Many times in life we think success is achievement of a particular endeavour- graduating from university, getting a dream job, getting married, building an estate, acquiring handsome of money and many more. The pursuit of success is a dream of everybody, all human races. We all strive higher in achieving particular goals in our choosing career. This happens because we are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve but sometimes even with the best thoughts and feeling, things just do not work or go your way. This time all your bones and muscles sing chorus of quitting, you turn left and right, everybody gives quit a nod. You are apparently frustrated with your job, business and all actions you have taken in the past that led you to current predicament. Mine is not an exceptional. All successful people at one time in their lifetime faced such plight of this mother nature in business and career, while they lost almost if not all of what they have, either due to wrong judgement of business ideas or lost of control of it along the line as a result of poor or inaccurate decision making.
As a young entrepreneur I understand that failure is part of success like many great minds will share with people that they succeed after many failed attempts which cannot be ruled out in business. But do you know that success also can be a great ingredient to one’s failure at one point. I am writing this because I have lived a life of success turning to be a great catalyst for my failure in business resulting into many millions of naira. Immediate success is a signpost of good performance when manage properly. This can as well blind us to little details. I will not be writing this if I have not accepted the responsibility for the lost, and buckle up in order to find where mistakes are made and how I could correct them. I know it may be difficult to believe this but I was able to realize this, and I want to be ‘truth to myself’ so that you can learn from me as you travel the voyage of business world whether in financial market or establishment of business without making same mistakes. Success can be catalyst to business failure:
Past Success
The worst thing that could happen to an entrepreneur or business starter is to succeed at the first. It could be fun and motivating because you would think you possess the magic hand for succeeding immediately as you start the business. Your body chemistry tells you, you can do it again and again. You feel you will soon ‘arrive’ base on your future projections. You feel good and confidence about yourself. Your first success blinds you like me and you think the little research you have done in the past is actually paying off now. This is where the unnoticing problems get started. It was obvious to me that I was going to be rich when I succeeded immediately when I started. I was as if the best analyst and I could run away with all the money. Fine it worked but for how long?
Success became an overnight thing and overconfidence set in. What I will refer as ‘Overconfidence of Ignorance’. The state when you don’t know but you don’t know that you don’t know. In this case you will not bother to know until you run to difficulties. Then you pay the price with you and investors hard earning cash. I lost because I thought I knew all the answers but the world of schools and colleges is different from business world. In schools and colleges you can only find one or two answers to a particular question but in business world there are hundred of answers to a particular question. I lost big because there are other answers that I need to know. Rick Warren says ‘The greatest enemy of tomorrow success is today’s successes. Past laurel will not take anyone above that, that is why Charles Handy also said ‘It is one of the paradoxes of success that the things and ways which got you there are seldom those things that will keep you there’. It was after I have lost that I knew that what took me to where I am today would not take me to where I am going again. The past success can be an instrumental to your success if you don’t rely totally on it but you remain flexible in your approach to doing things and focus more on continual learning other than past glory.
Learning is a process that can never be ignored in business. When achieve a goal that gives you that feeling of success, in order to move higher you need to set higher goal that will challenge your original paradigm and push you beyond the initial scope of knowledge. When I approached my mentor about my plight in business and I started lamentation. All I could hear him say is you just ‘grow up’ boy. Thus, when something goes sour in your life or business, look nowhere first except yourself because it’s more than likely that you might be the source of the challenge. Double check your attitude and belief system. Improve and acquire new skills to do better. Failure is an indication that you are growing.
Intuitions
Now that you know you don’t know and you strive for knowledge everyday to know. Do you take time to listen to your inner voice, do you take time to listen to yourself and act on that instead of what you know. Mind plays significant roles in success. I wish I could have listened to myself the more in some of the decisions I made that led business failure in the past. The gosh you feel in your stomach is an indication of something is wrong or sign of warning of cause of actions. This is what separate successful business people from others. They trust their guts through knowledge and follow it. Most of the mistakes I made in business world could be avoided if I had been more attentive to my inner minds.
Your inner mind can be an instrument to success if you practice the art of separation everyday. A time you remain alone for minimum of thirty minutes to think out the problems you want to solve with strong expectation of getting genuine answers.
