ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS

Success is desired by many. However getting to this destination raises questions such as which way leads to success? How is a complete and lasting success achieved?  These are important questions every success minded person must seek to get answered.

Success is a continuous journey; however it is foolish to set out on a journey without having a clear destination in mind. Unfortunately many do not even have the right idea of what success is. They think some of the wrong pictures the society presents are what is right to pursue. Many think of success as being able to acquire much wealth, gain position, power or popularity. As a result, many struggle to become football stars, musicians, comedians and the likes. Some others want to be models and icons of beauty pageants. There are also those who seek to get hold of power by joining political or cult groups. To achieve these they set out on the wrong paths and end up in the wrong paths and consequently end up in the wrong destination that leaves them unfulfilled, unsatisfied, miserable and sad. At other times we see people attain the height of success but are not able to remain there. Their kind of success is temporal and momentary. This too is not satisfying.

We should set out to achieve a success that gives a full sense of accomplishment and satisfaction; a success that is all round covering every aspect of life and also long lasting. To achieve this success we must have the road map. These have been simplified in eight simple steps:   

• Pray:  You need God to show you the way and guide you. The truth is that as a human, you are limited in your knowledge. God is the all knowing. He knows you better that you know yourself. As such, he knows what is best for you. Dependence on God and reliance on his ability to lead will help you get a clear picture of your destination.
• Picture your destination: You must clearly define your success goals; you must know exactly what you want to achieve. Except you have a clear picture of where you are going in mind, your journey will lack focus and direction. So then you must define your goals; what do you want to achieve in life? What will be ‘successes to you? You must bear in mind that what one person has as his success-goals may be entirely different from those of others. This means that you cannot follow another person’s dream. Have your own dream.
• Plan you success journey: You must plan your success journey. If a journey is to be successful, it must be well planned. Hardly does anything good happen by chance. There is a systematic and well thought out programme of action that must be carefully followed in order to arrive at your desired destination. You must know exactly what to do; the steps to follow etc that will help you achieve your goals. This may include having to go to school or getting some training as well as knowing the kind of school or training you need. The plan must include; what to do, when to do it, how to do it and where to do it.
• Provisions for the journey:  You have to make necessary provisions for the journey.  For instance get to know all that you will need to help you arrive at your desired destination, like books, stationeries and equipments. Your provisions should be adequate for the desired journey. It may not be necessary to have all provisions ready at the beginning as it may not be possible to tell all what you may meet on the journey. However it is very important to take the basic things along.
• Pursue the plan: A lot of people dream but never follow up on their plans. Your dreams and plans will be good for nothing if you do not deliberately work on them. This is where diligence comes in. you must learn from the ants which diligently and painstakingly pursue their daily routine in order to provide for themselves. Pursuing your plans also entails remaining focused. There will be lots of distractions on the way but you must be determined to stick to your plans. This however, does not mean that you cannot modify or change your strategies when it becomes necessary to do so.  There must be a measure of flexibility in your plan. You can always have an alternative in case there is difficulty with a particular plan. For instance, if you do not have the opportunity to get a straight admission to pursue a career, you can choose other alternatives that will eventually lead to that career or a very similar one. This does not however mean cutting corners.
• Persevere with the plan: The road to success is usually filled with bumps, storms, obstacles and difficulties. It has never being an easy route. So there is the need to persevere. You must be determined not to be discouraged or to give up because of the difficulties you are likely to meet. Sometimes challenges can come in the form of repeated failures, mistakes rejections etc. Whatever it may be, you must resolve never to give up.
• Partners with the right kind of people:  A journey becomes easy when we travel in company of some others people going in the same directions, it sometimes take away the stress of the journey. The same is true on the route to success. You must have the right kind of partners.  You must choose those who will be of great help and not those who will distract you or kill your dreams. You have to surround yourself with people who are already successful or people who add in one way or the other to your journey of success. You may ask “what if I don’t have people who are successful in life” you may not physically have successful people around you but there are books out there for you to read about successful people.  You get their knowledge, you learn from their mistakes and you also learn from their achievements. Most importantly you must partner with God. He is the best helper and supporter anyone can have in life. Partnership with God begins with having the right relationship with him.
• Precautions to take: You have to take precautions so as not to derail or fail. Watch against self deception and wrong view of your strength and ability as these often lead to over confidence or low self esteem which can bring about failure. You must also guide against complacency. This is a feeling that you know enough already or had enough and do not need to anything more to improve. Unhealthy rivalry, envy, jealousy, wrong companies etc should be avoided as well.