How You Can Attain Success

It is human nature to desire greatness.  All of us, to a certain extent, constantly ask ourselves that ever plaguing question… “How am I going to leave my mark in this world?”  That is because we all want success, respect, and fame that extends beyond our immediate family (IE: Your mother telling you you’re awesome does not count).  But, getting to that point is such a difficult endeavor.  No one, not Jack Earl, or David Niven (both authors of books on “how to be successful”) can give you a step by step guide that will guarantee success. That’s because life does not work that way.  You cannot simply follow a systematic step by step guide and assume that you’ll be famous when you finish the last step. That only works in World of Warcraft (which is probably why it is so appealing to so many people).  Success in World of Warcraft is so easily quantifiable, whereas real world success feels constantly out of reach.

After people graduate, this reality of hungering renown is more true than it ever was before.  You have your college degree now, and you’ve successfully completed what society has “deemed” a precursor for you to even begin moving toward the direction of greatness.  And yet, upon entering the postgraduate world, you have no idea how to get to this elusive success.  You know you have potential, but most of the times you end up having to find some make-shift unimportant job that pays you half the amount you deserve, and requires of you half the amount of what you can actually contribute.  ”Go get coffee,” your manager says.  And pretty soon, there you are, juggling fifteen lattes, fraps, and cappuccinos from Starbucks for the rest of your coworkers.  Hey, if your idea of success is being a gopher (go-pher this, and go-pher that), then you’re right at home. Not very many people, however, went to college and got a degree to fulfill that role for the rest of their lives.

If this is you, then I have one thing to say to you: you can’t ever become big if you don’t start small.  This is one of the most fundamental truths to hold onto if you ever want to attain some semblance of “greatness”. People tend to have this unrealistic expectation of becoming important. They believe that they can become “important” directly after they graduate. But success, like everything else, must be earned.  If you are not willing to put in the blood, sweat and tears that success requires, then you’re never going to achieve it.

The problem is, most people hate the idea of being small. They hate the work that they do at the beginning of climbing the ladder to success. It seems so mundane, so belittling.  But thinking that way is self-defeating. Cause once they do, they start doing their work with less enthusiasm. They stop paying attention to detail. They go on Gchat more frequently while at work.  And consequentially, they take themselves out of the picture for that next big “promotion”. You’ve just begun your cycle of self defeat. The more you hate your job, the more you under-perform, the less likely you’re going to move up in this world.

If you want to be successful after college, you cannot despise your small beginnings. You need to embrace them, and learn to do the little things excellently. Imagine, for instance, a piano player. I’ve met some amazing musicians in my life, and none of them started that way. Classical piano players that perform on a big stage practice hours, upon hours, upon hours…they put in the time doing the “grunt” work so that they can better themselves and increase their chance for international acclaim. I realize that this is an overused example, but it is such an important concept to grasp: you’re only going to get where you want to go if you push yourself to be excellent at every step of getting there.

So if you’re the coffee gopher right now, then by god, be the best coffee gopher that you could ever be.  Go out of your way to impress the people you are getting coffee for, and trust me, they’ll notice.  Someone will eventually notice.  Little things like that add up.