”Never, Never, Never give up.” – Winston Churchill

It is ever true – “Nothing Succeeds like Success” .We all like to succeed in our career or business for which we must equip ourselves with newer skills and stay responsive to fast changing world. Sustained hard work, positive attitude, faith in God and self  and peace at home are most essential  to put in your best to achieve excellence and outshine among peers. You are also to listen carefully what others are saying, be quick on the uptake and convey your point of view in clear and confident manner. While effective speaking needs good communication skills to impact your team/group or audience in a forum/conference, listening and paying full attention to others are equally important. There are many hardworking and sincere people who do not get noticed or people with disturbed family environment who cannot put in their very best. You need firm faith in God and, pray to Him sincerely. This will bring good luck to you, where your every effort will lead to recognition and success. You must have positive attitude to align with the vision and mission of your boss and the organisation. This will strengthen your commitment and integrity where you never ever speak low of your team, boss and the organisation in which you have served or serving. Some salient points requiring attention for your success are briefly discussed in subsequent paragraphs.

Hard Work . You should work hard, harder and hardest to succeed in first time. It is ever true – “God helps those who help themselves” Therefore more you sweat, luckier you become. There is a famous saying in military parlance – “More you sweat in peace lesser you bleed in war.” Therefore have faith in your capabilities and keep going, luck will soon smile at you. Hardworking is not working in short spells or in spurts but sustained efficient working producing good results within a given time, allotted budget and available resources. To deliver more than promised and before or on time and every time, show your hardworking and commitment. Some salient points in support of hardworking leading to success are given below:

•        Focus. You must stay focused on your planned vision and concentrate all energies to achieve your goal. Any distraction, fear or suspicion should be kept away. In any field, those who stay focused are the winners and they get laurels and appreciation from many. Our life is like a camera where proper focus will capture good details of the object and the output (picture taken) will be appealing to all. If you lose focus, things get blurred and lose relevance. Consequently it will adversely affect your career.

•        Determination. The determination is your power; use it as key to success. You need to be a go-getter, having ability to outperform and get things done, which are considered the most difficult/challenging tasks. Your seniors and those who matter to review your annual performance and recommend your promotion/ increment will recognize this special trait and support you. Don’t quit but stay ahead of your competitors. Whenever there is any job cut, you will be retained since you are a determined person who puts in extra-bit.

·        Time Management. Time is prestigious, priceless and free gift of God for whole humanity. It is not limitless, and does not wait.  It is like a flowing river water which flows away if you keep watching and do not jump into it to cross the river. Time elapsed and water flown away do not return and you can just repent. You must use time efficiently and effectively for self-growth and growth of your organization

o  On-Time. It is good to be on-time and every time. But is better to be before time for reaching workplace, or when attending a meeting or interview or negotiating with customer/vendor or new partner. You would be more relaxed to participate more effectively.

o   Do one thing at a time. Multitasking is a useful ability in almost every facet of life, but it can also affect your productivity. Everything you are doing besides the task at hand, is delaying you from completing your main task. Therefore plan to do first thing first until there is some emergency to suspend present activity and respond. This may happen once a while otherwise follow your scheduled program

·       Networking. You may run a race alone and may win but career or life is long journey full of various challenges and up/downs. You need a company of supportive people and get mutual support to evolve cost-efficient solutions through collaboration and alliances. Networking  brings synergy among people of diverse expertise to complete the race and       win. While others may quit the race halfway or just short of finishing line.

·       Dependability. Your capacity to work sincerely without any supervision will be soon recognized as your great trait for growth of your organization. If you are dependable, you will be popular and most needed by the team, the seniors and the customers. This will ensure your retention while some other may get pink slip to wait or quit.

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean

Attitude. Positive attitude acts like a magnet as it attracts co-workers, friends, relatives and seniors. Maintain positive attitude, self-confidence and determination while overcoming obstacles. It is your resilience to sustain and “Don’t Quit” attitude which will assure your success and job stability. As per numerical valuation of 26 English alphabets (A=1, B=2, … Z=26) , knowledge counts for 96%, hard work 98% and attitude 100 %. So cheer up and maintain a positive attitude for the stability of your job. Stay hopeful when you are going through difficult time and remain humble when you get there. Some points related to attitude are:

·        Integrity. Your integrity towards, organization, team and job should be of very high order. Remember wellbeing of your organization comes first and every time. The comfort and success of teammates should come next and your own comfort comes last. Always talk good about your past as well as present organization, your boss and your team. It reflects your commitment and inspires your team,

·        Alignment. Stay fully aligned to the vision, mission and policies of your organization and the initiatives of your boss. There should be no conflict or doubt in your mind about the vision and mission of your organization.

• Listening and get listened. Be patient and listen to others during any discussion and you may pick up more points to make your viewpoint stronger. Listen to full statement of the speaker and do not interrupt midway. It shows maturity, good manners and increases your popularity among peers, senior management and customers as well as with alliance partners. People will follow your conduct and you may acquire the art of making others to listen to you as well.  Listening acts like a balm and a source of great learning and improving relationship. A number of issues can be mitigated if you lend your ear and try to understand what others are saying. Often misunderstanding occurs when we do not listen to other’s point of view. If we keep pushing only our point of view and refuse to listen to others, we have shut to door to any good idea and team will feel let down.. Listen to others in such a way that they love to speak out to you and speak to them in such a way that they love to listen to you.

