FACTORS LEADING TO SUCCESS - AWARENESS
In my first posting, I summarized the most important factors leading to success as awareness, strong desire, vision, and change in mindset, full commitment and persistence, and adaptability. In that posting, I also promised that I will show how these factors lead to success or how lack of them hinders success. In this posting, I am going to take up the first item – awareness.
But before going into the topic, let me first define what I mean by success because it can mean different things to different people. To some people, it means abundant financial wealth and possessions. To others, it may mean having happy family, freedom, spirituality, or helping others. However, there is a central need which must be met by anyone in order to be considered successful. The minimum requirement for any type of success is financial independence. Financial independence is a condition in which, although one works, he or she does not need to work in order to live. Other levels of success above financial independence can be achieved, depending on one’s level of desire and commitment. In other words, the success I will be talking about in these postings will be directed at having financial independence. Since the benchmark for success has been defined, I will now return to the discussion about awareness.
The dictionary defines awareness as a condition in which one has knowledge, perception of something, or has ability to notice something. Although the definition seems simple, the greater majority of the world population lacks this important skill. These vary from people without education to those with the highest educational level. Awareness also determines the differences in the levels of development of countries. Awareness is important in every aspect of life and it is even more important for someone or a country looking for success. A candidate for success is expected to have a higher level of awareness than others because the person or the country desires to be above the average. Awareness is a skill which should be mastered. Although formal education leads to some sort of awareness, it does not provide it fully. That is the reason why some people with highest level of education do not fully use their potentials to be successful. Since awareness leads to success, lack of it becomes a strong barrier to both personal success and country success.
As defined before, awareness is the ability to perceive things or situations surrounding someone in order that the person can make a better decision for change. A person who desires success must make a change in the way he or she thinks, and which will reflect in the behavior. The link between awareness and success is the one of recognition of the current condition as a force for change. This is because one can make a change only after he or she recognizes the need for change. Without recognizing the situation, it is almost impossible to make any changes. The level of awareness one has determines the level of desire he or she will have for a change.
It is interesting to note that many people are unsuccessful because they are not aware of the good things success brings. I am sure they will fight for it if they are exposed to the benefits of success. As a result of unawareness, some use their religion and culture as excuses. Others use other explanations to justify their condition. Besides religion and culture, the common excuses people give are lack of opportunity, bad circumstances in life, bad health, death of a family member, poverty, and dysfunctional family and government. It is important to understand that it is not the circumstances of a person that determines what one should be, but how one reacts to them.
But before going into the topic, let me first define what I mean by success because it can mean different things to different people. To some people, it means abundant financial wealth and possessions. To others, it may mean having happy family, freedom, spirituality, or helping others. However, there is a central need which must be met by anyone in order to be considered successful. The minimum requirement for any type of success is financial independence. Financial independence is a condition in which, although one works, he or she does not need to work in order to live. Other levels of success above financial independence can be achieved, depending on one’s level of desire and commitment. In other words, the success I will be talking about in these postings will be directed at having financial independence. Since the benchmark for success has been defined, I will now return to the discussion about awareness.
The dictionary defines awareness as a condition in which one has knowledge, perception of something, or has ability to notice something. Although the definition seems simple, the greater majority of the world population lacks this important skill. These vary from people without education to those with the highest educational level. Awareness also determines the differences in the levels of development of countries. Awareness is important in every aspect of life and it is even more important for someone or a country looking for success. A candidate for success is expected to have a higher level of awareness than others because the person or the country desires to be above the average. Awareness is a skill which should be mastered. Although formal education leads to some sort of awareness, it does not provide it fully. That is the reason why some people with highest level of education do not fully use their potentials to be successful. Since awareness leads to success, lack of it becomes a strong barrier to both personal success and country success.
As defined before, awareness is the ability to perceive things or situations surrounding someone in order that the person can make a better decision for change. A person who desires success must make a change in the way he or she thinks, and which will reflect in the behavior. The link between awareness and success is the one of recognition of the current condition as a force for change. This is because one can make a change only after he or she recognizes the need for change. Without recognizing the situation, it is almost impossible to make any changes. The level of awareness one has determines the level of desire he or she will have for a change.
