Success: What Does it Take?

Andrew (Andy) Kemal
Founder/Principal Consultant at INFIX - (Kemal Consultants, LLC)

Everyone wants success, everyone thinks they know how to get it, everyone seems to be on the same track, yet everyone is NOT successful. What’s the secret? What does it truly take to succeed in business and in life? Having a positive attitude and a solid plan isn’t enough. You need to add a dash of fearlessness, a pinch of gratitude and a whole lot of never-back-down fight. But the major quality you need to fuel your passion is DRIVE.

Seems everyone wants to be an entrepreneur these days — you know, the super successful seekers of a "boss-free" destiny. But while there are obvious hurdles to face, one of the biggest challenges lies in overcoming the fear of jumping into a business in the first place, says Inc. If you’re like most people who dream all day about launching a successful business while watching the clock tick away at their boring day jobs, get in line.

What separates the truly successful people, what really separates them from the crowd, what really makes them get up off that chair, quit the day job and start their own business, is drive. It’s the ability to learn how to manage their own fears and push forward despite all the warning signs of adversity on the road there. It’s not easy. In fact, it’s scary as hell. But that first step is the hardest, and also the bravest. After you embrace the fear of failure and get behind the wheel, you’ll be well on your way to success.

But it doesn’t stop there. What’s the real thing that sparks greatness and feeds success? Intelligence? Versatility? Opportunity? Innovation? Luck? Money?

Well, it can be all those things, but what it’s really all about is DRIVE. Are YOU driven to succeed?

What is Drive and Why Do You Need It?

Turns out drive comes as a package deal, bundled in with determination and passion. Some people might say "drive" is just what gets them out of bed in the morning, but really everyone has that, right? We’re talking about the kind of drive that makes someone work out at 4 a.m. because that’s when they have time, or the drive to pick themselves up after the 10th failure to try again, or the drive to pursue a life-long dream to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with only a "special backpack" on their back.

When you think about it, becoming a successful entrepreneur can be a harrowing ordeal. Entrepreneurs take huge financial risks, work long hours and practically torture themselves trying to build a business from the ground up. So why do so many people go through with it? Entrepreneur says it’s because, despite the hardships of the experience, there are small moments of joy and satisfaction that can be derived from the ordeal, with substantial rewards reaped at the end. What those rewards are will vary by person, but they can range from money and control to flexibility and legacy.

Yeah sure, it helps to have all those other little qualities too, like a little luck, or book smarts or the ability to spot an opportunity when you see one. But for the most part, it’s drive that pulls all the qualities together. Drive is what makes you seize that opportunity by the horns, drive is what makes you try harder next time, drive is what makes you win after a lucky break, and drive is what keeps you moving forward when you just want to crumple in a heap on the floor.

Think about it, when you achieved something in your life, anything, what made you win? That soccer medal in school, that first job you snagged after college, that love interest that blossomed, that nice new car you saved for…what was it that got you there? That determination you had was “drive”… the goal was in your sight and you wouldn’t let it go. I tell my kids all the time: get as good of an education as you can because that gets your foot in the door. However, drive is what makes you push through and conquer the castle. So, above all, be driven!

Drive is curiosity and determination. It’s that need to know and be something different. It’s all about having a passion and a goal. It’s your mind, heart, body and soul being in motion towards that goal, like all living things in the universe.

I like to define DRIVE as: Determined Resolute Inquisitive Voracious Enthused

Be all these things and don’t be passed over by others. Don’t be the rock in the road. Grab life with DRIVE to realize your dreams, choose goals, have focus, make changes, try, learn, modify, retry, conquer, and ultimately succeed.

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