Rise and grind! We've got dreams to reach: My perspective on success
I was asked on Facebook by a friend as to what drives me to be so successful, so I figure it would be really good idea to write that as the blog I’m typing to you right now. You see, the thing is that I feel like I haven’t ran up the entire ladder of success yet - far from it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of my successes and when I sit back and think about everything I’ve come from over the past few years, it makes me happy. From being offered record contracts from two major music labels to the wonderful job as an IT engineer I hold now to finishing high school in three years, I’ve done a lot. But I will always feel like until the major life milestones are reached - get married, buy a house, make a million dollars, my work isn’t really over until then.
I’m the type of person to wake up every single day and realize that there is potential to create or do something amazing with every second that goes by. While I do put my character in question sometimes, there is an undying motivation in me that never burns out, that always keeps pushing for better and to do things better and more concise. Granted, a lot of this is controlling that fire to not make simple mistakes that are easily ignored by having a ton of motivation. There are a few major reasons that keep me motivated, and it’s to each his or her own that works, so just follow along with me.
The first is my present and the people in my life at the moment. I’m very grateful for every single person that has taken a single moment to believe in me and to like what I’m doing, because I came from a background where I’ve literally had my peers and the people that are suppose to be knowledgeable and advising say that I was nothing (more on this later). It’s important going through life that everyone close to you wants to succeed, and if you take that belief and you amp it up to five thousand to where you really do feel like every time you go out there and you have something to prove to people, you’ll do great.
In the face of any challenge or any potential thing that can make you nervous, I feel like it’s important for people to realize that they only can do their absolute best; that the pressures of the world suddenly don’t matter and that the only thing you can really show people how beautiful your mind is and how great the things you’ve achieved are. Don’t let crowds, public perception, negativity or anything scare you. Understand that in order to keep yourself motivated, you need to have a mentality you really can succeed in anything you do.
The second huge factor that keeps me motivated is my journey, seeing how far I’ve come and the people that have watched me grow and everyone who said I couldn’t do it. Now, I’m not out to fully get revenge and buy assassins to go kill the puppies of the people who doubted me - far from it. Besides, who wants to murder puppies? Anyway, part of the motivation to be successful isn’t necessarily wanting to prove doubters and haters wrong. It’s actually all about feeling comfortable in your own skin and being satisfied with what you can do. This took me a very long while. In fact, today there are still moments where I still am not satisfied with what I can do, but I tell myself it really is okay. You have to remember you’ve come very far from where you once were. Just see it as the old you would see you as a whiner because he wouldn’t even be close to what you’re doing.
But yes, as for the whole “proving people wrong” mantra that so many of us become motivated on: it does provide a certain drive that can make you very good. You see, in high school I wasn’t exactly the most liked person at one point. It literally became an endless carousel of under the breath talk and dirty looks; some of which I admit that I was Kanye enough to deserve. But that’s not it at all...the resonating moment was when I literally had a certain teacher of mine tell me “You’re never going to be anything because you’re stuck in between someone that wants to be intellectually respected and someone that wants to be cool. You’re a wannabe.”
To this day, that resonates with me entirely and that is a part of my focus and drive. To look back on that and process the thought of someone saying that to me, all that really drives me to the point of is wanting to succeed. Wanting to be able to just smile at that person knowing the fact that I’ve attained so much of myself because of the so called “wannabe” mantra I put on. Wanting to have an entire resume backing behind my name so that whenever someone looks at it, they instantly go “Hey, this guy has done things. A lot of things. No one can deny his accomplishments.”
I’m happy to have gained some of the friendships from people I wasn’t exactly close with in high school, and I’m sure my ten year reunion will be filled with successful people. But that’s a lot of what keeps me going, not the fact that I’m out to prove people wrong but that I do everything that I can to secure every standing within myself and with others. I’m sure somewhere in the world, some person that was associated with someone I know now is talking dirt, but am I really suppose to care? Absolutely not. People who don’t exactly matter to you’s opinions should not matter. Use that as a drive.
The last critical driving point that keeps me wanting to be successful is the future. Let’s face it, there’s not a day in our lives that we don’t think about what we’re going to be a few years or a few decades from now. No one wants to picture themselves in a tough position, so we analyze the past and spend the present doing everything we can do ensure a better future. I work hard and grind every single time I can and need to because I envision that beautiful future - I want my girlfriend in a big house in Irvine with ten puppies, an eighty inch TV, a white picket fence and a nice car in the garage. I want to be able to pay my Mom back for all the sacrifices she’s made for me in fine jewelry, to buy myself a Rolex and to ensure that any son or daughter I end up fathering has the best childhood ever. To give people things that I could never have and to give myself better things than I ever imagined. I want that future, I endlessly tell myself I do, and there is no limit to myself and how hard I will work to achieve all of that.
I don’t need a “system” with a basketball player’s name on it and pretend like I’m succeeding, I don’t need quotes that Wiz Khalifa didn’t write. When it comes down to it, my mentality is one that runs on the fact that the bar for achieving things in this world absolutely doesn’t exist for me. I can do anything in this world because I have been given and blessed with the most amazing people in my life, a past that only allows me to do better, a present that asks I give it my all, and a glorious future waiting for me ahead of it. This is what keeps me motivated, and I hope I did something for resonating and reaching thoughts in your head too.
Go achieve everything, friends. I've got music to write, computers to work on, and the world to change.
