Nuts & Volts - February 2004

In The Trenches

by Gerard Fonte

The Business of Electronics Through Practical Design and Lessons Learned

In The Trenches

Being Successful

Everyone wants to succeed. But, some people are better at it than others. Is it really the person? Or is it how they address their objectives? We'll look at the skills needed to be successful. And, we'll see that anyone can improve their success rate once they understand the steps for success.

What is Success?

E l e c t r o n i c s NUTS & VOLTS

F o r

A while back, I was one of a number of people asked to participate in a "Career Day" at a local high school. Before each of us started to discuss our particular area of interest, the principal addressed the students and defined success in terms of four clear and simple steps: 1. Define a goal; 2. Decide what you want to spend to get that goal; 3. Make a plan; and 4. Execute the plan. I was surprised to realize that I'd been saying those same things (but with much less eloquence).

However, before we start on these steps, there is an important point that has to be made. Success is a subjective measure. Success is what you think it is ... not what someone else thinks. You don't have to get straight A's to be a successful student. You don't have to make billions of dollars to be successful in business. You are a success if you think and feel you are. (Of course, this doesn't preclude others from trying to change your mind.) Remember, success is achieving your goal, not someone else's goal.

E v e r y t h i n g

Defining a Goal

The first step is probably the

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most direct and simple. Nevertheless, it seems to be overlooked with regularity. It's just defining what you want. Naturally, there are many things you want. Some are general like fame and fortune. Others are more specific like getting a raise or a promotion. It's important to know precisely what you want.

Unfortunately there are a fair number of people who want to be successful but don't really have any goals. These people are really walking through life without any direction. They think that if they go to work each day and do their job that, in the end, they'll be a vice president of the company. Unfortunately, this is not a very likely outcome.

These people are depending on others to bestow success on them. Success is not something given by others, it is something you craft for yourself. Let's be realistic, if you had to choose between giving a promotion to yourself or some other worker, you'd most likely choose yourself. Being selfish is human nature, and there's nothing wrong with that (within reasonable limits). Everyone wants to win.

It's important to choose a reasonable goal. I'm 5' 5" tall. So, it's not reasonable for me to have a goal as a center for the New York Knicks basketball team. But, gymnasts are generally about my size. So, being an Olympic gymnast might be a reasonable goal for me (when I was younger — much younger — that is). Most academic or business goals are usually less restrictive. There are a lot more doctors, lawyers, and engineers than there are professional athletes. For most people, it's usu-

ally easier to learn how to be a better doctor or engineer than it is to learn how to rebound better.

This leads to one of my favorite sayings which is, "Anyone can be anything they want, but no one can be everything they want." What I mean is that is that anyone can exceed well beyond what they think they are capable of. (If they work at it.) So, lofty goals are not unreasonable. You can be a senator or the vice president of a large company.

It's also important that your main goals in life be flexible and open-ended. Athletes often have problems because they don't see past the Super Bowl or World Series. How do you deal with a career that ends at age 27?

These are very competitive people who can no longer compete. They have no more goals in life. If they don't make new ones, they can have serious problems.

After you make a million dollars, will you stop? If you do, what do you plan to do after that? If you don't stop, how many millions do you want? (Making a million dollars is fairly straightforward — more on that later.)

I was talking to a business friend. She seemed serious when she said she wanted to retire and live the rest of her life in the sun on a beach. I asked her how long she really thought she could do that before she went nuts from boredom. She paused and said, "You're right. Probably a month." Do your goals fit you? That's important, too.