Most of the things in our life are random, yes we call it “luck” either good luck or bad luck. There are so many things that have been unpredictable in past, in present, and will be in the future.
If someone is saying there is no such thing and if most of the things in his or her life are planned, then it’s not real life, it’s a dream.
Moreover, if there is no randomness why do u think with the same amount of hard work & dedication in the same areas gives different results for different people? I do a lot of hard work in my work, I am sure you also do the same, but the results are always different for different people.
So Why it is? Is it God? Is it Destiny?
Frankly, no one has an answer to the above question. Serendipity play’s a big role.
So how can we still be successful after all this randomness and still get what we want?
First of all, success is a very relative term, we look up to others who have been successful in our path. But be sure they are actually looking up to someone else or something else to become successful. Yes someone can be content (Be satisfied with what they have) but given humans basic nature to aspire and become more…it kind of works against our basic nature.
So let’s reframe – How can we make it big?
These are two hacks that we can use to make it big:
Think Big & Dream Big – If success is given to chance and it’s rare, taking bigger leaps with each success is much better. So even if there are a lot of failures but one or more big successes will lead us to make it large. Think big, do big, and dream big!
Keep trying, keep giving urself chance – Keep trying, failure is so much upon the chance that figuring out the reason for failure is a waste of time. Yes u did wrong, yes u were persuaded wrongly by others, yes u came down the wrong path, yes this..yes that..continuously introspecting these is futile. Instead, keep trying and keep trying and keep trying! Lady luck will smile on you if you give her more chances!
Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible but the mark of a fake messiah. The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change. — Messiah’s Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul
Difficult conversations are difficult for a reason, and when you’re anxious or stressed out, it’s easy to say the wrong thing. To keep the interaction from going sideways, avoid these common mistakes.
Don’t assume your perspective is obvious. Steer clear of phrases like “clearly,” “obviously,” or “without a doubt,” which are likely to insult your counterpart.
Don’t exaggerate. Skip any statements that start with “You always…” or “You never…” They’re rarely true.
Don’t challenge someone’s character or integrity. You’ll just make the person defensive if you tell them they’re “unprofessional,” “wrong,” or “unethical.”
Don’t tell others what they should do. People feel judged by “should” statements. Try saying “You might consider…,” “One possibility is…,” or “Have you thought of…?” instead.
Don’t say “It’s not personal.” Recognize that even when it’s not personal to you, it might be for the other person.
Ben (Name changed), a research and development director at a pharmaceutical company, was distraught. “A situation happened at work today that I can’t get out of my head,” he said. It turned out that Ben had spent hours preparing for an all-hands meeting with colleagues across the globe. He reviewed the agenda, drafted his talking points, and logged on to the conference software ready to contribute.
Then, things went askew. Ben struggled to be heard above more dominant colleagues, and when he did get an opportunity to speak, he felt flustered and flubbed his words. Afterwards, Ben was preoccupied by the incident. He couldn’t quit beating himself up. Why hadn’t he spoken up earlier or been more assertive? Why did he over explain and blabber on instead of sticking to his talking points?
Ben is a Sensitive striver — a high-achiever who is also highly sensitive. He is driven and demands excellence from himself at all times. But when he falls short of those impossibly high expectations, his innate sensitivity and thoughtfulness cause him to spiral into self-recrimination. If you can relate to Ben’s reaction, then you also may be too hard on yourself. This can take the form of harsh, punitive judgments, overanalyzing your shortcomings, rumination over minor missteps, worry, and assuming fault.
Perhaps you have thought that self-criticism is what keeps you sharp. Sensitive strivers like Ben often use it as a form of motivation, hoping that if they’re tough enough on themselves, they’ll be compelled to perform. But research shows that self-criticism is a poor strategy. When used excessively, it is consistently associated with less motivation, worse self-control, and greater procrastination. In fact, self-criticism shifts the brain into a state of inhibition, which prevents you from taking action to reach your goals.
Being hard on yourself may be ineffective, but it is also a hard pattern to break. It requires consistent attention and practice. Here are a few strategies that can set on the path to taking a more balanced, emotionally equanimous approach to your performance.
Name your inner critic.
Create psychological distance from self-criticism by personifying it. For example, choose a silly name or a character from a movie or a book. Mine is called Bozo, but you might name yours “the little monster” or “gremlin.” I once had a client who called his Darth Vader (of Star Wars fame). He purchased a small Darth Vader action figure for his desk, which reminded him to keep the critical voice in check.
Naming your inner critic leverages cognitive defusion — a process by which you separate yourself from your thoughts. Defusion is shown to reduce discomfort, believability, and the stress of negative thoughts. It also promotes psychological flexibility, or the capacity to steady your mind, manage your emotions, and be aware, open, and adaptive to changing demands.
Avoid generalization.
When Ben found out details about the all-hands meeting later, it became clear that no one noticed he was flustered. In fact, the COO later told Ben she thought his comments were the only moment of clarity in the conversation. This shocked Ben since it did not match his impression. It was a clear example of the spotlight effect — a tendency in which you misjudge and overestimate how much attention others pay to your behavior.
