A few brave souls attempt to make radical career changes, some are successful and some aren’t, but the fact is, most of us find it very hard to move outside of our comfort zone; you know, the one that gives you a familiar routine, a steady pay-check and the kind of hassle and stress that you’ve grown to love to hate! Never mind the fact that it’s a waste of our lives, we have bills to pay and a lifestyle to support! We NEED that miserable job that we hate in order to be happy! Hmmm, well maybe not happy exactly but…well…comfortable….or familiar….or something.

….SAFE! That’s it.

Why do we choose safe over happy? Because in order to be happy, we have to take a RISK. Now to some people, the word ‘RISK’ is exciting and energising (obviously there’s something wrong with them), however for most of us, RISK = SHORT CUT TO FAILURE. We’re convinced that if we take a risk, we’ll fail. And FAILURE = THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT!

…….A bit like stepping off the edge of the world. Except that you can’t of course; the world isn’t flat and you won’t fall off the edge, you’ll simply be one step further away from where you just were. So why do we tend to have a ‘flat world’ mentality when it comes to making changes in our lives? Probably because unlike the world we live in (…well, on), we don’t have a clear map showing us what’s beyond our comfort zone. All it says is, ‘Here be Dragons!’.  Not very helpful really.

But some people (those who don’t subscribe to the above definition of RISK), have ventured into dragon territory and found that……there are no dragons. They have faced the unknown and in doing so, dragon territory is now home territory.

Note: You don’t need to look far to find these intrepid explorers, they live amongst us and many of them are happy to share what they know. (You’ll be hearing from some on this blog.)

But what of those who fail? Well actually, they’re the ones that succeed. What!? It’s true; they treat failure as a learning experience, a step along the path to their goal. They understand that every obstacle or problem presents an opportunity to learn and grow. Failure shows them where they need to make changes to succeed. It forges them into the person they need to become.

The majority of people who truly fail, do so simply because they never try in the first place. Of those that do try, many give up too early, when success is only a lesson or two away.

Let me give you a simple formula for success:

Success = Focused Passion + Persistent Informed Action

In other words:  To be successful , you need to have a clear goal you are passionate about and then take persistent and well informed action to achieve that goal. By ‘well informed action’, I mean taking action that is based on the best information, knowledge and experience available to you at the time (including the feedback and lessons from any previous action).

If you look at anyone who is consistently successful, you will find that this is exactly what they do.

The truth is, if you have a strong enough reason to do something, and you commit to it, then providing you are humble enough to face a few challenges along the way and learn from them, you will succeed.

Don’t waste your life doing a job you hate. Find out what you want to do, learn how to make it happen and then take action.

“What a man can be, he must be. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. ” — Abraham Maslow 

What must you be?

By: Ian Walton.