REACH FOR THE STARS... the moon... the whole SHA'BANG!

Reach for the stars, you say?  What does that mean exactly?   Looking up to the sky and holding your hands up... and stretching... reaching... well... NOT exactly.  Although, I am sure... that there have been many times in your life, just as there have been in mine... when I thought... that's exactly what I was doing.   Just reaching to the sky.   Do you wake up each day and reach for the stars?  The moon?  Pluto?  Anything?  

Success.  What makes a person successful?  What makes a business successful? How can you become successful? What makes your brand successful?   What exactly is defined as success?  Through-out my life, I have often heard those questions more times than I'd like to count.  I have also heard tons of answers.  Some that I agreed with... some I didn't.  Most... left me pondering (yes, in the South.... we like to ponder...) ....  which would eventually lead to yet... more questions.   

What I have discovered in my own journey of reaching for the stars.... Success is not something that is neatly wrapped, tied with a beautiful bow and delivered to our door.   It isn't easy to define because everyone views success by different measures.   One person might believe that having all the money they could possibly spend is defined as success, while the person sitting right next to him making minimum wage believes that he is successful.  One thing that I do know,,, success...  doesn't come easy regardless of what your definition of the word. It takes hard work, drive, determination, commitment, belief, love and most of all it takes PASSION... with a capital "P"!! 

When I was starting out in my career... I mentioned in an earlier blog about my mentor who told me attitude was everything.   He also gave me lessons through-out my first career path that I have followed without fail.  Actually... he still calls and gives me a lesson or two!  It's funny... how at the age of 21... NOBODY can tell you anything.   Now, at "29".... (okay... okay.... 29 +17)... ... I want everybody to tell me everything!  One of the most important things he told me other than attitude is to know that the true value in life... whether personal or business is


.....  people/ relationships.  By george... he was absolutely right.  The core of success for every person... and business...is relationships.   Relationships enrich our lives every single day.   Where would we all be without them? 


Something that I found out early on... was to surround myself with positive, enthusiastic and successful people. I have been so fortunate through-out both of my careers to have met so many amazing, positive and successful people.  Just being around them... I wanted "it".   I wanted to know that feeling... of believing and loving something so much... that whoever I was talking to...  could actually see, feel and taste the passion.   If I believed... then they would believe.   The intensity... is just surreal.   Do you know what I am saying? 


 I am talking about taking something whether its in your personal or professional life...  from nothing and building it... step by step... to completion.  Using all of your energy, love and passion to create, develop, implement and execute.   Watching it grow from nothing... to SOMETHING with your hard work and dedication.  Your blood, sweat and tears.  Results.   Isn't that what we are all looking for when we take something on...the end result?      For me... that was really my  first step in reaching for the stars...... being around others who motivated me and gave me the "insight" to see what success could truly be.   The old saying about surrounding yourself with successful people ... rubs off.   I think there's something to it.  I wanted their good fortunes... their happiness.  (And again... I am not talking about financial reward, although... that's a nice bonus if it happens.)     Little did I know.. how hard they ALL worked for it until I set about my own path to finding my success.   As I spent more time with them, eager... to learn, listen... adapt... I found along the way... that they gave really great advice.  From that point... I knew that I wanted to work for my failures... and I wanted to work for my successes.   I wanted to surround myself with successful, positive and geniune people that I could call my friends as well as my colleagues.   People that I could trust.  Trust is something that is earned... not given. 

 I also realized along my own journey that there are many... who will take advantage of you IF you let them,  They will try and spread their negative lives upon you.  Does the phrase... Run, Forest Run mean anything???    Negativity is a disease that spreads... and it can absolutely kill your creativeness, your outlook... your will to get up and go, your motivation... it will make you cynical beyond belief... no longer have the passion or desire to be challenged every day.  A good friend told me once... if you always look at the glass half empty.. it will be.  Why not, turn it around... look at it half full.   WOW!  When you think about it ... it's really our choice and its one that we have to commit to making every day. 


Success is hard work... and along the way...whether professionally or personally, you are going to have people in your lives who are there for all the right reasons... and then some who are there for the wrong ones. 

I ran across a quote from Oprah Winfrey... and it struck me... as funny, but at the same time... completely true.
  

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down". 
   

For me, the quote put everything into perspective.   How true is this in life in general?   This quote really made me appreciate all my friends and colleagues who were with me in good times, bad times and all the in between. Choices.   We all have choices and making them isn't always easy.   Sometimes, we falter.  More times than not, we fail.   But... success means, getting back up after failing and continuing to try... continuing to reach... never giving up.    

Step 2 of my "reach for the stars"  journey was deciding what I wanted out of my success.   Do you want just "okay"?  "better than okay"?   "great"?  For myself...I wanted to be the best ---( that might have something to do with my competitive nature)... or my inside voice thriving on a challenge.  Whatever it was... I knew that  I wanted my legacy in a professional sense to be known as someone who created, developed, implemented and executed with every ounce of my being.   I wanted to be known for my passion and commitment.  My willingness to go above and beyond.  I wanted those that I worked with to trust me to get the job done.  

Step 3.. (you'd think I'd be to the clouds at least by now after all this reaching).... Following up and actions!     Its one thing to say we want all these things...but, if you don't take the risk and actually TRY and do them, what's the point?    If I told someone I was going to do something, then i need to have the courage and determination to follow through on it.   If I found that I couldn't do it... then find alternatives or options, but never stop trying and most of all be realistic about what I can deliver.  The phrase "underpromise and overdeliver"... is something that I have always kept close to heart.    I have always tried to give to others as I would want them to give back to me.   Sometimes... I've been greatly disappointed in the return. Other times, I've been pleasantly surprised.  I realized that not everyone works the same was as me, nor do they have the same commitment.  Effort is something that a lot of times... finds greater reward than the result itself.  Why?  Because if something in life is TRULY worth having... it will take EFFORT to get it.     One of my biggest pet peeves...  is when someone tells me they are going to do something... and they don't do it.   If they make an effort and can't complete it or get it done... that's one thing... but just to say it and then do nothing. (It will set my blood to boiling!) 

Lastly, for me... success was built upon educating myself and honing my own craft so that I was knowledgeable.   Reading, researching, meeting others who were within my field, listening and really trying to become the best. You're never going to know everything... but, if you take time and grasp everything within reach to help elevate you at what you have chosen to do...success can't be far behind.   I really used this within every aspect of my career.  If I had a meeting, I would do my homework before the meeting.   If I had a presentation, I would make sure that I knew what the objectives were and included them.  I have always found that if you are prepared, excited and engaging... people are going to want to listen to you.   Share the passion, but know your stuff! 

 It's an ongoing process, both professionally and personally... taking the failures and looking at them as opportunities.  How do you turn a negative into a positive?  How to take a set-back and use it to propel you forward?   Enjoying the small successes as steps to get me to the bigger ones.   There are set-backs, delays  (we've all experienced them... many of them) ... but through it all... the challenge of continuing to reach for the stars is what drives me every day.    I've gone through two careers... both with some longevity and with both of them... I loved what I did.  I believed in what I was doing and I had a passion for it.   Along the way... I met some wonderful individuals, many, who I am honored to call my friend today.  

As my own journey in life continues to evolve..... I am still waking up every day.... and reaching for the stars and when the phone rings... and its a voice from the past giving me some sound advice.....a huge smile comes upon my face... and I look back at how far I've come.


 I'm listening... to every word! 

  

Zig Ziglar said it best... “Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”