeated over committed period yield great results! No questions!
Thank you for sharing, Edward!
Viola Tam – The Business Mum