It is interesting to note that many people are unsuccessful because they are not aware of the good things success brings. I am sure they will fight for it if they are exposed to the benefits of success. As a result of unawareness, some use their religion and culture as excuses. Others use other explanations to justify their condition. Besides religion and culture, the common excuses people give are lack of opportunity, bad circumstances in life, bad health, death of a family member, poverty, and dysfunctional family and government. It is important to understand that it is not the circumstances of a person that determines what one should be, but how one reacts to them.
“What determines who you are is not your circumstance, but how you react to it”
About 70% of American billionaires started from zero. That is, they did not inherit anything from their parents. The result should be the same in other parts of the world. This is just to show you that using excuses mentioned above should not be the reason why you cannot be what you desire to be. The first step for looking for your way is to create awareness. Since this is very important, the question now is: how can a person have awareness?
There are many ways to create awareness. However, I will discuss them in my next postings. I have said the link between awareness and success. Let me make the point clearer by showing the effect of lack of awareness. That is how unawareness is a strong barrier to success. The first example is the question of poverty.
Poverty is always treated as a sensitive issue and one resulting from lack of opportunity. As a result, many charitable and philanthropic organizations do good job by donating food and money to help create the lacking opportunities. However, many studies have shown that poverty still remains the number one problem in the world despite all these noble efforts. What went wrong? Why haven’t many people left the poverty zone in spite of the large amount of spent?
The answer is simple. Charity is a part of the solution. The other part of the solution is creating awareness. Awareness creation is the training of the mind to recognize or perceive one’s circumstances and potentials so he or she can make a better decision. It is only when the poor understands his situation and his possibilities that the real motivation for change begins. It is then the poor understands that there is no barrier and anyone can be rich just by developing any ability to its maximum. Without awareness, the poor thinks others have the obligation to solve his problems. They also think they do not have the ability to make it happen. Awareness creation is generally forgotten as philanthropists and governments are emotionally involved with their mission of providing the basic needs to the poor.
There are many ways to create awareness. However, I will discuss them in my next postings. I have said the link between awareness and success. Let me make the point clearer by showing the effect of lack of awareness. That is how unawareness is a strong barrier to success. The first example is the question of poverty.
Poverty is always treated as a sensitive issue and one resulting from lack of opportunity. As a result, many charitable and philanthropic organizations do good job by donating food and money to help create the lacking opportunities. However, many studies have shown that poverty still remains the number one problem in the world despite all these noble efforts. What went wrong? Why haven’t many people left the poverty zone in spite of the large amount of spent?
The answer is simple. Charity is a part of the solution. The other part of the solution is creating awareness. Awareness creation is the training of the mind to recognize or perceive one’s circumstances and potentials so he or she can make a better decision. It is only when the poor understands his situation and his possibilities that the real motivation for change begins. It is then the poor understands that there is no barrier and anyone can be rich just by developing any ability to its maximum. Without awareness, the poor thinks others have the obligation to solve his problems. They also think they do not have the ability to make it happen. Awareness creation is generally forgotten as philanthropists and governments are emotionally involved with their mission of providing the basic needs to the poor.
“Poverty does not result from lack of opportunity, but from lack of awareness”
It is important to mention here that creating awareness for the poor is not an easy task. Firstly, they generally have low education. Secondly, their pre-determined concepts and paradigms need to be changed. However, this should be the sustained and long-term solution. However, unawareness is not limited to the uneducated. Let me use the college professors as an example of how unawareness also the educated people.
College professors are special group of people because they generally have doctorate degree, the highest educational degree one can have. They are specialists in their areas of expertise. The question now is: how successful are they? Isn’t it ironical to see people with the highest level of education living an average life? Only a few of them are successful while the majority has to go on strike in order to receive a raise in their income. What went wrong? Once again, the reason is unawareness. If a college professor is aware of his or her potential and can put it into practice, he becomes successful. If a college professor who has been teaching the same course for more than 20 years, why can’t he add value to it and make success through it?
