What is it you are after in life? Outward success? Financial independence? Job/life satisfaction? We all know that to reach a destination, we cannot just start wandering and hope we will eventually end up where we want to go. Unfortunately, without concrete plans for our lives or a roadmap to success, that is precisely what so many of us end up doing.
To avoid aimless wandering or time wasted in dead-end or unnecessarily time-consuming pursuits, we need a roadmap to success with carefully laid out directions that will help us navigate our route from start to finish.
Roadmaps to success come in the form of other people. People who have achieved the life goals we are after. Individuals who have traveled the road on which we are preparing to embark. Who can offer advice on how to traverse difficult terrain or shortcuts through unnecessary stretches.
Have Multiple Mentors
You will need to learn about various things along the way to your definition of success. Ideally, you will locate diverse people to help you with varied undertakings.
Someone who is particularly useful at time management. Another who excels at financial matters. One who inspires you to think big. You will learn from all these people over time, but then there will inevitably come the point where you will realize it is time to start plotting out new directions for yourself.
The article Why Everyone Should Have Multiple Mentors from Time explains, “Many people look at mentorship like they look at romantic relationships: They’re trying to find ‘The One.’ But it’s smart to have several different mentors over the span of your career – and maybe several at the same time.”
Don’t feel shy about asking others for help. No one got to where they are on their own. They asked for advice or service when they needed it and are generally happy to share what they know in turn.
As important as seeking out people who can help you further your career is the ability to recognize when to reins for yourself.
No matter how successful other people are or what they have achieved, they ultimately found their success based on their own unique set of talents, aspirations, and desires.
Be A Good Student
A master painter starts as an apprentice, but once they have learned everything they can from their mentors, they develop their style. Their masterwork is an expression of their viewpoint.
Each individual’s success is a culmination of what they have learned on their roadmap to success and the talents and concepts that make them unique.
To grow as a student, you must be willing to enter each situation with an open mind and student mentality to fully absorb everything the mentor, teacher, leader they are working with is offering.
Grow through challenges
Achieving a goal or life milestone is one of the greatest feelings of life. However, no matter how much we might revel in that success, the jubilation eventually fades, and the accomplishment becomes the new normal of our day to day of lives.
With normalcy comes complacency, and then if we are not careful, stagnation. The strongest weapon in the battle against stagnation is a challenge. Challenges keep us vitalized and motivated. Meeting them head-on and overcoming them is how we continually work towards the best possible version of ourselves.
Writing about the importance of challenge for leaders in The Globe And Mail, Mike McDerment advocates, “Putting yourself in over your head may sound frightening, but doing so is the best way for you to become the leader you’d like to be.”
Life and the roadmap to success are all about striving. The accomplishment of one goal is the beginning of the next one—an opportunity to repeat the whole process and move on to the next level of life.
When you find yourself feeling comfortable and at ease, that is not the time to sit back and let life take you for a ride. It is time to re-assess your goals. To find new ways to challenge yourself and learn new things. Creating just enough stress to push you out of where you are to where you want to be will help you along your roadmap to success.
The roadmap to success is different for each person, meaning different tips are needed for each individual, for more tips on Success check out our blog, What Separates Those Who Want Success From Those Who Achieve It?
