Summary

The website content outlines four key experiences one must be prepared for on the journey to success: rejection, failure, innovation/experimentation, and backlash.

Abstract

Success is not guaranteed and involves a long-term commitment where persistence and innovation are crucial. The author emphasizes the inevitability of rejection and failure, suggesting that these experiences should be embraced as they are integral to the learning process and eventual success. Innovation and experimentation are highlighted as essential strategies for staying ahead and adapting to change. Additionally, the author warns of the backlash one may face from others due to jealousy or insecurity, advising that constructive feedback should be considered for personal growth while negative, unhelpful comments should be disregarded.

Opinions

Rejection is a common and normal part of the success journey, and it should not deter one from continuing to strive for their goals.
Failure is an opportunity to build resilience and should not lead to giving up, as it is a stepping stone to success.
Innovation and creativity are vital for long-term success, and one should be willing to experiment and change methods if current approaches are not yielding results.
Backlash from others is to be expected when pursuing success, and while constructive criticism should be valued, negative comments without merit should be ignored.
Successful people often have a history of struggle and failure that is not immediately visible, and their success is typically the result of years of effort and learning.
The pursuit of success requires a mindset of continuous learning and adaptation to change, as there is no single strategy that guarantees success.

SUCCESS

4 Things You Should Prepare for on Your Journey to Success

The sooner you get acquainted with these, the better

Success is a really dicey game. There are no exact rules neither are there any guarantees. Your only consolation lies in going the long haul. The more you keep trying, innovating and showing up, the better your chances of cracking that code and venturing into that sweet spot.

While it’s great to keep showing up, you’ll quicken your pace by acquainting yourself with this basic stuff every success wannabe should know and embrace.

Rejection

I hate to break it to you but it’s so true and I highly doubt that I’m the first to tell you this. Since you’ve heard it so many times it means it’s actually true. I quite remember a period in college when I applied for several international engagements, scholarships and grants and was heavily rejected by all 20+ of them. For two solid years I spent my time receiving rejection letters, snobs and “However, we’re sorry to let you know”s from a ton of people.

Did I feel like a loser? Yes, I did Did I feel like I was never going to make it in life? Yes, I did.

According to Mark R. Leary, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the Interdisciplinary Behavioral Research Center at Duke University, “Concern with rejection is perfectly normal.” He also makes a point to say that “But being excessively worried about it — to the point that we do not do things that might benefit us — can compromise the quality of our life.”

He’s right. I didn’t dwell too much on my rejection and guess what? After years of putting in the work and showing up, I received this email;

This is fueled my love for David Goggins because of the mental toughness that he possesses. It’s really badass and daring. But you don’t necessarily have to run marathons and go through extreme life-threatening conditions, you just have to want to succeed so badly that you wear rejection as a suit. And get this, the more rejections you get, the tougher, thicker and rejection-proof your suit gets.

So, can I serve you a cup of rejection?

Yes please, hit me with it.

Failure

Here’s another pretty obvious one that I feel isn’t emphasised enough. You know, the deal with failure is that you never quite know how resilient you are until it hits you like a ton of breaks. Failure doesn’t give you a heads-up when it’s coming, it just comes. That’s why it’s so easy to miss the mark and nosedive into sadness and oblivion.

In circumstances like this, you should understand that successful people did not stop when they failed, otherwise they wouldn't be successful in the first place. They tried and tried again. They showed up when others refused to show up. We tend to think that people who are successful were just lucky, it just fell into their laps or they just had the right connections.

There’s more to it than that. We often don’t see their years of struggle, failure and effort which are the true reasons for their success. In the same vein, if you want to be successful, you need to embrace failure so that you save yourself the time that you would have otherwise used to berate yourself relentlessly and consequently give up.

Innovation/ Experimentation

Innovate or die

— Peter Drucker

Stay ahead of the pace of change or you’re toast. Innovation is a very important word in the pursuit of long-term success. At every stage of evaluating your success, you need to look at ways to be more creative in your endeavour. Sometimes, the little nudge you need to launch you to the planet of success lies in your ability to be creative.

It could be that you’re doing the wrong thing over and over again. In that case, even your consistency won’t yield you success.

Dr Robert Schwartz in his book, The Magic of Thinking Big made some really profound statements, “Oil companies are persistent in their search for oil, not by digging one hole to ridiculous depths, but rather by experimenting with a new well when good judgement says the first well won’t produce,” he goes ahead to say, “Many ambitious people go through life with admirable persistence and show of ambition, but they fail to succeed because they don’t experiment. Stay with your goal, don’t waver an inch from it. But don’t beat your head against a wall. If you aren’t getting results, try a new approach. ”

Sometimes, it’s the right thing to do to change your method. Continuing with a method you know isn’t working is like pouring water into a basket and expecting it to get full. It won’t get full and all your effort will be wasted.

Take your favourite musician, for example, he or she doesn’t just produce one song all the time? That would be absurd. He or she wouldn’t even be your favourite in the first place. He or she constantly releases different tracks with different sounds and lyrics to keep the trend alive.

Even on Medium, top writers don’t build an audience with just a single article, they write, learn all the time and experiment. That’s how they build an audience. Since there isn’t a single strategy, the most talented people always learn every day because change is constant. Likewise, you have to do what successful people do — embrace learning and experiment with different ideas.

Backlash

You’ll receive tons of it as you cruise up the ladder to success. While some of the comments you receive from others are constructive criticisms, others will tend to be from a place of jealousy or insecurity because you’re brave enough to do the things that other people are extremely scared to do.

When you receive a comment from someone, as yourself this question, “How does this comment add value to my life? Does it make mention of a quality I need to cultivate? Does it inspire me to keep pushing? If not, my best guess will be to discard it quickly. If there’s one thing that kills creativity, it’s the hurtful unsolicited comments that people make. As long as you’re doing the right thing, you have no business dwelling on the validation of other people.

Success isn’t a destination, it’s a journey

— Zig Ziglar.

Once you decide to take that long, winding, dusty road to success, you’ll be met with all the above and more. When you decide to pursue success, it will appear as if everything has conspired to work against your success. Don’t give up, your greatest resistance indicates that you’re close to a gold mine of success.