What is Critical to Success?

Most often than not, when you ask a child or a young adult still in school or just stepped out of school, if what do they want when they grow older or after they finish studies, the typical answer you get (in general) is they want to be a successful somebody someday. I remember when I was still in my early years, I want to be a nurse (adapting my mother's line of work), then suddenly, an interior designer even up to this date. I equate success to having a notable profession that pays you well in order to compensate one's needs and wants, for one's future and the future family to come. Success to me means being able to afford the present quality of life and being able to adapt to it. However, when I started to have a job that is really not my liking but fared enough to sustain my needs and wants and being able to help in the expenses in my parental's house, I was not contented yet and felt there's still missing. All the while I thought, having a corporate job that entitles you to dress respectably in the eyes of people, having the privilege to be in rubbing shoulders with big wigs in the business society and earning and spending more than you ever expected, is what I thought success is all about. Having been employed for more than a decade with the same field of work that I came to eventually love, success in life comes with being able to fulfill or experience the passion you are into. It is not only equated with the monetary value it brings but there's a sense of fulfillment you earn for one's self. I believe too that with proper education, you will be able to make your dreams come to reality. When I say education it doesn't have to be in the four corners of the classroom but by deriving it from the environment we are in. They say experience is a great teacher because it teaches you the realities of life. I am not saying that to be in school is not important as it is in life. In school, we are taught of the skills, the theories and the basics that we ought to know. In life, we are face to apply these things we learn from school and contribute it to the society. 

You may ask, how about those inventions of the likes of Bill Gates (Microsoft), or Steve Jobs (Apple) and 21 more others, lead them to become the world's multi-billionaires now and successful in their own field even if they are dropped out from school? I say, even if they didn't get a degree and finish school, they never stopped learning. They find their own way to push their passion and beyond their limits in order for them to excel in their chosen field. They have failed, stumbled and fell many times. But they didn't stop learning and never bothered of the difficulties they may meet along the way. Success is being able to attain one's goal in life. There is a sense of fulfillment, contentment and self-achievement in all aspects of one's life. 

For the new graduates out there who are joining in the bandwagon of the corporate world, never stop learning. Find new opportunities to further enhance one's skills. Better go out in your niche while still pursuing your passion in life. In more than ten years in the administrative kind of work, the basic skill that I realized is needed is to know how to operate or use the computer. It is the very basic skill in order to be accepted in a job. I never learned overnight or everything the basics of using the computer during my school days. But as I get emerged in my job, I continue to learn and get new concepts through time. In today's generation, the easiest and fastest way to communicate with the rest of the world is through using the computer. With all the technologies sprouting around, you can never be left behind. There are even online training classes designed for professionals who would wish to further enhance one's computer skills. Education/learning, responsibility, passion and skills are aspects critical to determine one's success. If you do not have these attributes, success is unlikely.