There are thousands of books, articles, blog posts about success. Some of them are inspired from the own experience of the author, while others are theoretical „recipes” for being successful.

A wise man said the following about success: „Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”.

I prefer to define success by having great results, as individual or as part of a team.

Along the years I identified a set of elements which compose my own recipe for reaching great results. These elements helped me along the years so they might help you too. My recipe is made of the following:

Element No. 1 – Discipline – A self-explanatory definition for discipline is available here. For me discipline means arriving at work early in the morning (as often as possible), joining meetings on time, informing on time when you can’t attend a meeting, completing on time the action points assigned, completing on time the tasks and at the level of quality agreed. Discipline sets the order in any type of environment.

Element No. 2 – Passion – Is close related to discipline. Passion is that special something that enables you to make a difference for yourself, your team, your product, your company. Passion is one of the most important differentiators between meeting expectations and exceeding expectations. It allows us to consider any challenge as an opportunity to grow and develop new skills.

Element No. 3 – Environment – The quality of the environment on which you activate on a daily basis is very important. A wise man said that a bad system can ruin even the noblest intents. In an open and less procedural environment employees are less stressed, more creative, more empathetic, more engaged, and more passionate about what they do. In a rigid and procedural environment employees are less creative, completing tasks in a robotic way and most of the time waiting for the working schedule to end.

Element No. 4 – Curiosity – It is strongly related to passion. Once you have a passion for your main area of expertise then you are for sure curious about new developments, trends, techniques, or the areas of expertise related. Being curious enables a continuous improvement mindset which leads to a very good understanding of any relevant concept. Curiosity sits on the driver seat in the learning vehicle.

Element No. 5 – Pride – As in the feeling you associate with the work you are performing. It is the pride in the good sense, so to say. It isn’t the show off kind of pride. Combined with the above 4 elements it drives you along even the most complex challenge and keeps you on the right track.

The Take-Away

In the rush of the corporate world we live in today we are tempted to make success a short term objective.

Having great results is a long term objective.

It requires a lot of work, perseverance, and last but not least a vision. It is an iterative process in which each iteration is an opportunity for improvement, for getting back to the drawing board and redesign everything if needed.

Once you are there you will notice it quite easily, in your state of mind, in your team spirit, in the vibe within your organization.