Connect with us

Success Advice

3 Tips To Overcoming The Plateaus Of Success

Published

on

Learn to love the grind. That’s probably the only thing you should take away from this short post.

As we get closer to the goals we have set for ourselves, our standard for happiness simply rises along with our achievements. This is called “the hedonic treadmill

We will always measure our life in contrast to where we were yesterday and not in the totality of our achievements.

We often think that life has an “end-game” – That illusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that’ll make you feel fulfilled & happy for a lifetime.If only you could reach $100k/year. If only that attractive girl would date you. If only you got those amazing abs

Then everything would be different, right? Different in a fundamentally life-changing way? Yeah… no. It doesn’t work out that way. Don’t get me wrong; It’ll make you somewhat happy – just not for a long time.

No matter where you are in life, there will always be that “extra something” you think you need, to become truly happy. Something you already know but needs reminding once-in-a-while. It’s easy to lose track of what really matters in our daily grind.

“Aim for an arc of small, consecutive victories throughout your entire life.”  Owen Cook

Relative Vs. Absolute Happiness

As we progress in life our “happiness-level” simply rises with us. Meaning every-time we achieve something great, we create a new “baseline” for happiness. As we achieve more we’ll need increasingly greater achievements to get that same “high” again.

As long as we are on the “up ‘n up” in life we’ll feel engaged and content. Conversely, when we’ve reached a certain plateau where we’ve stopped growing we’ll become less happy.

  • If you get rejected today, it will still hurt – although you might have had it work out great in the past
  • If you get a little bit chubbier you’ll still be displeased – although you might still be in better shape than a year ago
  • If you lose a large amount of money you’ll still feel like crap – although you might be earning more money than ever before.

Frantically speeding towards the finish line is like a dog chasing its own tail.

 

There is NO finish line – only progress

If you stop progressing – you stop being happy. You can also see this in people who achieved great successes early on in their life;

Buzz Aldrin – The second man to set foot on the moon fell into depression and alcoholism when “coming back down to earth”. His baseline of achievement was set so high that everything simply faded in contrast.

“I really think that was the result of inherited tendencies which showed up in my mother’s side of the family,” he says. That was combined maybe with the intensity of the notoriety and then the aftermath of that notoriety and decisions as to what I was going to do next.” 

What do you do after walking on the moon eh?

William “The Fridge” Perry – After plagued with insecurities because of his weight, he resorted to proving his self-worth through athletics. He battered his way up to the NFL and played for the Chicago Bears. After performing some remarkable athletic feats, (especially for a guy his size – 300lbs) gaining some incredible fame, he did advertisements for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Coca Cola & McDonalds. He joined pretty much every talk show you could imagine. Heck – He even got his own G.I. Joe action figure.

Yet what’s the man who “has got it all‘ going to do next?

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning”. – Benjamin Franklin

People, after reaching a high degree of success, often fall into a void and get detached from their own sense of self. They’ve linked their own worth with their achievements. Yet – what happens when all that falls away? No more money, no more fame, , no more..Self?

Especially people who have reached an excessive degree of success can fall down the hardest. This leads to depression & escaping in drugs, alcohol, video-games, tv and food. The questions “what’s next? ” & “How am I going to beat my last performance” remains unsolved.

 

Redefining Success

Don’t aim for excess – aim for progress. It’s not the absolutes that make you happy, yet we live in a society where it’s common to glorify “ideals“, especially where social media is so abundant and you constantly see fabricated images of how perfect everyone else is. Coined “The facebook-syndrome”

Todd Essig states that; “Trying to find worth by looking further up the ladder is pretty consistently a self-destructive endeavor.” So don’t. I’m not saying you shouldn’t chase big achievements & high benchmarks. You definitely should.

How else are you going to measure progress without some arbitrary benchmarks? It’s how we keep score when we’re playing this game called “life

I’m saying you should focus on doing your best at playing the game and not the score. Focus on taking the actions that are necessary to grow yourself consistently and not the absolute outcome you might get.

  • Focus on going to the gym consistently
  • Focus on writing on your website consistently
  • Focus on reading consistently
  • Focus on building up your skills consistently

Just spread them out and don’t set your baseline impossibly high. Learn to love the process of growing and not frantically looking towards the end. It will only make you restless if you do.

Essence

Here’s some practical advice to take away;

  • Set benchmarks for your life but focus on the process needed to get there. Focus on playing the game. The benchmarks are simply there to keep score.
  • Measure your own life in absolutes by keeping a log of your life. I recommend a simple paper journal.
  • Aim for small wins with visible, controllable results

Don’t think: “Where’s the end?” – since you’ll never really get there. Always think: “What’s next?” Just like Aesop’s fable goes; Slow and steady wins the race. And in this case…You win at life.

 

Thanks for reading this short article. If you’re having some more thoughts or questions about this post – feel free to leave those in the comment section below.
Advertisement
4 Comments

4 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

Published

on

altering business approach
Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

Continue Reading

Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

Published

on

Creating legal boundaries
Image Credit: Midjourney

The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

Continue Reading

Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

Published

on

How to be motivated
Image Credit: Midjourney

Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

Published

on

micro financial habits
Image Credit: Midjourney

You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

Continue Reading

Trending