Be the No. 1

To be ahead of others and yourself is easier said than done. It entails immense toil and sacrifice; and many people may not have the staying power and resilience for it. The very thought of being the No. 1 is rather romantic but the costs involved in it are high.

Here are some straightforward facts that you can convert into action, should you seek to know what it involves to be the No. 1:

·  Aspirations & desires:  You should be clear about where exactly you want to be and what precisely you seek to do. There are many people who suffer from a fallacy that they know what they aspire for – to be the No. 1. What is the connotation of No. 1? Does it mean outclassing others in your field of work? Or does it mean being the best in your organization? Does being the best imply being at the helm of affairs? Well, it can imply all the three. You ought to understand that you could be the best but still not at the helm of affairs; the vice versa could be also true. Therefore, it is essential that you have to overcome your own shortcomings, apart from having well-defined aims that need to be trusted and concentrated upon. You have to have faith in yourself if you wish to succeed in attaining your ambitions. Querying yourself on what you are prepared to do towards the same is inescapable. Remember that being the No. 1 requires great effort, exertion and toil; it also calls for some excruciating self-evaluation. You ought to be able to do all this, even in the face of most difficult situations.    

·  Fruition of ambitions:  Most individuals do not take due initiative and fail to act. Thus they cannot become the No. 1. It is your work and exertion that can make you so. And doing all this is no child play and neither it is any entertaining venture. Being the No. 1 calls for serious endeavor, unswerving hard slog and continuous grappling. If you do not deviate from your ambition of being the No. 1, you will sooner or later be so. But it should be remembered that being a locomotive without any steam serves no purpose. You should not daydream or build castles in the air; on the contrary you should have credence and conviction with a matching action plan.  You should formulate that action plan on the basis of your personality, temperament, capacity to work and competence – all towards the ultimate objective of driving progress. Your engaging and triumphant outlook is also of great significance. An outlook that is unbeatable always prevails over various manipulative activities that go on in any corporate setup. Therefore, it is necessary that you conduct yourself with due enthusiasm, dignity and assuredness. If you are able to match this winning attitude to the plan formulated by you, half your battle to be the No. 1 should be assumed to have been won.

·  Failures are stepping stones to success:  In your march ahead to become the No. 1, you will encounter hurdles and occasional hold ups. Anybody who talks to you about being the No. 1 will invariably caution you about such impediments and the need to take them in the correct spirit. After all, life is no cakewalk and failures are an integral part of it. And when you suffer them, do not over pound yourself for them. You may err, sometimes because of reasons beyond your control and occasionally because of your limitations or inadequacies – well, whatever be the cause, there ought to be no reason for being disenchanted and surrendering your aspirations. It is possible that you may not be rated as per your expectation, but that should be treated as a usual hazard of any job. However, remember that whatever occurs happens for good and should be ruminated upon so that recurrence is precluded. All setbacks should be learning experiences and should not be retarding tools. You will realize your weaknesses and shortcomings; and will have to make efforts in getting over them.    

Being the No. 1 is much more than a scheme of action. It is sheer hard work and not succumbing mid-way; accepting failures is a part and parcel of it. However, it also means being aware that if ever you fail, you do so because you have simply not done enough. Don’t ever try to manipulate things; on the contrary, make efforts in trying to be as best as you can. But remember that when the best is possible, better is not enough.