Leading coach Vera Ng’oma offers tips to ramp up your chances of earning success

Most people look around for opportunities and conditions that will help them become successful. That may not be wrong in itself, but to give yourself a fair chance at success you’ll have to find a way to chart your path in a ‘’crazy’’ world, to learn how to negotiate your way, break with some negative habits.

There are always new opportunities in the offing if you are prepared to strip out the things that block your progress and start doing what you know serves you well. Don’t just fly by the seat of your pants; first of all, work out for yourself what’s most important to you so that you can map out what direction to go in. Without that you risk simply going where circumstances take you.

Here are some things to push you in the right direction:

Don’t be led by how you feel and by emotional thinking otherwise you’ll constantly be in a state of anxiety and flux. This does not mean that you totally ignore how you feel about an issue. It’s about being sensible rather than letting your actions and decisions be clouded by your emotions.

Take responsibility so that you can control the outcome of your situations and learn to manage or accept what you work for or expect that may end up not happening. Acceptance does not mean that you accept unsatisfactory situations without question but instead not to become unduly stressed if things don’t materialise as you wish.

Educate and skill yourself because with all the will in the world you won’t achieve success based on desire, passion and even a plan alone. It’s important to be confident of having the right knowledge for what you’re doing. The appropriate knowledge will equip you to do better.

When you make mistakes, learn from them quickly so that you know how to make effective changes towards a better tomorrow and not repeat the same mistakes. Use mistakes as a wakeup call for improvement not as a nail in the coffin.

“Don’t just fly by the seat of your pants. First of all, work out for yourself what’s most important to you so that you can map out what direction to go in.”

Remember that as awful as you may feel when a mistake happens, if well handled promptly, you’ll survive it. Good knowledge will help you be clear on the practical steps that will keep you going forward even if the road is rough.

Commit to value creation

Add value to your like and train yourself so that you are always set to do your best. Make sure you’re creating value in your endeavours because value will cause you to uncap your potential and allow great things to happen to and for you. Think about what you can do to keep getting better and better.

Be fully aware of what you need in order to deliver compelling value. Don’t allow yourself to be stuck in a rut or reinvent things over and over. Prepare for the unexpected, remain engaged with emerging changes and stay in the driver’s seat.

Be consistently resourceful

Challenge yourself and try your hands at things so that you can leverage your current competencies and grow others in the process. Seek out new experiences and learn how to repeat success. Don’t take too long to react to issues, think through things and respond effectively. Build learning into what you do so that you can do better.

Achieving what you want will take all you’ve got and there’s always so much to learn so don’t dither. Get creative so that you can increase the pace at which you achieve your goals. Expect nothing less of yourself than doing top class work.

Understand your environment in order to gauge what will be your best work that matches the need around you and what will be valued work. That understanding also means that you’ll know where to add to your abilities so that your relevance increases and you get to present your highest potential and become more impactful.

Learn to inspire and motivate yourself. Don’t think that inspiration is about having goose bumps. It’s often simply finding a way to get on with it especially when it’s hard to keep yourself going. You’ve got to be able to count on yourself 100%. Don’t leave it totally to others to motivate you. Determine the pace at which you progress.

Every little action counts. Stop working on those grandiose plans before taking action. Start and build things up. Sometimes, you may not get the big breaks as early as you want but even if your beginnings may feel small they will expand as you stay consistent with doing what works and to a high standard. Step up to the degree your confidence allows you to as you progress.

Big wins are great but don’t underestimate the value of minor milestones on the way there. Incremental steps in the right direction can chip away at big goals and bring success. Small successes will help you stay motivated and focussed. Always have the end goal in mind and work backwards with targeted small daily actions.