What makes the arc of success for some people shoot quickly to the sky while other arcs of success fizzle, flounder and fold? Some become extraordinarily successful while others, perhaps even with more abilities, languish and go nowhere.
Why do some people appear to have success handed to them on a silver platter and others struggle all their lives and go nowhere?
For others the arc of success rises only in one area of their life and never gets off the ground in other areas. Incomplete success often robs them of the happiness and contentment their other successes should have brought.
Why does financial or physical success not always bring happiness and satisfaction and can even bring curses and heartache?
In the natural world, as in life there, there is a cause for every effect. A reaction creates an equal and opposite reaction or result. Often the cause lies in the way we are living and our habits. They can produce the positive or negative results we experience.
Leo Tolstoy realized this truth. “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.”
Effective application of the strategies of success (S.O.S) will produce effective results and keep the arc of your success growing! But we all need to start by defining what success means to us personally. Discovering your life’s purpose provides the motivation and drive that will help propel the arc of your success long into the future.
What Goethe realized is fundamental to propelling the arcs of success. “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
Different arcs of success
There are different arcs to the rising and falling of success for different people. Those who do become more successful than most do not all find it at the same speed. The arc of success is not the same for everyone.
For some, the rise of their arc of success is slow. Their biggest dreams remain hidden and dormant for years. As success finally begins to build their dreams spring into life providing a path for actions that build the arc of their success.
For others, the curve toward success is meteoric in its attainment. It appears to rise out of nowhere to staggering heights. Sometimes these people are propelled by the right opportunities and external circumstances that present themselves early in life and they utilize all the abilities they can muster to keep up with the successful momentum.
Open ambition may thrust some into the limelight and sometimes right onto the world stage at an amazing speed. Examples are child proteges, actors or actresses that gain early opportunity and fame.
Yet few of these early risers can maintain momentum or martial alternate means to propel them into ongoing success for a lifetime. Unless an individual has the internal drive, persistence and adaptability needed for lasting success, today’s success flees and tomorrow’s success is allusive. Yet the true test of greatness should be measured over time.
Senator Bill Bradley had it right. “Becoming number one is easier than remaining number one.” Be sure to get your arc of success projected in the right direction and soaring to great heights over the long run.