Most people will answer yes, though everyone defines success differently. Irrespective of what people mean by success, it is brought about by comparison with others. If we are alone in a race, there is no success or failure.
If I say that one of the main requirements to succeed is gratitude, you may feel that I am mixing two different things. But I am not. Let us understand the whole thing in a deeper context.
Success is possible when others agree and endorse what we do in our productive phase. Whether it is family, corporate or a playfield, success is usually team driven, even when it seems like an individual’s effort. For example, a 100-meter Olympic gold medal winner sprinter still is supported by a team of coaches, physiotherapists, and psychologists, to say the least. Unless her relationship with them is good, she cannot be an achiever.
So, the first thing to understand on our path to success is – Team is important, and the team alone can guarantee success. In a family, the team is parents and siblings. In the corporate world, a team is our peers, subordinates, and senior managers combo. In team sports, you know your team. In individual sports, it is still a team as explained above. Even a spouse is a team.
The second thing to understand is that team must support us if we need to succeed. If we do not have the support of our team, success is an uphill task or may be impossible. Hence, in addition to the long hours that we put in, in our endeavour, we should also try to make our team support us as much as possible.
Success is achievable if we have the will and capability to do good in whatever we are trying to do. In addition, it is imperative that our team is happy with us and supports us in our endeavour. The role of our heart and mind, from where gratitude originates, is also important to get the results that we want.
When we feel grateful to our team for their time, efforts and well wishes for us, reaching our goals, we find that the team goes out of their way to find ways and means to support us that are more effective to get the results that we are looking for. Contrary to this, if we are critical of our team’s activities and behaviours, they support us less. This lesser support becomes an obstacle to our success.
Take any example and you will realize that we need to be grateful to our team for every act of theirs that pushes us to our goals. We can not be indifferent to their actions. Even the harsh words of our managers are needed to bring the best out of us or to put us on the right path. The Formula 1 champions need to be grateful to their technical team, for example, to change their tyres efficiently and in a shorter time. The husband needs to be grateful to the wife, who gets up early to make breakfast for the husband for taking an early flight for an important meeting and the wife must be grateful to the husband for the support he provides at times when her professional or personal life needs his help and assistance.
If we look deeper, every moment is an opportunity to be grateful. The more grateful we are, the more people will support us and the more successful we will become.
Live a life of gratitude to everyone around you.
Photo - @BenjaminDavies