Parameters: You Are What You Aspire To Be

Source: Sales Force Blog

You are what you aspire to be!  It's really that simple.  What is not simple is the path toward success in anyone's endeavor down a given path of aspiration toward a goal.  When I tell people that I am a scientist, the usual response is one of two "I did terribly in chemistry" or "You must



Aspire?


Each of us aspire to be someone or complete a given goal at any point in time.  Wow.  That sounds vague does it not?  Anyways, at any given time, each of us have objectives in life. Which is to say that each of us aspire to: "Do Something!"  How that "something" is defined depends on how much importance each of us place on that "something".  Which brings us to the definition of "aspire" shown below (after typing in the word "aspire" into Google):

"direct one's hopes or ambitions toward achieving something."

Seems rather simple.  Just direct your attention or focus toward a given task and you shall achieve it right?  That is a major component of the equation toward success in any given endeavor.  Another component toward achieving success in accomplishing a life goal is to understand that success is not achieved over night.  Success does come with 'persistence' -- long term management.



How does a person appear to "born to paint"?


You may be looking at the question above and asking yourself what the meaning of it is.  If so, that is fine.  Often people will remark on a person's 'born talent' as "...he/she has a born talent to be a painter...it is in her/his genes."   This statement came to mind when I received my daily post from "Seth Godin" (business guru) titled "Born To Pain?" shown below:

Born to paint?

More than a hundred billion people have ever lived. Perhaps 1,000 have been widely heralded as artistic geniuses who painted in oils.

And perhaps there were another thousand genius physicists and just one Nobel-Prize winning folksinger.

We sell ourselves short when we argue that there's something magical about creative work, something that can only happen if we're born to do it.

It's not that different from the thesis that there's something in the DNA of Spanish-speaking people that makes them good at soccer. I hope we can agree that people from countries that speak Spanish are more likely to be soccer stars because they grow up surrounded by soccer, with the expectation that they too can be good at it.

It's not too late for you to be a genius. It comes at a price, but it's not based on your DNA.

I agree with Seth that success is obtained with hard work.  Now, a person might disagree and suggest that some people just aren't made to be painters (or doctors, lawyers, baseball players, etc.).  To that I would say that each of us are in control of building the greatest barriers toward success.



Being a scientist is not something that I was 'born with'.  As Seth mentions above, environment certainly helps shape a persons understanding of a given goal.  If I aim to be a medical doctor, growing up in the environment with parents who are physicians will certainly affect my success -- to an extent.  Although, I would argue that the final decision to pursue a given goal is derived from inside each of us.  Take that and combine the decision with the realization of our individual "rates of success" and you have the path ahead in your future.  More about "rate of success" in a minute.



I did not become a scientist over night.  The process was long and has occurred over the course of my life.  From an educational standpoint, I would refer you to my courses taken in my educational journey.  From the standpoint of environmental factors, I have curious parents which has 'rubbed off' on me over the years.  Still, the journey is realized through myself and at my own pace -- which can differ from those around me.  That realization prevents me from getting depressed or resorting toward thoughts of failure.



In fact, I have said over and over again on this site that I have learned how to be a professional scientist.  I am a chemist by education.  I believe that each of us are the best "scientists" as children.  Over time, we construct barriers toward becoming professional scientists by constructing limitations in each of our minds.



Rate of success?



What sets us apart from those who we tend to believe have a 'natural talent' for painting (or any other skill set), is the path toward success.  Each of us have a different "rate" toward that success.  Society sets up an "average rate" for success which each of us tend to view and try to adhere to.  If the "average rate" is too demanding, then the idea is the following - usually but it does not have to be: "maybe I am not cut out to be a painter?"



When I hear this out of a student, I feel bad for the student.  That is a sign that the student has 'given up' on achieving their goal.   Each of us has the ability to achieve what we would like to achieve (within reason of course) in life.  How within reason is defined by each of us and an added component of society.  There are too many examples in history of success coupled to 'adverse situations' in life to support the idea that each of us are in charge of our own destiny (and success).



Conclusion...



Why are you not where you want to be in life?  Success has been shown in rare cases to be achievable during impossible (or near impossible) environments.  With that being said, realizing that each of us are in charge of our own 'destiny' is liberating to say the least.



Now, the sticking point is that each of us have different "rates" toward achieving success in any endeavor.  I might be faster at achieving a given task.  Which does not mean that another person will not be successful at the same task.  Furthermore, I will inevitably find another person on this planet who can do the same task at a faster speed than myself.



Each of have our own "rate of success" which is a critical part of the equation of success.  That is unique and dynamically defined by each of us.  The "rate of success" is complex and can change at any given time with our view of our success.  If you want to achieve a desired goal, then realize what success for yourself entails -- how long will it take to achieve that goal?  Sometimes the quantity of time toward achievement is unknown.  Therefore, the sooner that each of us get to work on achieving our goals, the closer each of us come toward achieving them.   It is that simple!




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