Table of Contents
Success is something that doesn't have a defined definition. It varies for each person as we all have specific goals and inspirations in our life. One thing that is success for someone can't be success for another one.
But, the major aspect here is that every person wants professional and personal success. Students want personal success to achieve academic success and prepare themselves for the future. Teachers and school administrators need professional success to grow and add innovative technology and methodologies in the classroom. But, how can they achieve it?
Well, this article will define it, and give you some tips and success stories so that you can start your journey toward professional and personal success.
Understanding Success
Conard Hilton explains success as something that keeps a person moving and enables them to take action.
Personal success can be anything related to your health, education, family and personal life. For example, you can set a goal “You will exercise for 30 minutes by the end of the month”, or you can decide, “You will learn basic cooking skills by the end of the month.” These types of goals and achieving them come in the personal success category.
On the other hand, professional success includes everything related to your profession. It can be learning or enhancing your skills, saving money for financial stability, learning technology related to your field, changing careers or advancing in them. For example, you can make a goal, “I will learn this AI tool in fifteen days” or you can make the goal, “I will save 5000 dollars by the end of this year”. So, achieving these types of goals or struggling toward them could be your professional success.
Seeking success is in a person's nature. But, not everyone can achieve it. So, we need to take some steps regarding it.
Setting Clear Goals
The first thing you need to do is to make your goals. You will not get anywhere in your life if you don't have goals even if you are working hard in life. Because goals will tell you the final product you need to achieve. So, you can make plans and work wisely to reach that final point.
The best strategy to reach goals is to follow the SMART Goals strategy. SMART means small, measurable, accurate and realistic tasks or steps you need to take within a specific timeframe.
For example, a boy wants to learn about the history of art. This student can break down his assignment into small steps. In the first step, he would have to research the history on Google. The second step can be visiting museums or other historical places. The third step can be taking any online course or reading theses regarding this topic. He would give himself a deadline for achieving a specific step. This strategy will keep him on track.
To make this step easy, you can use different goal-tracking AI tools. A prominent example of this is GetZing which can help you in goal tracking, habit building and collaboration with other similar people.
Continuous Learning and Development
Continuous learning means expanding your knowledge and skill set through structural and nonstructural ways. It can involve taking a formal course, attending any workshop, observing your top classmates or peers, exploring unfamiliar topics, reading books and having a casual conversation with mentors and experts about your skills.
Students can do this by researching articles and books related to their course, taking online courses from different platforms like Coursera or visiting new places and meeting new people. Teachers can also do the same by attending workshops, reading and exploring.
Various online tools and platforms can help you in continuous learning. Some recommendations are edX, LinkedIn Learning, ResearchGate and CodeAcademy.
Building a Support Network
The crucial thing in the success journey is to have a mentor. You can face a lot of challenges and setbacks in your life. You may need advice to deal with specific issues. So, having a mentor will be beneficial for you.
They should be someone on whom you can rely. They should be an expert or wise person that can guide you whenever you are stuck. It can be any of your seniors, teacher or family member who is sincere with you.
Moreover, a person should get help from their family and colleagues. Your family and colleagues can celebrate your achievements and make you accountable for your shortcomings. So, it will keep you motivated toward your goals.
For peer collaboration, you can use different AI tools, Whatsapp groups and Facebook groups.
Developing Essential Skills
You should develop soft skills and technical skills in your life because they will help you in achieving your goals. According to a recent LinkedIn survey, 92 percent of hiring managers say that they look for soft skills in their ideal candidates. So, you should learn communication, collaboration, critical thinking and project management skills.
Time management is another soft skill that you should develop to achieve your goals. You should learn how to give appropriate time to each of your goals by avoiding burnout. For this, you can use the Pomodoro technique, time blocking and planning your tasks on a weekly and monthly basis.
Along with it, you should develop technical skills too because technology is emerging in every field. To compete with it, you need technical skills.
Maintaining Well-being and Balance
The journey to success can be tiring so you need to take care of your health. Because it is a crucial aspect of professional and personal success.
For this, you should regularly exercise, get proper sleep, drink plenty of water and eat nutritious food. With it, you should also take time for meditation and learning stress management because it is crucial for mental health.
You should also take time for your hobbies that give you joy and relaxment.
Leveraging Technology for Success
Technology is a crucial part of the 21st century so you should integrate it into your life. Students should learn how to use productive apps, collaboration apps, online learning platforms and digital journals for success in their academic lives.
Teachers should also learn technology to integrate it into the classroom. It will make the course interesting and interactive for students. Moreover, different AI tools such as Learning Studio AI can help teachers in creating online courses. Different tools can also help them manage the tasks and create a curriculum for students.
Overcoming Challenges and Setbacks
You can face a lot of challenges in your success journey. Your strategies can fail, you can feel frustrated in your journey, or you may struggle with time management and learning new things. Some people can face issues due to limited resources and funds.
For example, a teacher wanted all of her students to get the Honor Roll. But, even after trying different strategies, a lot of kids either fail or get very low grades. This could be a great setback for teachers.
So, how to overcome it? Well, you can do it through your Growth mindset, resilience, seeking help from mentors, observing your peers, and putting the strategies you learn into practice. In case of funds, you can use free online tools, courses and resources. Google is free. LinkedIn articles are free. Coursera is free. So, use them.
Coming back to the teacher’s example. She can observe and learn where she goes wrong. She could ask mentors to guide her. She can observe other teachers who succeeded in achieving their goals. This observation and learning can help her in overcoming the setback.
Success Stories and Case Studies
Liz Murray became a homeless girl at the age of 15. She lived in a homeless shelter but it didn't stop her resilience toward her goals. So, she graduated from high school as a valedictorian and attended Harvard University.
Erin Gruwell’s goal was to make some change in her students’ lives. She kept working on it and ultimately she developed the “Freedom Writers” program. Her program is a success throughout the world.
Hellen Keller was deaf, mute and blind. But, she had a passion for learning and luckily got some great mentors. She kept on trying and ultimately became a successful author.
So, these success stories tell us that setbacks are common in every person’s journey. But, passion and resilience help them in overcoming the obstacles.
Conclusion
Madison Mckee says that we continuously define and redefine success in our lives. It is a sign that we are continuously growing and achieving our goals to become successful. So, we should think about what success is for us and start working on it to progress in our journey. So, define your success and apply strategies in your life and in your students’ lives to become successful.
Comments are closed.