How to know if you will be successful
It’s actually pretty simple to find out
When we think of success, we dream:
‘I want that beautiful house on the lake one day. I really hope that I can actually get it one day.’
‘I hope I can actually make $10,000/month writing online one day.’
‘I just want to have a fulfilling relationship and be loved by someone and get married in the future.’
But how do we really know if we are going to achieve any of this? Our dreams seem so far in the future that is seemingly impossible to know whether we will actually accomplish them or not. No matter how you planned your life, it likely never turned out as you expected… Right?
Wrong.
You just need to do a little reverse engineering.
Think about getting into college. Let’s say you went to an Ivy League school (who actually got in on merit not who’s A-list mom shoved some cash under the rug for you). If you went to an Ivy, I’ll bet that while you were in high school studying your a** off, you knew you had a decent chance at getting into an ivy. Why? Because you were doing the work, studying for hours and hours after school, slaving away for AP tests and forgoing a TON of fun activities to get there. You wouldn’t have been studying that hard if you didn’t think you had a shot at accomplishing something great.
Think about the last thing you bought. If your like me and you can’t save a damn penny, just image you saved $10,000 and bought yourself a cool Subaru. How did you know if you were ever going to be able to afford this? Well isn’t it obvious? You knew because you were saving the money. You had the outcome in mind while executing the necessary steps.
If we are honest, realistic, and intelligent, we can predict with a degree of accuracy if we have the capability to make our dreams a reality or not.
Forgive me for being overly rationalist — I know that life takes twists and turns, and that there are always unexpected losses, traumas, and successes. But I do know this:
If you want to know if you will be successful, in any facet of life, audit yourself and ask, “Am I taking steps to get there?”, and you should have a pretty good answer.
If you want that beautiful house on the lake, look up the price on Zillow, and figure out how much you will have to earn/save/invest to get there with your time horizon. Say it costs 2.5 million dollars. If you invest $50k now and $1,000 a month (pretty reasonable) at 10% annual interest, you will have have $2.8 million in 30 years. So then the question becomes: when will I have $50,000 in my bank and be able to invest $1,000/month after? If it’s now, you are on your way.
If you want to make $10,000 a month off blogging on Medium, then research how long it takes to become a writer that earns $10k and quantify it. Obviously writing ability factors into the question as well. What is the quality of the top-writers’ content on Medium? If you can’t replicate that, are you investing in an English education?
If what you really want is to be loved and have a happy relationship in the future, then ask yourself: am I taking proactive steps to get there? Am I focusing on becoming the best version of myself that I can be? Do I know how to coexist with someone long-term? Am I attractive (not just in looks, but by intelligence, ambition, and confidence)? If not, or you aren’t actively working towards it, I’m sorry to say your dream is none more than a daydream right now.
If you are being proactive, then I’m happy to tell you that you are on your way to accomplishing something worthwhile and great. When we are serious about making our goals a reality, we can maintain a dreamlike enthusiasm for the end-vision filled while knowing if we will really get there or not. All it takes is self-awareness.
Ask yourself, right now. Am I taking the steps to make it happen?
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