Achieve Great Success

It’s hard to ignore people who have achieved great success over multiple areas. There is one man that immediately comes to mind. He set the free throw record for both the NCAA, and the NBA while he was in college. He won an Olympic Gold Medal. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Princeton and was awarded the Rhodes scholarship. He was the MVP of the NBA, served multiple terms in the US Senate, and even made a run for the White House. The man I’m talking about is Bill Bradley.

What’s interesting is that he was never the smartest person in the class or the most talented athlete. What enabled him to achieve great success was the combination of hard work and discipline. From the age of six, he would shoot baskets every day for 4 to 6 hours. He would intuitively focus on the tasks that represented the highest and best use of his time.

I always laugh at the “get rich quick ideas” I hear about. There are very few successful people that didn’t work their asses off to get there. The adage suggests that luck is where hard work meets opportunity. We all need opportunities to achieve success. The difference is the hard worker has more exposure to those opportunities because of his tenacity.

The other realization is that working hard in and of itself doesn’t you get there. It’s not about simply being busy; it’s about focusing your time and energy on the most productive tasks. This is where thought and planning come into the equation.

When you arrive at work tomorrow, before you jump into your regular work mode, stop and analyze your day. Prioritize your tasks and focus on one at a time. Work in 50-minute increments. After 50 minutes allow yourself to stop, read emails, return calls or take a break. The combination of hard work, discipline and focus on the right tasks will undoubtedly expose you to more opportunities. Seizing those opportunities can ultimately lead you to achieve great success.