So how does one become successful, in any kind of industry or life? I like to ask myself this question often, and I've been met with answers, saying that success is being happy doing what you love. While my romantic side adores that answer, my more structured logical side demands more. What would really be nice is steps to success. While horribly unrealistic, a step-by-step approach to life appeals to my logical side much more than a simple open-ended phrase. In order to find a kind of system to life, though, we must try and observe others who have become successful.
A company that I think of when I imagine success, is of course, Pixar! Currently a part of The Walt Disney Company, Pixar has produced some of the greatest animated films of all times, including the Toy Story trilogy, Monster's Inc., The Incredibles, Up, and Brave. To create this amazing award-winning films, Pixar has created 22 rules of storytelling, which were then put into picture form by Dino Ignacio with certain scenes from their movies, which will surely help anyone in creating stories, in innovation, or better yet, create a system of success in life. Systems and steps can help you everywhere, from finishing a school project to winning a basketball game.
A company that I think of when I imagine success, is of course, Pixar! Currently a part of The Walt Disney Company, Pixar has produced some of the greatest animated films of all times, including the Toy Story trilogy, Monster's Inc., The Incredibles, Up, and Brave. To create this amazing award-winning films, Pixar has created 22 rules of storytelling, which were then put into picture form by Dino Ignacio with certain scenes from their movies, which will surely help anyone in creating stories, in innovation, or better yet, create a system of success in life. Systems and steps can help you everywhere, from finishing a school project to winning a basketball game.
The same applies to you! People admire effort, and in many cases, it is better to have tried your best and failed then to not have tried at all. To win big, you have to try to win first.
While making sure you do what you like is important, often success requires the happiness of other people as well. Try to achieve that perfect balance of happiness for yourself and those around you.
Often, you won't see the purpose or lesson of an experience until after it has happened, but that's okay. Look back on the memory and the next time a similar thing happens, you've learned how to perform the scenario better! I suppose that's the reason why we learn history, but of course, learning isn't enough. You gotta live the new future.
Always look ahead; figure out the consequences of your actions. Often if you can predict what will happen because of something, you can make sure that the results will be good. Make plans for what you want to do, as it can often help simplify the path to success.
Don't be afraid to toss out older ideas. Don't be afraid of change. Often we hold on to a lot of unnecessary baggage that gets in the way of success. Be bold and fearless and you will get what you want.
A common interview question is, "What are your weaknesses?", or perhaps the interviewer will ask how you would react in a situation. Know yourself and your flaws. Once you know your flaws, work them out and you will become a better person. You can't improve by being comfortable with just your strengths.
Having a goal is really nice. It makes all the intermediate decisions that much easier when you know what you're striving for. If you can't come up with a goal, keep looking for one, because the work you put towards forming a goal will save you a lot of time stumbling around confused about what you want.
You don't have to be perfect to be successful. Relax and let go of things that you can't necessarily change. Just make sure you learn from what you couldn't do, so those things can become what you are able to do.
This is a concept that is known as "Bad Idea Factory", or by another name that I am unable to remember at the moment. The key is creating lots of horrible ideas that would never work, unhindered by any prejudices or reality. Eventually, this freedom of thought will yield good ideas, or maybe an idea you thought was bad was actually genius. Your worst ideas can sometimes be your best.
When we meet new people, there will be certain things we like about them, and things we don't. The things we like about them are things we should strive to be, the things we dislike not so much. However, don't fall for the pitfall of comparing yourself to everyone. While you may share characteristics with many people, the combination of other characteristics makes you an unique individual.
This essentially means that you need to brainstorm! Preferably on paper or even a white board! Your teachers were actually teaching you good lessons in trying to get you to make cute diagrams or charts, as these can help you find flaws or positives with your idea. Also, brainstorming can be done on social media instead of paper as well, knowing how internet obsessed we all are, but be careful, as while it can be productive, social media also has a tendency to distort ideas or contribute negatively.
Your first ideas will be your most simple. If you really want good ideas, then keep pushing through your brain-storming process. It's also helpful to have someone with you to keep the creative juices flowing.
The same thing applies to you. A leader, an innovator carries opinions. While you want to be open to new ideas, you also want to be firm to your beliefs and established ideas. Don't sway from a slight wind.
Why do you do what you do? Passion is the most important thing in all storytelling, innovation, and success. Your passion will carry you through the rough times, and will make your good times that much better. Passion is the core, the foundation of your actions.
Be real to people, and be honest. Sometimes we make ourselves to be characters in real life too, and imagine ourselves reacting differently to something. Don't be afraid to be honest and be yourself. It's nice to meet someone who isn't afraid to cry and be scared.
Drama is good in a story, but it also helps in terms of productivity. Due dates especially make sure that a goal will be accomplished in a certain amount of time. On the flip side, don't overwhelm yourself; it's not the end of the world if you can't accomplish your goal in a certain amount of time (unless it actually is).
Make procrastination be your friend. When you procrastinate, do something else productive that could possibly contribute to your end goal. As long as you're producing in some manner, it's not a waste to not be working on your end goal, as you probably are working on your end goal anyway, just in a different manner.
Know yourself, and you can do all things. Or at least you'll know everything that you can do. Doing something new can be hard, so don't nitpick over tiny things. Understand that you may not completely be a master at what you're doing, so it's okay to make mistakes as you long as you have good intentions.
Make worst case scenarios, then find out how you can move your way out of them. Showing that you can overcome your worst makes you truly a hero, and by extension, successful.
Take another idea similar to yours, dissect it to it's basics, then see how you can apply it. It's nice to be able to draw off other's peoples work instead of starting from scratch all the time, but remember to stay original.
The coolness factor is tempting to follow, but restrain yourself. Think why you might do something for an idea or a goal, other than because it's cool. Aesthetics and shimmery special effects are great and all, but you gotta remember to be practical and real.
Don't bother with filler substance. Nobody likes that in their food, and nobody likes that in a story or a project. Many a college professor will just try and produce as many research papers as they can, without producing quality work. Becoming successful often requires finding one aspect or idea, and delving as deep into it as possible. Try not to become sidetracked with extra fluff.
A Conclusion
If you've made it this far, congratulations! You're probably gonna be successful, just by having the patience to read through this long post! Oh also, you've probably learned some things along the way (I hope). One last thing: you don't need to be a straight A student to be successful. Success comes from all walks of life, all you need is a system, or some steps to help.
Take Loyola Marymount's men's basketball team from 1985 to 1990. As their coach, Paul Westhead developed a system to continuously win basketball games, and one of their players, Hank Gathers, simply followed the system into stardom and success. Like Hank Gathers, success can come to you. All you need is a system. Lucky for you, I just helped give you one.
-Kevin
-Kevin