the wright way to succeed

 (♥)

“I know the price of success:
dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion
to the things you want to see happen.”

Frank Lloyd Wright

So you want your life to be a successful one, huh? Me too! No matter what your life goals are -– to be a superstar, to raise a family, to make a lot of money, to complete a very specific task –- you most likely want to be successful in reaching that goal. I recently came across this Frank Lloyd Wright quote: “I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.” Reading this, I realized that this man is on to something. When striving toward a goal –- especially of goal of success –- it’s important to break it down in key elements (and, like Wright, I prefer a nice group of three) in order to make it easier to conquer our goals. Wright has chosen three really essential elements when it comes to talking about success, which is why I’m happy to look to his wise words for guidance. 

According to Wright, in order to be successful we need to be the following: dedicated, hard working, and devoted. I know those words are broad and general (and, upon reading them, make me feel slightly overwhelmed) so I’m going to break it down for us even further here. One of the best ways I’ve found for meeting a goal is to have a plan, an outline of the steps you have to take to make it to the goal line. Since I don’t know what every reader’s individual goal is, I can’t break it down too specifically, but I can take it one step further than Wright has and help you lay the foundation for whatever goal you’re hoping to achieve. Below I will discuss in more detail the three things you need to be to be successful.

To Succeed You Must Be…
 

…Dedicated.

If you really want to succeed at whatever your goal is, you must dedicate yourself to it. I don’t know about you, but every time I’ve done something in a half-hearted way, without putting in my full effort and abilities, it never turns out the way I want it to. Whether you’re working towards a successful job, relationship, blog post, or any other goal, if you’re going to do something and you want to be successful at it, put your whole heart into it. Dedicate yourself. Dedicated your time, your mental energy, your blood, sweat, and tears. If you don’t dedicate yourself to your goals –- and I mean really give it your all –- you’ll always wonder if you gave it enough, if you could have done more. If you give your goals your best shot and try as hard as you can, you will always carry around with you the notion that you did the absolute best you could –- no matter what happens.

  

…Hard Working.

No matter what your goal is, hard work is a MUST. There is no way you’ll be successful (unless you’re just incredibly lucky…and can that good fortune even be called success?) if you don’t put in a lot of hard work. When I’ve read biographies of well-known geniuses or even books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, I realize just how much hard work goes into being a success. Sometimes I read stories or articles and people’s lives are depicted in such a way that it seems they just fell into the perfect job or relationship or situation. However, when you dig deeper, it seems that hard work is almost always a factor in success of any kind. It might seem like opportunities just fall into others’ laps, but often these opportunities took work to get to and/or they are merely jumping off points for lots of hard work. It’s not easy to work hard at something that’s not a guarantee, but it’s always worth it. As I said above, it’s much better to know that you worked hard at something –- as hard as you could have –- than to look back on a situation knowing you could have worked harder.

  

…Devoted.

To be devoted is very similar to being dedicated, but it is slightly different. One part of devotion is loyalty. You must be loyal to your goal. Other things will come up. New challenges will arise as you’re working towards your goal, but you have to stay devoted to it, no matter what difficulties you face. Life is always filled with unexpected interruptions. Some of these interruptions and distractions may get in the way of your goal momentarily, but stay focused. If you must deviate from your goal, return to it as quickly as you can. Often when I set a goal I find new goals along the way. These distractions shouldn’t necessarily be ignored, but they should be set aside in favor of your original goal. Keep your eye on the prize and, with all of your hard work and dedication, you'll be able to turn the dream you're devoted to into a reality.

When I first came across Wright's quote, I was instantly in awe of how fitting it was for someone like me, someone who is constantly trying to reach goals and make her way toward her own definition of success. So often we think of the word "success" and, while we know we want it, we have no idea where to begin. Wright's quote helped me to really think about what it is that I want to focus on and, more importantly, what I need to do to really make my goal into a success. While I don’t think these three points are the only things necessary to achieve a goal (I really do believe that a positive attitude is something we must also have!), I do think they are very important and provide a great foundation for anyone with the hope of success. I honestly believe that Wright –- who achieved quite a few goals himself! -– was on to something when he chose these three factors for defining the price of success. For many this is a high price indeed, but the payoffs can be well worth the work when your goals are finally met.

What do you think is necessary to succeed?
What do you do to help make your own success happen?

Comments

[Diggy - Upgradereality.com]

Heya Dani!
I hope that you had a great weekend :)

I really like this post! It so resonates with what I believe. Nothing is easy and there is no free lunch, but with hard work, devotion and dedication it is possible to do anything you set your mind to!

Ciaociao
Diggy

[J.D. Meier]

That is a perfect quote and I like the way you framed and elaborated on it.

