Have you ever thought to yourself? Why is that person more successful than me? What are we doing differently? Or contrarily, have you just come to accept that some people are ‘born with talent’, or are child prodigies, gifted genius. 

Well my friends, neither of the above are true. What differentiates successful people from unsuccessful people are 3 things:

1. Successful people do what they love.

2. Successful people love what they do.

3. Successful people work hard at what they do every single second, and minute of each day.

You’re probably thinking to yourself now, well I knew that! You didn’t have to tell me because that’s what my parents, or grandparents have told me throughout the years of growing up. Well, they’re right. There is no secret ingredient to success. But then how come only a mere handful of people are successful? Well, that is because the mixture of the above 3 things are extremely difficult to achieve, and require large amounts of motivation, continuous dedication, sweat and hard work. See, to almost all successful people, there is nothing that is ‘too hard’ to achieve, there is no ‘9-5’ deadline in their daily jobs, simply because they love what they do and if they could, they would work 24/7 a day. This would not be true for all individuals. 

A famous quote by William A. Ward goes like this - ‘Recipe for success: study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing’. 

I can tell you now, a majority of people dread Mondays at work, they dread waking up early to go to work, they dread the atmosphere once they arrive at work, and they repeatedly tell themselves “only 2 more days left till the weekend” each and every Wednesday. Now, if you can wake up every morning before your alarm, eager to go to work, and you get to work feeling like nothing in the world matters besides what you’re doing. Then, and only then my friend, will you be truly successful. 

It’s true what people say - Follow your passion, and the money will come. If you’re merely going to work to bring home the bacon, and you’re hating what you’re doing, then you can never be successful. Everyone has a passion, and everyone has a dream. And everyone can make their dreams come true and become successful. But only a selected number of those actually make their dreams a reality, because people get caught up with their day-to-day lives that they forget to chase after what is important to them. And as time passes, they can only look up and admire those who have made it. 

Oh, and you know one more secret that define successful people? They don’t have a limit on the amount of time required to achieve their success. They have a goal in mind and they chase after that goal, regardless of how long it will take, they never deter away.

So, take a minute and just breathe here. Think clearly about what you do that makes you happy. Now picture yourself doing that for the rest of your life. If you can see yourself doing that for 5, 10, 20 years. Then, that is what you should do. Simple isn’t it? But only a handful of people recognise it. The majority, well, they still believe in the ‘secret’ to success.

Educate yourself.

So I haven’t written in a while… Mainly because I was caught up doing a few things for myself. I had a look over the things I’ve written on my tumblr and realized a majority were quotes either designed by myself, or re-quoted by other famous people. I want to try something new this time around. I have come to realize that quotes grab people’s attentions; whether it’s the bold writing, or the colorful designs, quotes are more appealing to people than text. Why? First of all because people are lazy to read through all this black and white. Secondly, people are more drawn to pictures than texts. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, people of the 21st century are so caught up with the speed of life that they don’t have the ‘time’ to pause and read a piece of writing. Sadly it’s true, we’ve become a world of busy human beings, busy doing nothing in trying to succeed at everything.
I’ve been doing a lot of identity searching throughout the past few years and I’ve come to realize I am very unhappy. That’s right, I’ve admitted it. I am unhappy. But the thing with me is, although I am unhappy I nevertheless want to achieve greatness, not only for myself, but to help others, and help the world. And I believe when that day comes, I can be truly happy with myself. I guess people might see me as naive for wanting to change the world, for wanting world peace, eliminate hunger and poverty once and for all, for wanting equality between men and women, black and white, rich and poor, and for wanting education to be given to kids where classrooms do not exist. Call me naive, a dreamer, unrealistic, whatever you like. I don’t care. Because I have come to realize that for every second I spend caring about what society views of me, is one second wasted on doing something better for my community. I have come to realize that not everything follows an idealistic path- I used to imagine myself having the perfect journey from school to university to work, finally settling down with a family. But no, life has definitely thrown a few challenges at me and whilst I was reluctant to accept at first, I now see these challenges as blessings. I feel as if I am greater than just getting the average 9-5 job to pay my next bill. I feel I want to achieve more than my next assignment. Some where, a voice inside of my head is echoing for me to take a plunge into the unknown and create greatness. And I think everyone has this voice in them.
So whether you’re doubting your next move, your next big investment, or your next career. Stop doubting. Just ask yourself - can I see myself doing this for the next 5, 10, 30 years? If the answer is yes then no matter the cost of getting to your goal, you should invest 200% or more in it. And once you do, don’t ever look back. One of my favorite quotes by Thomas Alva Edison goes like this- “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”. And mr Edison is right, don’t you dare for one second doubt yourself, because you were brought into this world to deliver greatness. And you are MORE, much more than what you wear, how you look, what job you do, what car you drive, how much you earn. Don’t settle for less and if you have a dream, it’s never too late to achieve it. But, you do have to start today.

Don’t be afraid to seek out the opportunities in life.

Prepare yourself - for tomorrow.