Most people look at success as an accomplishment of a goal, attainment of a vision, fulfillment of a purpose, completion of a journey, the end of a struggle. Very rarely do people recognize success for what it truly is; a way of life.
If you study the lives of successful and unsuccessful people, one thing stands out the most; a successful person seems to succeed at almost everything and a failure fails at everything. It is not the chosen field or activity that defines success; it’s always the way in which one approaches things.
Spend some time to reflect on various aspects of your life. How are you managing your time and resources, how are you managing your relationships, how are you managing your feelings and emotions, how are you managing your desires. If the answer to any of these questions is a no, then probably you have not figured out the secret of success.
There is no way you can succeed at one thing, while you are failing at all others. Success is a holistic approach to life. You either know how to succeed at everything or you don’t. When you study the lives of those who have succeeded in your chosen field, don’t just study their success in that particular area; study their entire life.
There is a part of you that gets imprinted on everything, and there is a part of everything that gets imprinted on you. You have to observe each and every aspect of your life to make the necessary changes to move towards success.
Your life is a house with many rooms. Even if one of the rooms is not clean, the whole house will stink. Your approach to success cannot be just about keeping one particular chosen room clean; you have to take care of all other aspects as well. Anyways, how long do you think you can keep your hall clean, if you have a dead rat in your room!
The single most important reason why people fail is because they are too obsessed with just one particular area of their life and they ignore all others. They forget that they cannot succeed at one thing while failing at others. Eventually all the things you have ignored will catch up on you.
This doesn’t mean that you stop preparing for your exams till, your friends, family, girlfriends and neighbors are all happily settled in life. Only one goal should get all your attention, and for that to happen you cannot leave too many loose ends. You have to clear out the unwanted distractions so that you have all the time and energy to accomplish that one all important goal of yours.