“Success is dependent on effort” – Sophocles
Two variables, one relationship. The more effort you put, the more successful you will be.
This is what Sophocles, one of the three ancient Greek tragedians, said. He believed that people control their own success.
In real life, of course, success is an objective term and different people define it in different ways.
Moreover, external factors which can affect this relationship may occur and success may be delayed.
These factors may include unexpected events or miscalculated risks which have the power to prevent people from reaching their goals.
In this blog, I discuss 6 key points to success for employees to help people secure their trip toward successand help HR professionals realize how improving their employee value proposition (EVP) can help people become more successful while impacting the company’s overall performance positively.
Create a “blurry” vision
Everyone talks about how critical it is to “know what you want” in order to succeed, but no one talks about how you can get there.
How do you make it clear to yourself what you want? “If you love what you do, you will succeed,” they say, but how do you define what makes you happy by doing it?
Well, to answer all these questions you need first to try and fail; and then try again and fail again, and maybe also try something else.
You need to keep an open mind!
In high school, I used to participate in different math-based inter-school competitions, and I always won.
Years in a row, I was first in the city I represented and that made me think that my future should be related to numbers.
Honestly, I enjoyed the numbers, but at the same time I enjoyed helping people, and I hated listening to stories where people were not treated well by their employers.
In the final year of school though, I had a great experience involving consultancy meetings, managing people, and hiring people for a purpose, and this experience made me realize that as much as I enjoy numbers, I enjoy people-related projects at least twice as much.
It was then I decided to focus on HR. I had a blurry vision of my future, but trying different things actually helped me realize what matters to me.
Now, creating a “blurry” vision of success as a first step is not a bad thing. It gives you the opportunity to make mistakes and try new things.
Wanting to succeed in two or three things instead of one means that you do not have to stick with the one thing even if you are good at it; if you do not really enjoy it, then at some point, you get bored of it.
Instead, you have the opportunity to try something else which is still within your “blurry” vision. Therefore, do not be afraid of having a blurry vision when starting your career.
Have several goals and try to figure out which one most fits your needs and ambitions. Explore what makes you perform with a purpose.
Set short-term goals for success and always keep your bigger goal in mind
If you only set long-term goals, you will likely get tired of putting so much effort and not seeing any results yet.
On the other hand, by setting short-term goals you get the opportunity to celebrate your achievements every once in a while, thus keeping yourself motivated to continue your efforts for your bigger long-term goal.
Achieving something every now and then makes you feel you are on the right path; it makes you believe you can achieve even more.
To help you with the goal-setting process, Edwin Locke suggests that your goals need to be “SMART”:
Specific – After your blurry vision helps you decide what matters to you and what makes you happy, it is time to set specific/clear goals to know what you are working for.
Measurable – Your goals must allow you to demonstrate and measure the results to decide which behaviors you need to reward
Attainable – You need goals which are achievable. Unachievable goals will only bring you disappointment. You will not meet your own expectations. Therefore, make sure you know what you are capable of. Be honest with yourself.
Realistic/Relevant – You need to ensure that your goal is realistic, within your reach, consistent with other established goals, relevant to your life purpose, and fits in with immediate and long-term plans. Are you willing to commit to your goal
Time–bound – Your goals must have a defined time frame which includes a start date and an end date, otherwise, there is no sense of urgency to start working toward your goals.
Communicate; build a reliable network
Networking is free, most of the time. It gives you the opportunity to meet like-minded people and people who come from different backgrounds.
From both groups, you have a lot to learn. Like-minded people can probably help you with advice and stories on how to reach similar goals, and people with a different mindset will most probably help you become aware of the threats and risks involved in your decisions.
This can help you avoid mistakes and protect your efforts toward meeting your goals.
Networking is a great way to market yourself, and it can always lead to future opportunities for both parties.
As some people say, “your net worth is only as good as your network.”
Be your own evaluator
Most companies have yearly appraisal programs to evaluate their employees. In this kind of appraisal, employees get evaluated by their manager for their performance during the year they left behind.
Based on this evaluation, together with their manager, employees set goals for the next year.
It is a good way to keep personal and team goals aligned with the company’s bigger goals and to identify what kind of value each employee can add to the company.
But is it enough for you as a person to identify your strengths and your points that you need to improve?
Of course not!
You should not wait for this yearly evaluation to tell yourself what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.
Take time yourself every week or even every day and think about what have you done, what have you achieved, and what you would change with regard to a particular behavior or situation to have achieved better results.
