"The Secret to Your Success"

By: Star Trekker

(Originally published in the November 1998 issue of Perspectives)

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, I had success floating all over in my head. I’d beat my brother while playing any sport; I’d get awards for my writing, and I’d get invited to all the cool parties. But, somewhere along the way, no matter what kind of success I’d have, I’d not think of myself as a success. I’d look long and hard for that which was wrong, than what was good. Was it ego? No, it was puberty.

Now, what the heck does this have to do with success? (Don’t even think about going down there, although you’re close). It has to do with is a natural progressive understanding of oneself and the environment within which we are in. When our bodies change, do strange things for the first time, our entire sense of stability and confidence weakens. How well we’re able to adapt to that change forever influences our future success.

I mean, just think about your comprehensive understanding of ‘the birds and the bees.’ If you’re paranoid and uncertain, you’d tend to be very concerned that with all your efforts in the process of procreation, odds are that you’d get one child. Now, for the woman, I’m sure one child per pregnancy is good enough, but compared to say, rabbits, there seems to be a high level of biological waste with humans. With countless cells, only one makes it.

Now, if we take the perspective for the moment that everything we do is related to sex and if success is difficult with the birds and the bees—and that’s natural—it’s not a stretch to think that a lot of things in life, which are just as important, can be just as hard, if not harder.

But there’s something that we, both male and female, have, that can fight off these dark impulses of fear and uncertainty. It’s something spoiled kids have in over-abundance, and something conspiracy theorists think we don’t have. It’s the ability to choose.

Why is that so important? Because, inherent in a good choice is a confidence that makes success is possibilities. And that thing is belief; faith; conviction. By making a choice, we’re implicitly saying to ourselves that the choice we made is something we can feasibly do. Why is it that some people join sports teams, while most others don’t? It’s those who don’t that don’t have the conviction that they can be as good as the guys on the team. And it’s that lack of conviction, of faith in oneself that is the killer to success, because that forces the person to not even try. And when that happens, success becomes a thing of one’s past.

Now, this ‘secret’ may be ‘the secret’ but it doesn’t come easy. Any really success-oriented choice, will have implicit a level of self-confidence. And it’s this level of confidence that will determine your success. And while it won’t be easy, it will definitely be worth it.

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