The Secrets of Success

As an educator and leader of schools, I have spent a lot of time thinking about 'success'. The more one thinks about success the harder it becomes to define, and we often confuse accomplishments and accolades with success. Writing about success is difficult. It is a bit like writing about love - love is such a strange concept - you can put it into words but they can't really capture that strange feeling, that odd sensation so powerful that it can drive people to madness but defies our ability to describe it.

 

I turned to the Concise Oxford dictionary for definitional help. Turns out that their definition of success is not as helpful as one would hope in the context of explaining a term relevant to growing youngsters to be their best selves. The dictionary describes success as "the accomplishment of an aim" which no doubt is technically correct, but fails to take into account that our context the accomplishment of a non-aspirational aim leads to mediocrity. There must be more to it.  

 

Social and 'mainstream' media is equally unhelpful in defining success. Those places are controlled by influencers and advertisers - and so success there is often defined by trend, brands, labels, money, or objects. While success is hard to define, I know what it is not. Those things might be referred to as 'the trappings of success' but I  know that success is not found in those things. 

 

I also know that success is not the same as winning. Because while winning usually is associated with success, sometimes there is even more success to be created through losing. Because in losing we learn important lessons, we learn about persistence, we learn to keep on trying and trying, and through losing we adopt the winning attitudes that creates future success. Not succeeding makes us hungry, and hunger is a great motivator. 

We should never be discouraged by failure or not immediately being successful. The examples of Beethoven (who was told by his music teacher that "as a composer he is hopeless"), Walt Disney (fired from his first job because he "lacked imagination and had no original ideas"), Churchill (failed grade 6), Einstein (told by his teachers that he would "never amount to much" and was not able to speak until he was almost 4 years old) are just a few of the people who refused to quit when they did not enjoy immediate success. We should embrace failure. It is the hard shell that hides the seed of success.

 

And while there may be no outright secret to success, it is no secret that talent alone is not enough. The world is full of talented failures. Entitlement is not enough, the world is full of those who were left much and squandered it away to nothing. In my experience, hard work and commitment is by far the biggest indicator of success. True wisdom is understanding that ultimately nothing comes for nothing.

 

And I know that success is elusive but it must be self-discovered. Sometimes as school leaders it is tempting to simply recite a recipe for success - we've all lived through the ups and downs of life - a data burst of things to say and do that would guide our students seamlessly to success. Not only is that impossible, but it would most certainly take the fun out of the journey of adventure that lies ahead. For success, if it exists, is internal, and self-created. 

 

It seems, then, that the secret of success is not really a secret at all. Success is about having a dream - a lofty aim -  and working hard  (working very hard)  to achieve it - paying attention to the details, and never giving up when things seem to be going wrong, or don't immediately go right. 

 

And just as each child is absolutely unique and each has a special gift to offer, so each recipe for success is unique. Some will excel on the sports field, some in class, at music, or in the arts. Some will be boisterous company in the class that keeps the spirits high, some will be quiet support. 

 

It matters not where a child's giftedness lies, it matters that they seek it and pursue it ambitiously and with passion. What matters is attitude, commitment, passion, perseverance, willingness to learn, and willingness to contribute in their own unique way, with humility.