[Eduard @ Ideas With A Kick]

Good points Dani. Dedication, hard work and devotion make a powerful combination. I will add another one: knowing what you want. :)

[Positively Present]

Diggy - Definitely had an awesome weekend. Hope you did too! I'm so happy to hear that this post really resonated with you. Nothing worth having comes easily and it's really all of the hard work, dedication, and devotion that makes it worth it.

J.D. - Thanks! I'm glad you liked the quote. Wright was a pretty talented guy and I'm happy that I got to expand a little bit more on something he said here.

Eduard - Glad you liked the point. I really like the one you added too. You have to know what you want before you can be dedicated and devoted to it!

[amber renee]

love this photo AND article. :) well done!

[Tess The Bold Life]

Persevere stands out for me when I think of success. Only the strong will survive!

[Motivational Speaker - Craig Harper]

Absolutely Right Dani! Dedication, hard work and devotion are an awesome combination. I also think you need to have a plan. Start with the end in mind. It helps us to get clarity and perspective about what we should do and where we should focus our energy now.

We need to know where we want to get to so that we can apply our dedication, hard work and devotion!

Keep up the great work Dani!

[Benno]

Well done Dani! The magic ingredient I get out of this is: Focused, caring and loving discipline to one's own attainable dreams. I get side-tracked so easily, and woosh, years gone by. Cowbells are ringing for ya across the waters! Sparkles, Benno

[potenta]

Great quote, brilliant article.

[Positively Present]

Amber - Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it!

Tess - That's a great word to think of when it comes to thinking about success: perservere. You're so right that those that don't give up are the ones that ultimately succeed.

Craig - I agree with your comment about having a plan. It's great to know what you're working toward. Without that, it's hard to be focused.

Benno - It's definitely very easy to get side-tracked, which is why it's so important to remain dedicated and keep up the hard work. It can be very tough to be focused but, as Tess mentioned in her comment, it's so important to perservere through all of life's distractions.

Potenta - Thank you! I'm so glad you liked the article and enjoyed reading Wright's quote. Thanks for the comment!

[Faizal]

Hey Dani, nice post. I really believe if we're dedicated to something, we'll get it done. Even if there seems to be now way to do it, we'll make or find a way. Oh yes, and we must work hard at it.

[Melissa Donovan]

These are definitely three essential ingredients for success. I always think of devotion as dedication to something you love. Devotion implies adoration (to me, anyway).

[Suhasini]

You are absolutely right buddy, for success one needs to follow all these things, thanks for this artcile.

[Positively Present]

Faizal - Thank you! I agree. When we really put our heart and souls into something, we can accomplish anything.

Melissa - Like you, I think devotion implies adoration and that really does mean you have to love what you're doing. It's pretty hard to achieve goals you're not truly passionate about.

Suhasini - You're welcome! Thanks for the comment. I appreciate the feedback!

[Paul Maurice Martin]

It would be wonderful if one's attitude were the only factor behind success. But that's unrealistic - witness the fact that four of the seven billion people on our planet are poor, living on four dollars a day or less.

Or just listen to the news. Bad things happen to people with good attitudes every day, and to infants and children.

A good attitude is always valuable and always helpful under any circumstances but is no guarantee of positive outcomes.

[Maria Brophy]

Dedication and commitment - yes, these are two strong factors to success-factors that some people miss. Commitment means having no plan B, only the one plan. That way, you have no choice but to make it work. (There's a saying: Most people give up right before they find success.)

Great article!

[Positively Present]

Paul - I agree that attitude isn't everything and there are tons of factors that can effect one's ability to succeed in life. That being said, I do think having a positive attitude really helps when it comes to success, no matter what one is up against.

Maria - Thank you! I think it's very interesting what you wrote about not having a Plan B. Most people seem so focused on having a back-up plan that they may not realize that this fall back option is actually hindering their progress. Very interesting point!

[Syd]

I think that my dedication, perseverance and stubborness were the keys to my success. I tried harder than most, worked longer, and had a positive attitude. It has served me well. And those assets are even strengthened by working on my recovery in Al-Anon

[Positively Present]

Syd - Thanks for sharing your experience regarding success. I'm in agreement that it was probably your hard work, your dedication, and your positive attitude that moved you toward success. And, as you noted, you also spent time developing yourself personally through Al-Anon, which I'm sure upped your chances for success.

[Sam cooper]

I really appreciate this post. In order To be successful our desire to be one should not end up in only as a desire. but rather we should be prepared to work hard for it, commit and be devoted to whatever we will face along the course of our journey heading in the direction of sucess. I can say i'm guilty about this, sometimes...i desire to be successful but i am sometimes resistant and lazy to do the work for alot of reasons. whther it be feeling of worthlessness, selfesteem, and more. Thanks for this great post.

[Positively Present]

Sam - Glad you liked this one! I also find that, as much as I want success, I can be lazy when it comes to actually working toward it and this is something I'm really trying to work on. Thanks for the comment!