How bad do you want success?
The desire to be successful is one most people can identify with. As students, it comes with more pressure, because we want to do more than just survive in the real world. I understand the feeling, the desire, the pressure, and I want to share somethings I have learned. Before I proceed, let me tell you a short story.
Do you recognize the picture above?
Her name is Kansiime Anne.
Each time I watch her or see her, I get a rush of excitement.
Several years ago, a friend sent me a video of her on Facebook, and I laughed so hard, I could have peed on myself. I remember thinking, ‘Why is she not popular?’
Fast forward a few years later, it was like an explosion of success, she was EVERYWHERE. She has been called ‘Africa’s Queen of Comedy’. I’ve watched several of her interviews and one thing she says over and over again is that she loves what she does. She met a lot of opposition, but her love and passion for comedy kept her consistent. And oh my goodness! She is HARDWORKING.
Kansiime did not get her big show immediately or her explosion as soon as she started, but she kept at it. This is the same for so many other successful people in our world today. While everyone has a different story, here are four things I have found that are always present in success stories.
#1 Love
The only thing that can keep you up late at night and get you up early in the morning, especially when there is no immediate gratification is love. When you love what you do, you will miss meals and not even notice; you will forget you have to sleep. There are so many words I could have chosen to describe this trait, but I picked ‘love’ because of how pure it is. When you love what you do and the people you do it for, you will find out that your motives are pure. This is very important because, even if money is not trickling in, you will find joy just by doing what you do.
#2 Persistence
I’m always fascinated when I see anthills. I keep thinking ‘those little creatures built this?’ The secret is Persistence.
They keep carrying tiny bits of soil and putting it together, consistently. It’s the same trick in real life. Once you find that thing you love doing, keep showing up! Bring whatever little effort you have, just be persistent with your input. You are in la-la land if you think, you will be successful without rejection. People and situations will bring you down at different points, but you just have to keep showing up. Wake up the next day and resolve to try again.
#3 Hardwork
Do you want people to pay you for what you do? Then, you have to justify that through an impeccable delivery of your services. Truth is you don’t start out anything, and automatically be GREAT at it, regardless of your talent or training. It takes time to build, to be better, to learn, and none of which comes through any kind of laziness. If you want to be successful, you have to WORK HARD. That way, when you put a price on your product or services, people will pay and feel like they got the worth of their money.
#4 Faith
Regardless of whether you believe in God or not, it takes faith to be successful. You have to believe that what you are doing will work. You have to have faith to take the risk that is involved in achieving success. Without faith, you’re a lunatic. Tell me, how else you will be doing something without results and still keep doing it.
But, I have to throw in the God-card; this is a different level of faith. There’s something about trusting a power higher than yours. I believe every single person was created for a purpose; none of us showed up by accident. When you start pursuing something you believe you were made to do, there will be oppositions. In those moments of discouragement and despair, whew!
Faith in God keeps you going! For me, It helps me accept my limits and trust someone greater than me. I have also found that, divine wisdom can make you work 1% instead of 100% and still get amazing results. I challenge you, to give God room in your dreams and ambition.
The year is slowly coming to an end; it’s time to take stock of gains and loses. However, I encourage you; even if your balance sheet is not looking too good, KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING. If you have those ingredients listed above, I believe sooner than later, I will be reading about you too.
Thank you Kansiime Anne, for giving us a reason to believe.
Have a Winning-Day