RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

RESILIENCE AND SUCCESS

Good day my awesome readers, welcome to another inspiring piece. 
Firstly, we would like to express our sincere apologies for our inability to keep this blog running for a while now. We promise you that there would be no recurrence of such. 
Last time out, we laid foundation on this vital series ‘Recipe for Success’ by talking about ‘Diligence and Success’. In case you missed it, you can read here.

The story of one of the greatest achievers in history will serve as the bed stone on which today’s topic will be laid bare. This is no other person than Colonel Sanders – the founder of Kentucky’s Fried Chicken (KFC).

Invariably, at age 65, Colonel Sanders’ micro restaurant business crashed. All he had left was a small house and a beat up car. He made a decision to change his situation. The only idea he had was a chicken recipe which his friends liked. With that idea in mind, he took massive action. He moved from restaurants to restaurants, to sell his recipe but none cared even when he offered it free. He got rejections after rejection, but he did not give up. In fact, he got over 1000 rejections. Not until after his 1009^th attempt did he get a first yes. That unperturbed drive for success changed the eating habits of the whole world and birthed one of the most famous restaurants ever, Kentucky’s Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC.

RESILIENCE

Resilience is the power or ability to return to the original form, position after being bent, compressed or stretched. Resilience is the ability to get back up on your feet when life knocks you down. People with resilient attribute are like proverbial cat with nine lives.

As explained earlier, resilience is a thing of the mind. It is a habit, an attitude. It takes a mentally strong man to carry on and never give up whenever failure creeps in. Nothing great comes easy. Successful people today are those who imbibe this attribute in their day-to-day activities. We know of the Aliko Dangotes, Mark Zuckerbergs, Cristiano Ronaldos, Asas, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies of today, and how they have become successful at what they do. But most of us are oblivious of what they had to go through to get to the very top – where they are today. Their struggles may not have been well documented but I am so sure they scaled through lots of life-defining obstacles. And they wouldn’t be the talk of the town today if they failed at the first hurdle and refused to get back up on their feet. 
Jill Flint-Taylor and Alex Davda, both Ashridge Business School stated in their article titled 'Develop your personal resilience for career success' 

”Resilient people don’t tend to dwell on failures; they acknowledge the situation, learn from their mistakes, and then move forward. But resilient people aren’t born with a unique ability to bounce back or forge ahead. While there are undoubtedly certain factors that give some people a head start, anyone can learn behaviours and attitudes that allow them to survive and even thrive in challenging times.”

Do not be depressed by that trial you are currently battling with. Tough situations do not last but only tough people do. I term trials as the darkest moment in a man’s life. In fact, I welcome trials more than any other thing because it brings the best out of me. I unearth so many hidden virtues I never thought I had – patience, tolerance, confidence, hard work, courage, determination, shrewdness etc. - during this moment than my comfy times. You should know that the best of your productivity comes from your darkest moment. There are hidden valuable treasures in you and most times, these treasures only spring out in your darkest moment.

Whenever you are faced with challenges, all you have to do is face is head-on, and battle your way triumphantly through it. It is not the number of times you fall that matters, but the number of times you get back up. No one is interested in your failure story – does that even exist? Eventually when you succeed, what draws people to your story isn’t only the end result but the number of times you had to dig deep, pick yourself out of the mud, dust yourself up and continue from where you got knocked down. That alone is the true mark of success and excellence!

I know you are thinking, how then can I remain resilient? Don’t you worry a bit, the following should help out.

1. Change your attitude: Most people are negatively minded and they take every bleep as a minus. This derails their rate of productivity and they lose out eventually.
2. Focus on the big prize: Do not shift your gaze away from that big goal you have carefully earmarked for yourself no matter what may come your way.
3. Be optimistic: Be positively driven. Always speak to yourself that this darkest moments will fade away just like a pound of soap in a hard day's wash.
4. Self-Efficacy: Jan Bruce explains it better in her article for Forbes online magazine How Successful Are You? Answer: How Resilient Are You?

   “a belief in yourself that you are competent and reliable. Or: the belief that you can solve problems and succeed.”

5. Be passion-driven: Letting your passion overtake you will help you not to feel the bane attached to challenges whenever one surfaces. This makes you see challenges as something that wants to deprive you of the joy you derive from pursuing that goal. Thus, you will be driven to stop at nothing in order to see the back of such challenges.

Remember, it takes nothing else but sheer determination and doggedness to succeed at whatever you do. You can only possess a resilient character by harnessing your inner being and putting on the armour of self-belief in times of trials. A consistent practice of this will push you just a step away from achieving your dreams.