I’ve been reflecting lately on how we achieve success. How do some people seem to just ‘get’ success?
Recently my daughter graduated with a Masters of Criminology. She’s got a string of letters behind her name and it seems to the world she’s got her shit together. And she has! She’s smashing career goals and personal goals too. To the outside world it appears a breeze.
She’s intelligent. But intelligence didn’t get her to where she is today. It was determination, commitment and guts. She’s had struggles, like we all have, and in today’s world some would say she’s had trauma. She’s been labelled by modern society with a string of labels. She’s a remote regional child having grown up in Kalgoorlie, her father died when she was a baby, she’s a girl, she was born nearly four weeks early, she’s not from a nuclear family, she went to uni when Covid closed the world down, she’s Gen Z.
These things could have defined her.
She chose to have the string of letters define her. She chose a path that wasn’t always smooth, but she kept walking it. Her successes are a result of the way she showed up.
Her success can also be attributed to a string of champions, some related and some gained through community and school. Those champions encouraged, promoted and channelled her. They pushed her up and they also sat her down when needed, but they always showed up.
There’s an important lesson to learn here. No one just ‘gets’ success. We all have struggles. Some struggles are bigger than others and some labels are crueller than others. At the end of the day what matters is how we approach them.
Our mindset, belief system and inner voice are a huge part of how we show up. If we believe the labels, listen to society and tell ourselves we won’t succeed, then we won’t! On the other hand, if we tell ourselves that we are knowledgeable, committed to the task, that we can find the resources we need and, we know who to ask for help when needed – we have a much higher chance of success.
So, how do you show up? For yourself and for those around you. What mindset do you bring and how does your belief system choose the words? Who do you champion?
In the words of Nedd Brockmann, the crazy kid who ran from Cottesloe Beach to Bondi Beach in 47 days to raise 2.5 million dollars, you just gotta show up every day and get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Check out other articles Candice has written here.