The 3 E’s of Success is the fifth in a series of articles to help you reach your goal. What are your goals? I know you thought about it! You know, it is your dream, wish or resolution you made! Before you can get to where you want to be, you need to know where you are going. You wouldn’t get on a bus, train or plane without knowing where it was going.
Background
I am curious about everything! I think I was always that way. Not in a tinkering kind of way, such as taking things apart, but in an analyzing way. I love to watch or observe people. I was always intrigued with people and what they did. I would observe and ask a million questions. It was my way of carrying on a conversation. People are thrilled to answer your questions and I learned a lot. It helped me overcome my shyness and helped made me comfortable when I started dating. Everyone likes people who are interested in them.
This is just one of the reasons teachers like classroom participation. When I taught Exploring Careers, I wanted my students to investigate what they were interested in as a career. To help stimulate that exploration, I invited speakers from various professions to come to class to answer their questions. Hopefully, it motivated them to explore and learn more about their career. If you are going to spend forty (40) or more years in a career or you want to start a business, you should spend the time finding out about it. You can avoid a lot of mistakes, missteps and save time by doing your research.
Explore
Babies are the original explorers! When babies crawl and pick up things they are exploring and investigating everything they see. They pick up everything and put things in their mouths as though everything is food. I guess plastic, wood and metal all taste different. They are exploring! When did we lose this skill? Part of success is taking a risk by exploring things. You find something you believe in such as a career and you acquire the skills and experience to be successful. It starts with exploring something you are interested in.
Are you born with the curious gene? Yes, but some people lose it. I encourage my students to read about things they are interested in. When I was very young, I read biographies of famous successful people and a lot of periodicals. I tried to become informed on a lot of different subjects. It helped me figure out what I wanted to do and something to talk about with other people. I could ask better questions and get better answers. Success is never just one thing; you are preparing for success in many ways.
Education
We are talking about the broad definition of education. I am referring to training beyond high school such as four year college, community college, military, trade school, apprenticeship or on the job training. Some of you are going to point out the exceptions, however I would disagree. The exceptions are self taught successes.
Some form of training is always necessary. Whether it is formal such as school or informal, you need it. You can take classes online, read specific information online or as specific questions and get answers online. There are a lot of resources that can help you become successful. There are books, websites and magazines that teach you how to become successful. There are no excuses because you can learn what you need.
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are born not made! Although controversial it has an element of truth. First and foremost, you must have the desire to be an entrepreneur. This is no casual career where you just do your job and go home. Being an entrepreneur is a 24/7 career! Do something you enjoy because you will be good at it. If you are good at it, you will be successful. Invest your time to find what you like to do, it is that important! So before you open up that restaurant, high tech company or pursue a medical degree, think about it, investigate it and try to experience it before you go into it.
I really recommend talking to entrepreneurs or people in a chosen career to learn first hand what it is like. Let’s face it, the movies give us a very glamorous version of an attorneys, doctors, businessmen or people in general. Ask questions and spend the time learning about these careers. Get a part time job in your career interest, job shadow or an internship. Whether you are paid or not should not matter, it is your investment in your future. Having your business is fun, lucrative and requires a lot from the business owner. Don’t take it lightly.
Final Thoughts
This is the fifth article in the series about success; I expect to publish throughout 2012. There will be twenty-six (26) of them, one for each letter of the alphabet. The 3 E’s of success are explore, education and entrepreneur. I think everyone wants success in life; business and career; however it takes a concerted effort to reach success. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” Tommy Lasorda sums it up much better than I can!
I started this series because I run into so many people who have difficulty reaching success. They want to know my secrets! So I thought I would share them in a format that will be most helpful. I also think this format may make it more interesting and easier to use. My goal in these articles to provide useful and interesting information that will help you succeed. The 3 E’s of Success is now a series.
Photo by: taylorkydd
I think the E’s have been the best post of this series to date. Explore, education and entrepreneur are probably three of the traits that almost every successful person has. Now I’m looking forward to the rest of the alphabet to see if you can outdo yourself.
Thanks, it is challenging going through the alphabet, but I hope to keep you interested.
I agree with you! I enjoyed this article immensely. I love exploring and I love being an entrepreneur. This article gave me even more inspiration to continue pressing on! Thanks!
