Success is Spelled with Five Vowels

Success is probably one of the most discussed, most dissected, and most debated topic on this planet. A simple Google search on the word "success" yields 333 million results! On the other hand, googling for the phrase "how to achieve success" yields 68 million results. A quick scan of the first ten in the list shows a diverse array of recommendations. Success indeed may take a long and arduous road and any formula that tends to simplify its pursuit may just frustrate the success seeker more.

To put us on a common bearing, I’d like to clarify that the success I’m talking of here is not just the short-term achievement of an objective or goal. As more commonly defined, success is a state in one’s personal life where he/she is recognized to have achieved a set of goals, be it personal, financial, or professional. I would, however, like to stretch that definition further by saying that success is one that equates to a personal mission. I am of the firm belief that everyone of us was put on this earth to fulfill a particular reason and every other measure of success will fall short if that divine purpose is not met.

So let me now walk you through my five-vowel recipe for success, starting with U, then moving on to A.

U – Uniqueness

Several years (even decades) back, I wrote the following: “Go into the innermost chambers of your heart and discover the seed that God has planted in the deep recesses of your soul … what He has willed you to become and the sacred purpose of your life.” Thus, the first vowel of success is “U” and it stands for “uniqueness”.

By learning to embrace our “uniqueness”, we become attuned to our gifts and talents and this will propel us to achieve the other aspects leading to success. Swiss philosopher Jean Jacques Rosseau said “I may be no better, but at least I’m different.” In the context of uniqueness as our first vowel for success, I believe that this uniqueness can in fact make us better than others because it points us to our God-given talent and abilities that we can nurture, develop, and bring to a level of perfection than can make us better than a lot of other people and thus use these to perform things that bring us to the attainment of our mission.

In your path to success, you need to start with a sense of uniqueness. I believe that God has placed each one of us in these world with a mission. You have to seek that vision of you that God has put in your soul. So you need to seek God first. Mt 6:33 says "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given unto you"

O – Optimism

The second letter is “O” which stands for “Optimism”. You need to develop a sense of the positive within you. For me optimism is about finding good in everything and in everyone. Don't be afraid. Do not let pride stand in your way of following God and achieving your dreams. Develop self-confidence. Sometimes our pride dictates that we should always be perfect. So we become afraid to make mistakes. But as I have taught countless students on what confidence is all about, “Confidence is not about being perfect. Confidence is about not being afraid to make mistakes.”

Optimism is that quality of our disposition which propels us to plod on amidst obstacles. Optimism is faith in action. It is believing that God's infinite goodness will always prevail in spite of whatever negative things might come our way.

As we expect that our efforts towards the attainment of our goals occasionally meet hurdles, the engagement of our passion towards the fulfillment of our mission will require that we arm ourselves with an optimism that will counter the downward pull of negative factors. The development of "Optimism" is thus an imperative in the achievement of success.

I – Intuition

“I” stands for “Intuition”. Sometimes when we make crucial decisions in our life we sense a voice inside of us, what other people call as "gut feel". If you pray always and you have a personal relationship with God that gut feel inside you is really God's voice within you. It is your conscience telling you what direction to take. It's your guardian angel warning you about getting into bad company. It is God’s Holy Spirit enlightening you with wisdom. Don't worry that it might sometimes feel illogical or irrational or that it doesn't fit with your intelligent assessment. Isaiah 55:8 says "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord."

Nothing happens in this world by accident. Everything fits into the grand purpose of God. So the more that we attune ourselves to God's will in our life through our "Intuition", the more that we are able to approach success at fulfilling our purpose.

E – Exuberance

So if you have established God's unique vision for your life and with optimism you go through each day seeing good in everything and everyone, and with intuition you listen intently to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit in your life, then you should face each day with our next letter "E". And “E” stands for “Exuberance”. It's getting up each day full of excitement and energy. It is interesting to note that there are a lot of “E” words that describe the same thing aside from “Excitement” and “Energy”. Words like “Enthusiasm”, “Effervescence”, and “Ebullience”.

Exuberance is about setting goals for yourself and doing them with passion. It's about the excitement of accomplishing those goals and seeing yourself getting closer to your dreams. It gives you the ability to immediately jump out of bed the moment your alarm clock goes off because you know there is something that you rise up for and live for each day.

A – Adamance

Of course human as we are we are bound to commit mistakes once in a while. You will experience failure not just once but perhaps several times. And that's where our last letter comes in. “A” stands for “Adamance”. It's an old English word that has declined in usage but we know its adjective counterpart - adamant. The dictionary defines Adamance as “resoluteness by virtue of being unyielding and inflexible” but is not about being obstinate.

Adamance is about firmness and determination. Being obstinate is to keep on doing the same thing even if it's not giving you the right results. Albert Einstein said that doing the same thing over and over but expecting to get a different result is insanity.

Adamance is not that.

It is more about grit than stubbornness. In her famous TED talk, Angela Lee Duckworth speaks of grit as “the power of passion and perseverance”. As long as you are sure that the goal you are seeking is that unique purpose that God has given for your life, then as Zig Ziglar said, “when obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.”

That is Adamance.