Success eludes everyone. Most people chase success and only a few achieve it ultimately. Everybody wants to achieve success while nobody wants to encounter failure. Success comes when you learn from your failures. If success comes easily, it goes away easily. When success comes through lots of hard work, struggles and sacrifices, it remains with you forever. Even if you have setbacks for the time being, you will be able to regain your position and achieve it again because you know it’s worth it. Hence, aim to achieve success through hard work to ensure the longevity of your success.

Success has many fathers while failure is like a mother who teaches you many lessons. Success has many definitions and it depends person to person and their passions and priorities. Success means when the right person is in the right place at the right time. Success needs both the right time and timing. Success comes when you can visualize and connect your dots effectively. Success is the ability to align your abilities with your outcomes. Succinctly, success is an alignment of your intended objectives with your desired outcomes. 

Most people fail because they fail to manage their external disturbances and distractions. They lose their focus when they are confronted with frequent failures. Most people work hard to prove themselves and achieve success. However, only a few achieve success because they can anticipate external risks and disturbances and stay motivated to accomplish their objectives. They take feedback when they fail to do better next time. They are part of the solution, not the problem. They invest their time and efforts to accomplish their passionate goals and objectives. 

For them, success is a byproduct, not an end-product. When you crave success excessively, you seldom achieve it. Instead, if you focus on your passions and goals, you will be able to achieve success. For extraordinary achievers, their passions are their priorities, not success. 

Believe in pluck, not luck

Pluck is the ability to overcome external disturbances. When external factors favor, people can achieve their success. The favorable aspect of these external factors can be called luck. Sometimes the talented and hardworking people run into bad luck ending up as failures. That is why some people may be down due to their bad luck, but they will never be out as they invested their efforts and time consistently.

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson  

A blueprint to increase your luck and achieve success

Some people opine that luck is essential to achieving success. Of course, luck is a minor factor that tilts everything and tips the scale toward your success. Luck comes from your pluck. When you dare to follow your dreams despite external disturbances, you will be able to achieve success. Here is a blueprint to increase your chances of luck and achieve success. 

Come out of your comfort zone because your comfort zone never creates achievers and leaders. Take risks in your passionate areas. Don’t worry if you fail. But learn lessons quickly to move forward. When confronted with failures, think of ‘what next’ rather than brooding over your failures. Create a circle of positive friends to create positive vibrations. Build a network of strong connections. Help them and seek their help. Be gracious to be a giver. Appreciate people during your journey. 

Appreciation costs nothing except investing your precious time. Talk to people irrespective of their rank, position, and profile. Be smart to take the best and leave the rest while listening. Take the best ideas and jot down them. Explore the ideas. Remember, your luck comes from your pluck.  In a nutshell, change your attitude toward luck. Be positive. Be willing to take the risk and fail. Raise your bar. Emphasize excellence. Avoid whining, criticizing, complaining, and condemning. Appreciate others. Above all, be magnanimous.

Explore innovatively to achieve success

At times people blame their time of birth for not achieving success. There are opportunities at every stage of history to establish and achieve success. All that people must do is to explore the prevailing gaps and strive to fill those gaps to achieve success. Some people blame their parents for not providing education and opportunities. It is not proper to blame parents. In my case, I am not fortunate to acquire education when I wanted. 

Then I explored my ways and joined Indian Air Force when I was 19 years old to serve my nation, earn money and learn things. I acquired several qualifications while serving in Indian Air Force such as DME, BSc, MA, PGDCLL, PGDBM, and MBA. After leaving the Indian Air Force, I acquired my Ph.D. in Soft Skills in 2011 despite facing financial challenges. You must find ways to accomplish your objectives rather than blaming others.

For some people, success comes early while for some people, success comes late. Success will certainly touch your toes when you are willing to work hard, risk, and explore your passionate areas. Thomas Jefferson rightly remarked, “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”  Remember, if you achieve success overnight it goes away overnight. Hence, achieve success slowly and steadily to sustain it. 

Both luck and pluck are intangible and are essential to achieve the success which is again intangible. Success will come when the time arrives. Hence, contribute your best consistently and constantly without focusing too much on your outcomes. To summarize, success gives you short-term relief and fulfills your short-term temptations whereas adding value to others provides meaning to your life. To conclude, emphasize adding value to others. You will be remembered beyond your lifetime for your contribution.