To combat the spotlight effect, consider your performance on aggregate versus zeroing in on a singular negative event. Think of a bell curve: you’ll likely perform average or higher than average most days. Some days will be below average, and that’s normal. Keep an eye on the bigger picture. Ben realised that while the all-hands wasn’t his best showing, he was only paralysing himself further by taking this one unfavourable meeting and generalising it to an ongoing pattern. We avoid using extreme statements like “I always mess up,” “I’ll never get my voice heard,” and “This happens every time.”
Flip the “what if” narrative.
The human mind is wired to make meaning and answer questions. The sensitive brain, in particular, is adept at making connections and anticipating eventualities. Studies have shown that sensitive people have more active mental circuitry and neurochemicals in areas related to attention, action-planning, decision-making, and having strong internal experiences.
This means that as a sensitive striver you have the power to channel your thinking with greater precision. Make better use of your brain power by posing more constructive questions. Specifically, consider what could go right in equal measure with what could go wrong. For example:
• What if the senior leadership team loves my presentation?
• What if this idea isn’t stupid, but is the breakthrough that moves the project forward?
• What if this proposal revolutionizes how we work as a team?
Set a timer and a goal.
Being hard on yourself can ruin your mood, focus, and productivity if you let it. Luckily, shame and humiliation – two emotions that are common with self-criticism — are shown to only last between 30 to 50 minutes. Take advantage of this fact by time-boxing your feelings: set a timer and allow yourself to fully experience and process your emotions during that period. One helpful practice is release writing, in which you free write for three to five minutes to let go of pent-up frustrations.
Once the timer goes off, make a conscious choice about how to move forward. Define how you want to feel and what actions gets you closer to that feeling state. Ben decided he wanted to feel peaceful. We determined several steps that could help him achieve peacefulness, including a short meditation and taking a break to walk his dog.
Expand your definition of success.
As a sensitive striver, you likely have a tendency to define achievement in a hyper-specific way, that is, complete and total excellence at all times. You don’t need to lower your bar, but you do need to broaden your scope of what qualifies as a “win.” Achieving the desired outcome isn’t always in your control, so broaden your definition of success to include:
• Overcoming resistance or fear
• Pushing back and standing up for what you think is right
• Approaching a situation with a different mindset or attitude
• Taking a small step toward a goal
Take a few moments at the end of your workday to reflect not only on your professional highlights (praise, recognition, positive reviews, etc.), but also to consider moments where you made yourself proud. Acting in integrity with your values is the true definition of success.
As a sensitive striver, your desire to be the best is an asset when managed correctly. Once you tamp down the tendency to be hard on yourself, you’ll be able to more fully leverage your sensitivity and ambition as the gifts they are.
A powerful idea makes all the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful person, team, or company.
An idea is “A thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action” – It stresses the process of imagining or formulating rather than the result.
And once an idea is executed properly it gives us a leap of growth in that area of our life, taking us to the next level.
Most of the successful people have constantly found and applied ideas in their life and hence become successful. Be it in science, art , sports, finance, business or their personal life.
How to generate ideas:
Contrary to the belief that it has to do with high IQ, it’s, in general, more to do with the presence of mind. History has proven that grounded people with dedicated efforts generate better ideas. Here are the key ingredients for generating good ideas:
Constant Motivation
Necessity is the mother of all inventions. We should be motivated either internally or externally. Also should have the passion and doggedness to follow thru our hearts.
Free Mind
Ideas flow in free mind.
It’s not possible to have a good thought process with a cluttered mind. If we are bogged down with stress, tension, or negative emotions, it will hinder the free flow of thoughts.
Only a controlled and focused mind can generate better ideas.
Be it meditation, soothing music, or morning prayers, whatever calms our mind and helps us focus.
Exercise – A healthy body
For a healthy mind, we need a healthy body, and exercising is the best way to keep fit. Whether it’s long walks or running it doesn’t matter as long as physical exercise is part of the daily regime.
Varied Knowledge and Interests
Apart from constant learning in the field where we want to generate ideas. It’s a huge advantage to gain knowledge in other work areas that is not related to ours.
For example, if you are an entrepreneur, it opens a new perspective if you learn guitar or any musical instrument. It broadens our horizons and empowers us to have different thought processes.
Some of the activities that helps:
• Reading Books (Possibly from wide variety of subjects)
• Learning different Languages (Each languages gives different prospectives)
• Learning Music or Creative Art etc (Learning other creative areas of work)
Anything that allows us to dip into and learn other work areas.
Courage
To think of an idea sometimes we need to break the mold, be courageous, be stupid and be bold to try things that have never been tried before.
Courage and lateral way of thinking is critical for ideas to flow in.
Environment
As they say, you are what surrounds you. Our chances of creating new ideas and pursuing them improve if we have peers, a social circle, or an environment that embraces new ideas.
