Description
Clarity is essential to create success and achieve goals that are important to us. For over 30 years, I have worked with managers, executives, and students to assist them in applying research-based practices to help them achieve their goals—both personal and professional. During this time, I have noticed a specific pattern: most of us can clearly describe what we don’t like about our lives, work, and relationships, with the belief that if only we could do this or change that, we would be successful. However, when asked to describe what we do want for ourselves, the picture we conjure up tends to be blurry, for example: make more money, travel, be promoted at work, have a loving relationship, or start our own business.
In a digital age, the pervasiveness of social media and the frequency with which we “see” others succeed can make it more challenging to find clarity on what success means to each of us. With a continuous stream of images that show how other people seem to be succeeding, our lives, activities, vacations, relationships, and physical appearance can appear to be “less than” in comparison. If we are not yet clear about what we want to achieve, the images we see around us will only obscure our vision.
The ideas, tools, and approaches in the following pages summarize the research on success and achievement. Each chapter is designed to help bring your thinking into focus, enabling you to develop detailed and specific plans. This in turn will allow you to sustain your momentum, even in the face of tendencies to procrastinate, negative judgments from others about whether what you are doing is “right for you,” a fear of failure, and concerns about what you may need to leave behind as you reach for whatever it is that you wish to achieve.
The material in this eBook is based on the psychological research and applied practices of positive psychology, which emphasizes the importance of building hope, resilience, and optimism. Chapter one explores the many ways of finding out what success means to each of us, while chapter two explains how you can harness the positive power of your beliefs to achieve success and fulfillment. Chapter three looks at the benefits of focusing on your strengths, and challenging self-limiting thoughts—such as, “I can’t do that; I tried it before and it didn’t work.” To succeed and achieve, action is needed, and chapter four offers some essential, practical techniques for improving your effectiveness. As you move toward achieving your goals, chapter five discusses topics such as creative problem-solving, effective networking, and the psychology of influencing others. In the last chapter, the eBook looks at how nurturing our well-being and personal relationships is a vital element that contributes to our overall success in life.
You may find it useful to revisit these chapters as you refine your goals, new opportunities emerge, and your life circumstances change—when this happens, you can return with a fresh perspective. Your definition of success will evolve over time, and new goals will emerge and refocus your attention. This is a natural part of our development and growth.
Your picture of what success looks like is unique. Honor this, and know that comparing yourself with others isn’t helpful. It’s the journey of learning how to succeed and the process of continuing to reach for what you want that makes all the difference. Success is about making proactive and purposeful decisions each day about what is important to you, and creating goals that are linked to what you value and dream of achieving. This eBook will help you discover exactly what success means to you, and how to go about achieving it.
Deborah A. Olson, PhD