Thanks, I really appreciate it! What do you think of the series so far?
Do you really think entrepreneurs are born and not made? I like to think that people can change and personally, I didn’t develop any sort of entrepreneurial spirit until I was in my 20s. I’m still not an entrepreneur, I guess but I consider my real estate investment a business.
I think you either have the entrepreneurial spirit or you don’t! You can learn managment, marketing, finance or even entrepreneurship, but either you are an entrepreneur or you are not.
I fully agree with you on these three; exploration, education and entrepreneurial spirit are vital.
Thanks, they certainly are my E’s of success. A person who wants to be a corporate CEO probably would include executive instead of entrepreneur.
Well, a pop star or an artist might include ‘exclusive’ but I like yours. Probably some similarity there…
I expect everyone would personalize this post which is fine with me. I enjoy providing a viewpoint and starting a discussion.
Three very valid points, and they all go hand in hand. Those that aren’t willing to explore usually are not very entrepeneurial or interested in expanding their knowledge base. If you have all 3, you are all set!
Can’t wait to see ‘X’ and ‘Q’… :)!
Oh, and I love the math human test!
They all tie in the overarching them of success and some lead to each other such as explore and education.
This is the second of the series that I have actually read. i would agree with those three as being keys but I don’t know if I completely agree that Entrepreneurs are born. I can see that in many cases but others it seems to come out of nowhere. Learning and continuous learning (education) is a must.
It is very hard to develop an entrepreneurial spirit unless it is there. You have to have something to build on.
Isn’t it interesting how each of these concepts tie directly to the next? It seems that exploring leads to becoming educated (as you become interested) which gives you the confidence to become an entrepreneur.
You’re right they do tie together with the overarching theme which is success!
It is so true about baby’s insatiable curiosity. The little guy is unstoppable. He has so much energy too. 🙂
He prbably sleeps 16 hours a day! he should have a lot of energy. I love how little children can be content with a box, they will spend hours playing with it.
I really like your definition of education. It actually focuses on building skills and knowledge as opposed to acquiring pieces of paper. How did your students enjoy interacting with people from their prospective careers?
When I did an evaluation, I was surprised that they enjoyed that aspect because I had to encourage them to ask questions.
Again, I love this series. I think your education point is interesting. Education is important. Having degrees is different from learning what’s needed to give you an advantage. Too often we focus on credentials without getting the underlying knowledge base and even network that is needed for success.
Education was supposed to be any training after secondary school. It could be college, trade schoolor even an apprenticeship.
So many people are focused on me me me… It’s always refreshing to meet someone who like to listen. That’s one of the characteristics which drew me to my husband.
Since I ask millions of questions, I would like to think I am a good listener. I think you should listen at least 50 of the time.
For me exploration is huge. Not only do you open your eyes to other opportunities but you also learn a lot about yourself in the process. When learn about yourself and what you need and want, you can work to make those things happen.
I recommend my students explore careers that they are interested in before you spend years preparing for it.
I think you’ve done very well with the E’s KC. Exploring resonates with me too. I wish I had done more of this as I was entering the job market years ago. One aspect I really enjoy about the blog community is reading how others make money. There’s a world of possibilities out there.
Education preaches life long learning. I think it is a valid argument. Since I started blogging, I read a lot more than I ever did before. Writing requires some research, therefore more reading. Interacting with everyone stimulates your mind too. I would like to keep this up for another 25 years. I will be the oldest (90 years old) blogger in the world!
I totally agree with you about exploring (careers and such) and asking questions. Most times, something might seem great until you realize all that it actually entails. 🙂
I is one way to investigate and determine if the fantasy of a career is really what it will be. For example, many people want to own a restaurant, but it is one of the hardest jobs out there. We focus on the fantasy and the fun part vs. the real work involved.
Terrific post and advice. Are you looking to compile this series into a book? Speaking of A-Z, there is a blogging challenge where bloggers write everyday using a different letter in their theme. Great stuff as usual!
When I started this series, it was just a series. I am thinking about a book, if enough people like it. I researched writing a book before, publishers like a preset audience. They do not like risk. I guess I will wait and see………