Do you want to be successful?
Do you want to be happy?
What about having both success and happiness together?
Sounds much better, right? I am pretty sure that you’d be interested in both happiness and success. The good news is that it is achievable. The bad news is that most of us cannot attain both. In fact over 90% of people are not truly fulfilled and happy irrespective of their success level. Are you one of them?
It is sad to see many of us do what we don’t really love to do. It is sad to see many of us reach to the top of the mountain of success after years and years of hard work and when we get to the mountaintop we realize that we are at the peak of the wrong mountain. It is sad to see many people die in regret!
My purpose in this article is to reveal why many of us cannot achieve success and happiness together. I am also going to share with you a three step process that explains how you can achieve these two together and therefore live the life you were meant to live; that is, a happy and successful life.
The Cause
When I look back at my life, I see all the events-good or not so good-that have happened in my life as pieces of a chain that were connected together to take me to where I am right now. If one of these pieces were missing, I would not be at this stage in my life. I call some of these events the turning points of my life. Now, I know that every one of these turning points took place because of one single reason; that I believed in myself. The number one reason for achieving what you desire is that you believe in yourself. And the number one reason for not achieving what you desire is that you do not believe in yourself!
Step 1: Believe in Yourself
How many times have you settled for less? How many times have you procrastinated or given up because you thought you could not do it or you were not ready for it? How many times did you want to do something important but since someone else told you “it is impossible” or “you cannot do it” you agreed and did not take any action?
No matter what others say if you truly believe in yourself, you can achieve whatever you want. This is a fact. I remember last year I took my daughter to a big mall and there she saw kids were rock climbing. She told me that she wanted to do it. My daughter is a tiny 6 years old. I thought she would not be able to do it. But she believed she could. She was certain about her ability to climb that tall rock. She could see herself at the top touching the scary skull and ringing the bell. To my surprise she did it much better than 10-year-old boys. Some people waiting for their turn started watching her climbing with a small on their face.
You see if you believe in yourself no one can stop you from making impossible possible. It all depends on you. Your level of success in what you do depends on how much you believe in yourself.
So the first step is to believe in yourself. This is challenging in many cases though. Our belief system has been formed over years and it is not easy to upgrade it. But with practice and willingness to upgrade your belief system you can break the boundaries and get to the next level.
Step 2: Lead with Your Heart
Once you believe that you can achieve what you desire, you need to take the lead and become an authentic leader. You cannot wait for others to make you happy. You cannot expect others to make you successful. You are the creator of your own destiny. But in order to lead your life to the right destination you need to use your inner compass, your heart.
If you are not happy with your work, for instance, why do you continue doing that? Why don’t you look for ways to do what you really love to do? If you are not clear what to do, ask your heart for guidance. Find out what you are passionate about and bring more of that into your life. If you don’t you stay unhappy no matter how much money you earn. You were not built to suffer. You were built to live in joy.
When you lead with your heart you do not need external motivators to keep you moving forward and happy.
When I started my business back in 2009, I had no idea I would write a book one year later. But I knew my purpose for adding value to people and my passion for teaching and coaching. I let my heart lead me to where I am supposed to be. By linking my purpose and passion with people around me I was empowered to share my message with the world through Leadership Soup, my book and articles like this. You see life has a lot to offer if we let it. I am now much more successful and happier than before. Surly it takes time and effort but when you lead with your heart, you would not mind that. You just enjoy the process and sow the rewards of your passionate work.
Step 3: Succeed in Happiness
When you let your heart lead, you become eligible to move to the last stage of the process: Succeed in happiness. This step will actually be the natural outcome of the first two steps if you do them correctly. When you believe in yourself and lead with your heart, your success in happiness is guaranteed.
Success without happiness has no meaning. Success in happiness is what we should aim for. And for this aim to be accomplished we need to believe that we can and we need to live and lead on purpose and with passion.
In order to create 360 degree balance and maintain your happiness physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in various areas of your life, I encourage you to do the following regularly in the alphabetical order.
A: Always do your best and leave the rest to the universe
B: Be accountable and take responsibility for what happens
C: Celebrate your success no matter how small
D: Decide in favor of your purpose, passion, and vision. This on its own can save lots of time for decision-making.
E: Empower others to believe in themselves, lead with their hearts, and succeed in happiness
F: Finish the unfinished or forget about It and start something new. For this purpose commit to complete an incomplete task within one week.
Now that I reflect on my own life and the journey that I have had I am much more fulfilled and successful than I was few years ago. I started my own business and grew it. I wrote a best-selling book that also became finalist in 3 book awards. I am living and leading on purpose with the compelling belief that I am a change agent for making the world a better place by helping my fellow human beings. This gives me inner happiness and makes me successful.
So, let’s wrap it up together. The three steps of the believe, lead, succeed process are: Believe in Yourself, Lead with Your Heart, and Succeed in Happiness! Now in order to jumpstart your journey to greatness, get instant complimentary access to my three-part LeadSucceed Jumpstart video training.
Until next time…Believe in yourself, lead with you heart, and succeed in happiness.
Kamran Akbarzadeh, PhD