To be practical, let me use mathematics teacher as an example. Mathematics is the single subject that is troublesome to almost all kids and adults worldwide. An experienced professor can find ways of making this subject easy and bringing this solution to the market. In this way, he or she can sell the idea and make money from it. Many professors do not do that because the level of awareness they have about their potential is low. The same can be done in other areas like computer sciences, information technology, and engineering, among others.
I have given the example of the uneducated and the highly educated people. Every other group lies between these extremes. Then, you should find for yourself where you are in this spectrum. You should also verify your level of awareness. Have you used your potential to the maximum capacity? If not, what is holding you back?
Another good example of the effect of unawareness is the behavior of country leaders. By country leaders I mean heads of governments and policy makers. Think about this for a while. Many heads of governments of poor countries generally travel to rich countries for variety of reasons, such as for state visits or for conferences and meetings. Some of these leaders even lived and studied for years in developed countries. Whenever they travel, they appreciate the level of development of rich countries. They utilize excellent infrastructure existing in the rich countries. The question that remains is: why don’t the same leaders copy similar things and bring them to their native countries?
Although some people might consider these leaders as weak or wicked, or even uneducated, the main reason is unawareness. It is obvious that everybody wants good things, but not everybody has the ability to recognize and copy them for their own use. Some people may argue, but the main difference between developed and developing countries is the level of awareness of their citizens, especially, their leaders. While developed countries have higher level of awareness, developing countries are on a lower end of it. Otherwise, what else makes the difference between the rich and the poor countries?
In summary, awareness is an important instrument which people should use to reach the success they desire. Be aware of the opportunities surrounding you and go for them. Do not let the circumstances of life determine your life. Everybody has problem. There is no one in the world without a problem. But, in spite of problems, many people still make progress in life because of awareness. What about you?
College professors are special group of people because they generally have doctorate degree, the highest educational degree one can have. They are specialists in their areas of expertise. The question now is: how successful are they? Isn’t it ironical to see people with the highest level of education living an average life? Only a few of them are successful while the majority has to go on strike in order to receive a raise in their income. What went wrong? Once again, the reason is unawareness. If a college professor is aware of his or her potential and can put it into practice, he becomes successful. If a college professor who has been teaching the same course for more than 20 years, why can’t he add value to it and make success through it?
To be practical, let me use mathematics teacher as an example. Mathematics is the single subject that is troublesome to almost all kids and adults worldwide. An experienced professor can find ways of making this subject easy and bringing this solution to the market. In this way, he or she can sell the idea and make money from it. Many professors do not do that because the level of awareness they have about their potential is low. The same can be done in other areas like computer sciences, information technology, and engineering, among others.
I have given the example of the uneducated and the highly educated people. Every other group lies between these extremes. Then, you should find for yourself where you are in this spectrum. You should also verify your level of awareness. Have you used your potential to the maximum capacity? If not, what is holding you back?
Another good example of the effect of unawareness is the behavior of country leaders. By country leaders I mean heads of governments and policy makers. Think about this for a while. Many heads of governments of poor countries generally travel to rich countries for variety of reasons, such as for state visits or for conferences and meetings. Some of these leaders even lived and studied for years in developed countries. Whenever they travel, they appreciate the level of development of rich countries. They utilize excellent infrastructure existing in the rich countries. The question that remains is: why don’t the same leaders copy similar things and bring them to their native countries?
Although some people might consider these leaders as weak or wicked, or even uneducated, the main reason is unawareness. It is obvious that everybody wants good things, but not everybody has the ability to recognize and copy them for their own use. Some people may argue, but the main difference between developed and developing countries is the level of awareness of their citizens, especially, their leaders. While developed countries have higher level of awareness, developing countries are on a lower end of it. Otherwise, what else makes the difference between the rich and the poor countries?
In summary, awareness is an important instrument which people should use to reach the success they desire. Be aware of the opportunities surrounding you and go for them. Do not let the circumstances of life determine your life. Everybody has problem. There is no one in the world without a problem. But, in spite of problems, many people still make progress in life because of awareness. What about you?
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