My Success Strategy

Though it would have been easy for me to waste myself on different activities without mastering any skill at all, I managed to find a strategy that allowed me to succeed despite having many interests.

It’s a two-fold strategy, which is perfect for those whose attention span is short, who have many talents, or who are simply interested in many things.

By the way, only follow this strategy if it resonates with you.

This strategy comes in two parts, and here’s the first one:

Commit to the work that’s flexible and broad.

(It will take longer to succeed than in narrow, specialized, work, but you won’t get bored. Over the long run, however, a broad sphere can bring much more abundance than a narrow one.)

For example, since my work is self-improvement blogging, this allows me the flexibility of working anywhere, anytime, and writing about a broad range of subjects. Nearly every subject in the world can be linked in some way to self-improvement! So this activity never bores me, but, in fact, is pleasurable, and energizes me.

I’ve found my ideal work by paying attention to what I was good at. Since childhood I used to put my thoughts down on paper, in the form of poetry or diary writing. In fact, sometimes I need to record my thoughts on paper and then look at them to understand my own ideas. So this clearly pointed that writing was my calling.

So to use the first part of this strategy firstly you need to find a sphere, a broad sphere, of your activity. What’s natural and effortless for you? What do you engage in often? Is it writing, painting, talking, making stuff, fixing things, teaching, leading, contemplating, or something else?

Once you find this broad sphere, direct it to a channel that has enough variety and flexibility, and which interests you. (For me, for example, this channel was self-improvement.) Ideally, you should never change your sphere, but have it broad enough from the start for you not to get bored.

If you keep this strategy, you will be successful. However, you must select the channel that’s natural for you; otherwise after some time you will quit the sphere altogether. As a general guideline, if you have been naturally engaged in that sphere since childhood, you will keep at it.

Let’s not forget the second part of my success strategy, which is equally important for you to become successful and not to quit, which is:

Allow energy outbreaks from time to time.

Even the calling of your life can become tasteless and constricting if you don’t allow energy outbreaks to happen.

Of course, it would be ideal to fully focus on one thing only and put all your energy there; but if you are, like me, interested in many things, such strictness would only dampen spirits and work quality would suffer, or it might even cause to quit work altogether.

So I never constrict myself, and if some energy wants to break out into another sphere, I always let it, fully knowing that it will not last, and that the activity will bring a different shade to my writing, enriching it this way.

I know in my heart that I will always stick to self-improvement writing because keeping this broad sphere and allowing energy outbreaks after some time made this work grow into a strong, probably impossible to root out, tree. I didn’t allow, however, energy outbreaks at the very start of my blogging, because that might have never allowed my blogging to take off.

So I advise you to do the same. First, keep only in your sphere, but when you feel yourself established enough, and the sphere of your work as though gets its own intelligence and life and thus doesn’t need your constant attention, you may allow yourself to temporarily explore other fields of activity that interest you. You will know in your heart when it’s safe to do so.

If you’ve just sown a seed but then you ignore it by watering other seeds, the original seed will die. But if you keep watering it, it grows into a stronger plant which requires less care. With your regular attention, it grows stronger and stronger, and then you can leave it alone for quite some time, and you’ll still find it as strong, or even stronger, when you come back.

Taking this analogy further, when you leave an already strong tree to do something else, you might get tips from others about how to care for your tree even better, so this time away from the growing tree can be beneficial to it, because upon your return you’ll have new skills of how to make it grow bigger and faster. (So this ‘going away’ is extra activities that you engage in once you’re established in your sphere of work which serve to enrich your work.)

You’re indeed likely to find after such time away that you can resume your work with more inspiration, renewed energy, and produce results that are more unique.

Conclusion

If you have multiple interests, many talents, or your attention span is short, select the sphere of work that’s broad enough for you not to get bored.

Though it’s very important, if you want to be successful, to stick to your sphere of work without changing it, once you’re well established in it you can afford some time away from it.

Considering the sphere of work is truly the one you should be engaged in (your calling), the time away from it may infuse you with new inspiration and creativity, and thus you’ll produce better results.

Though I cannot guarantee that this strategy will bring you success, if you’re like me, interested in many things, it’s very likely that it will.

Resource: simonarich.com