Enduring Success

We all know Maria Bartiromo and her unbiased and informative financial reporting on CNBC. However, departing from that, she set out to write a book about the most influential and successful people of our time, and the secrets which have led to their enduring success….which, of course, incited me to start thinking about my own views on what leads to enduring success, in business and in life…

• Love What You Do – Possibly the most over-stated, yet underrated piece of advice floating out there in the universe of wisdom which surrounds us. Have you ever tried cooking a meal with ingredients you cannot stomach? That meal will not only not appeal to you, but chances are your heart and best cooking skills won’t go into its making. So why then would your life’s work be any different? If you do not love what you do and use your greatest strengths to contribute to the tasks at hand, the end result will be nothing more than empty success at best, or a miserable empty existence at worst. Your strengths will find you if you are open to hearing their voice; then, try to apply those attributes in any opportunity you have. If your job does not lend itself to using your strengths directly, find ways to use them indirectly or to try applying your skills and passions to avenues outside of work and from there they will grow. I never knew I loved to manage projects until I realized that I was creating projects in every area of my life and applying the skills to whomever or whatever would allow. In turn, I recognized that I was good at it, which then led to my wanting to grow those skills and apply them at work, as well!
• Prepare for the Worst, Expect the Best – In LIFE:
  Advice I really believe in yet have found the most difficult to authentically implement. In life, we are programmed to be optimists, continually wanting to believe that the best outcome is imminent. If we lose hope we lose everything, etc., etc. So how does one re-wire our minds to truly believe in the best outcome and the possibility of it, all the while simultaneously conniving our minds to prepare for a worst case scenario? Well, my answer to that consists of two words: support system. Continue to believe that you will be blessed with the best, but at the same time put measures into place to ensure your life will go on should the worst occur. These measures may be tangible in nature: i.e., work hard at your job and continue to vie for that promotion even if you want to believe that you are about to win the lottery; don’t buy that dream house until you are ensured that your current home can be signed, sealed and sold with something left over; continue to pursue your own goals and build your own success – even if you want to believe that prince charming will sweep you off your feet into a castle in the sky… And, in the face of uncertain and unpredictable disaster, your most important survival kit is going to be those with whom you surround yourself. Without the love, support and prayers of family and friends, no success will be worth having and no disaster survivable with your heart, mind and soul intact.

• Prepare for the Worst, Expect the Best – At WORK:
  I would not call myself a project manager if I did not believe in and take this statement to my grave: If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. From scoping out the extent of work you have, to estimating schedules and flagging deadlines, building in float & fluff time in case something arises or someone’s efforts fall through, assessing and mitigating risks before they have the opportunity to occur, monitoring and controlling the resources you have to help you achieve the final goal, and most importantly – realizing that YOU are not a island nor invincible – illness and unforeseen family issues will arise; do yourself and your team a favor by cross-training so that any dips in resources are seamless, and you are not a prisoner of your own making. Awareness of ALL of these factors will ensure that you are never caught off guard at work. By employing these attributes of awareness, and maintaining a can-do attitude, your projects will never fail and your success at work will be inevitable!

• Identify and Maintain Your Own Standards of Integrity: There will come a time in each of our lives when we are faced with challenges to our integrity…and how we handle these situations will surely dictate who we really are and how much enduring success our lives will hold. One of my favorite, albeit most clichéd sayings, states that “If you don’t stand for something, you will FALL for anything.” Sure, we will all be caught off guard at times, or allow others to put us in compromising situations – but we do not have to remain there. It is fully within our power to rise above others’ acts of disintegrity and to climb out of personal and professional gutters if we have built up our own standards of self-knowledge and beliefs along the way. Know who you are and ask yourself the tough questions – because, if you can answer them with satisfaction and still sleep at night – then you are on traveling on the right path.

• Bloom Where You are Planted: In other words, accept nothing less than success. Continuously strive for your personal best, rise to the occasion and embrace the opportunities before you – even if they are uncertain or unfamiliar. For there are no higher standards you can reach that exceed the ones you set for yourself.

Wishing You [Enduring] Success,
Natalya