There are many talented, competent, and ambitious people in the world. But only a handful are truly successful. Why?
Because success does not depend on a fluke of circumstances. It is the result of implementing a personal strategy. Many simply do not have one.
Alexander Kravtsov, a Skolkovo lecturer and mentor who has been helping cool kids become very cool for 25 years, discusses this in his book “Personal Strategy. How to create a personal plan, see your capabilities, build a long-term vector and achieve extraordinary results? Read→
What is a personal strategy
A personal strategy is the pivot around which your life is built. More often than not, we plan for the future based on the present. Gather the available resources in a “pile” so that, having climbed on it, to reach higher. But this is not a strategy. It’s a tactic.
Tactics comes from opportunities. They are limited, so the scope of the goals is also limited. Strategy is the opposite: we mark a point in the future and decompose it into the present. Strategy comes from desires. And the grander the desires, the better it works.
You can only achieve outstanding results if your desires lie beyond the horizon of the possible. They are inaccessible to you now – only to you in the future. That’s the point of the strategy: to move from the first state to the second.
Point of View
If you find it difficult to see your perspective, you need to change your vantage point. To do so, change one of the fundamental components of life: your workplace, your occupation, your environment. The stronger the change, the wider the range of available “viewpoints.
Wherever you are now – think about how to see more.
The easiest way is to change your geographic location. If you live in the region and want to realize your ambitions on a federal scale, move to Moscow. Do you want to live abroad? Go to the city of your dreams, at least for a few months. Just physically moving to a place where resources are concentrated will already provide a tremendous advantage.
All the possibilities will become visible, and it’s just a matter of time before you can assemble your dream.
Follow Trends
The measure of success and influence of people, companies, and entire countries is determined by how involved they are in global trends. The better your strategy fits into them, the easier it is to execute.
Here are three trends that are not only true for Russia, but for the world as a whole.
- Digitalization. More and more processes are being moved online, the amount of data and the impact of data technology is growing. The biggest owners of big data – Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft – have gained such enormous influence that they have been called “digital states. Their assets already exceed the GDP of entire countries.
- The state’s role in the economy is increasing. And not just in Russia. Those who learn how to work with the state machine will have a significant advantage.
- Renewal of the elites. The last time our country saw a change in the elites was in the late 1990s – early 2000s. On the horizon of 3-7 years it is likely to happen again.
Each person has his own “formula for success” – a set of methods, approaches, techniques and behaviors that help achieve the goals. Your task is to find yours.
Make a list of your significant achievements (you certainly have them). Then answer the questions for each: Under what circumstances did it happen? How did you act? What were your talents, abilities, and skills that played a defining role? Whose help and support did you have?
“The formula for success” should be supplemented by a “recipe for failure” – an analysis and synthesis of the key reasons that most often led you to failure.
Analyze your actions and results. Write out the recurring elements and formulate them as a set of talking points. This is your “formula for success.
The finishing touch
If you are building a personal strategy for the first time, complete it with a finishing touch. Think about it: how do you want to spend the last 10 years of your life? Are you planning to spend them on a well-deserved retirement surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Do you want to travel the world on your own yacht? Do philanthropy like Warren Buffett? Or get a Hugh Hefner-style mansion and have champagne parties with models?
Of course, life is full of randomness. We can’t predict when and how our probationary period will end. But the picture of a desirable future allows you to put your goals in context and see the whole path.
So all the stages of a personal strategy will essentially be inserts between the “point of the present” and the “final point” – and they will be much easier to formulate.
Here’s what else awaits you in the book
:
- The Shaky Compromise: How Denying Your Dreams Leads to Degradation
- “Everything is there, but nothing makes you happy”: why you should avoid simple desires
- Decomposing dreams: the path from future to present
- Waves and cycles: the influence of external factors
- Looking over the fence: how to get to the next level
- What to do if it doesn’t work
Life is finite – that’s what gives it meaning. With each passing day the time reserve is diminishing. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll succeed, and the greater your success will be. That is why the best time is now.
Based on the book “Personal Strategy
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Cover of the post – unsplash.com
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The post Talented are many, successful are not. How to join the latter? appeared first on Business.