Have you ever pondered why some individuals are successful and excel in various spheres of life? Why do most individuals live an ordinary life without much credit or recognition? Is success or excellence a mere act of luck or a random event touching some people? When viewed from the spirituo-scientific way, it may seem that the so-called chance is merely an act of past good karma. Mundane, ordinary life may seem then as an act of no-good karma. However, karmas are our actions of the past or the present. Humans have the power and intellect to consciously veer away from compelling bad karmas and undertake good karmas. We can do good and meaningful karmas and avoid the pitfalls of past evil or not so good deeds. Right karmic actions in this life could be in the form of thoughts and committed acts. Looking in this way, let us see how we can strive to achieve success or excellence.
What is required to achieve success or excellence is the cumulative cultivation of positive attributes? These attributes are:
- Should be focused on the task at hand
- Should be determined enough to achieve one’s target
- Should be prepared for hard work or be industrious (i.e. be diligent)
- Should apply one’s intelligence properly
- Should have self-confidence
- Should have perseverance
- Should exercise patience and
- Last but not least, you should have passion.
FDDISPPP (focus, determination, diligence, intelligence, self-confidence, perseverance, patience, passion). You cap it with self-motivation, and presto, you have the formula for excellence. It is good to have some external goading force to make you apply the formula for excellence. However, in keeping with Einstein’s theory of relativity (E=mc2), an external force’s increase of velocity leads to a gain of kinetic energy and mass of an object, which results in its slowing down. But an inherent internal power makes an object move faster like a photon. Therefore, the external motivational goader should virtually activate the inner self-motivational force of an individual. An individual thereby develops a self-yearning insatiable drive to higher levels of performance, achievement or success. Essentially, it should help generate passion for igniting the dormant potential of the individual.
Is the path to excellence as simple and straightforward as one can think? The simple answer is, NO, it is not. It is often long winding and needs a lot of energy and effort. One needs to practice a high degree of self-discipline, and the more one pushes oneself, the easier it becomes to traverse the road to excellence. To achieve success/excellence, one needs to come out of complacency and develop a drive to achieve targets and objectives. One also needs to move out of the comfort zone and face challenges and roadblocks.
To focus is to develop concentrating power. No doubt, the sun’s rays are hot, but the beams should get focused on passing the rays through a convex lens to get objects burned by them. This ability to concentrate and develop an awareness of one’s goals ultimately would lead to success. On the contrary, ego-centric attachments would create distractions, take one away from the path of success and lead one astray to failure.
One always needs to plan carefully and organize and execute the same with positivity and oriented thinking. Methodicity, commitment, responsibility and self-accountability are the much needed practical weapons to combat complacency and laziness. One should keep a tab of smaller short term goals and bigger long term goals. The bigger long term goals should be divided into smaller ones to maintain our focus and zeal intact. The important thing is that the goals should be clear, logical and sharply defined.
While pursuing excellence, one should never enter into a spirit of competition. Competing with others only leads to a loss of precious time and energy and generally causes stress and strain. Our output decreases by competing with others. But when we compete with ourselves, we strive to outdo our previous performance, which gradually leads to excellence.
Application with a dedication to whatever we do is a habit we need to nurture. It does not matter how mundane or trivial the matter; it may be an action or work of our daily routine. A general saying is, ‘we are what we think or do’. Repeated actions performed with commitment and disciplined dedication enhance our performance and lead to excellence. Therefore, the path to greatness is an act of self-motivation and self-enhancement. If we take it up in the right earnestness, our work ethics will enable us to achieve self-mastery and lead to higher planes of performance beyond our belief and imagination.
It would bring out our hidden inner capacities. Meditation can be an essential tool in developing focus and concentration and calming the mind. A calm and peaceful mind can often prove to be hyper-productive. In the process, we also awaken our inner core. Garnish it or season it with a dose of divine spiritual awakening, and presto, you have the foolproof formula for success and excellence.