·        Trust.  A good old saying “Faith can move mountains” is ever true. Have faith in your own capabilities, in your team, in your seniors and your organisation This will help building  mutual trust and strength to face any odds.

Physical Exercises keep Body healthy, Meditation keeps the Mind calm, and Prayer seeks divine power to bless our SOUL

Meditation. Despite many advances in science and medicines for providing better health care, meditation in various forms, continues to be the main support to those who have stress, anxiety, depression or any other health disorder. It costs us nothing except sparing 15–20 minutes a day to sit quietly and dispel all the clutter you may collected in your brain. Meditation enables you to throw away mental load of worries, anxiety and fear. Every human being is born of bliss, consciousness, wisdom and creativity. For this, meditation is the pathway. As physical exercises strengthen and develop your muscles, meditation provides stimulation for your nervous system to enhance performance. You will experience good thoughts, less anger, less anxiety, minimum depression. You will be happier, more optimistic, more energetic and faster in decision making. One does not have to isolate oneself to meditate for long hours sitting in remote quite corner. Instead, sitting in a clam posture and blanking you mind by focussing in the centre of your forehead say for 15 to 20 minutes any time at home before start of the day or during lunch break at workplace. The main aim is to calm down and relax your bran muscles.

Spirituality. Spiritual practices will bring relief from sufferings and establish psychic equilibrium leading to peace. Faith in God and self is important for self-understanding and discovering your latent potential as it will encourage you to succeed. When things go wrong, or many unexpected events take place at your workplace or in the family, faith in God and sincere prayer will give you soothing effect. It helps you to calm down and good things will happen soon. A sincere prayer to God never goes vain and is always answered in form of direct / indeed help which can suddenly  show up when you completely surrender to God, God never lets down his followers.

“Life is a secret lease from God and we should not allow ourselves to be bruised.

Family life is our strength and success.” -Joseph Losery

Peace at Home. All things being equal, peace at home is most essential for any professional to flourish in his/her capability to perform and excel. Bickering and cribbing among husband and wife, rude behaviour of children, emotional stress among elders can greatly impact your performance at workplace. In the morning, you must leave for your job in a happy and cheerful mood and on reaching back at home, you must be greeted by family members. It is very essential they you too must spend sufficient time and happy moments with them.. People who leave their home in a huff after having a bit of rough conversation remain tensed up during commuting and even at workplace. Obviously they can’t  concentrate on their work to deliver their best. If you are living as a family, remember you are not staying in a hostel or a hotel to confine yourself to your room. All family members should cheerfully rejoice together and working persons should keep away their lap tops/tablets and talk, laugh together. Playing with pets, sharing happy moments is great stress relievers. 

Home life balancing. Don’t mix office work with home life as both are important, and you need to contribute for both but with proper balance. Do have time to play with your family members, particularly young children and elder members. Maintain dignity and respect for age and must recognize whom are you talking, It matters less what you say but it matters a lot the way you say. Be happy and make others happy. You should have time to go on holiday during weekends and go far away from home.

·        Caring and sharing with Spouse. Your spouse is a very important part of your life, job and future. In India, men fondly call their wives “Better Half.” If you are living as joint family, do maintain a fine line on what you tell your parents and what you tell to your spouse. At times, being too open and blunt can lead to rift or misunderstanding, and that can create tension in the family. Don’t question each other’s earning/ bank balance, trust each other and support each other.

·        Love your Children. Your children are your prize possession and their wellbeing, proper grooming, providing quality education and support their future career is prime responsibility of every parent. They need your time to play and chat with you more than your money, toys or clothes. You must spare sometime to cheer them up, appreciate their small achievements and give them rewards as gifts. You should support their passion about choosing and leading their career. All children want love and outings with parents and you must meet their requirement.

·        Caring dependent Parents. All parents feel very happy when their children are having good job and leading a quality life. They just need your happiness and love. They will be concerned if things are not going in your favour. Therefore keep parents in picture as what is happening around. Take good care of them and when needed they will always support you.

·        Close Relatives. Every one praises success story of their relatives and gets closer to the winner but only few relatives may standby when your chips are down. Therefore maintain good relations with close relatives who always care for you.

·        Holiday with family. Periodically take your time off and go out with family and enjoy your holiday. You should have a clean break away from your local surroundings and be relaxed to give maximum joy to your loved ones. While on holiday with family, do not carry your laptop and office files. This is the time to be away from daily routine, enjoy and give pleasure to the family members. You may plan to go to some beach, hill station or any resort/retreat. You may plan hiking, trekking, skiing, boating or sailing, visiting national parks to be amidst beauty of nature and enjoy water sports, waterfalls and snow clad mountains, sunrise and sunset on a beach or in a desert. While on a holiday, accommodate likes and wishes of family members, who too need a break and charge up their batteries.

Humour. It act like energy pill, which gives a quick boost when anyone is depressed/or tired at the workplace or sitting through a long lecture/ seminar. Humour should be subtle and not hurt feelings/sentiments of anyone. Be careful and respectful while dealing with opposite gender and people of other religions

Dr Sarbjit Singh . Former Executive Director,

 Apeejay college of Engineering. Sohna- Palwal Road, Gurgoan , Haryana, 122105, India

For more information you may refer to my book --- “career challenges during global uncertainty” available on --  www.amazon.com

For more similar articles, visit my Blog – http://sarbjit-share-knowledge.blogspot.com