Success Demystified!: Break the Myths Around Success and Achieve It

By Carmel Oladipo

For many centuries, there have been many myths surrounding the concept of success. One of such myths is that we all know what it is and can describe it in the same way. Another is that, despite our best efforts to achieve success, only a handful of will actually manage to do so. Yet even after all this time, one question still remains: Why can’t we all succeed? Within a thoughtful discussion on success; what it is, and how to achieve it, Carmel Oladipo weaves his personal experiences with thirteen practical tips, to present a compelling piece of material that is guaranteed to help his audience become aware of their potential for success. While leading readers down an insightful path, Oladipo unveils his unique perspective on the concept of success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Nov 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684709649

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OLADIPO

Copyright © 2019 Carmel Oladipo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0966-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0965-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0964-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019913533

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 09/16/2019

In loving memory of my dad, Samuel Oladotun Oladipo, for being an inspiration for these truths.

And to my lovely wife, Dola and the boys, many thanks.

Introduction

Success: An Unending Web

of Myths and Mysteries

Let’s face it: there is an intricate web of myths and mystery, well woven, around the concept of success and how it can be achieved. One of such myths is that we all know what success is and can describe it the same way. Another is that even though we all are trying to achieve success, only a handful of people will ever actually manage to do so. These two represents some of the myths and mysteries that have baffled many people over the centuries. Through all of these, one question, however, remains: Why can’t we all succeed?

Quite early in my professional life, I was privileged to hold a top position in an ambitious start-up company. I had been recruited not long after I became a qualified accountant, and still in my twenties, I was raring to go. A few years after the business launched, we suffered a major setback and were left staring down a barrel. A mix of high-risk investments and bad business decisions sounded the death knell for this young organization. The modest equity brought in by investors had turned negative, and a threat of closure hung over the business following its insolvency and a burgeoning number of creditors.

The owners had decided to liquidate what was left of their investments and officially close shop, threatening to leave me and the other staff without jobs. If nothing had changed, we would have been forced to join the already saturated job market in Nigeria in the early 2000s. I’m not sure if it was the sheer exuberance of youth or just a brazen desire on my part, but I boldly approached the board of directors in a desperate appeal to their better judgment, requesting that they re-consider their stance and give the business a second chance.

It took a lot of convincing, but they eventually agreed to keep the doors open and adopt a wait-and-see attitude. In their words, "We will eagerly wait to see you perform a miracle." At that meeting, they had passed a resolution not to inject any additional capital or fresh investment would be introduced until there was a significant change in fortune in the business.

With great resolve, coupled with a strong focus and determination, a miraculous turnaround was achieved. In a matter of months under my stewardship, my team and I brought the company back from the brink of imminent collapse. Under my close supervision, the company was eventually not only back in the black, but had been transformed into a profitable, multimillion-pound investment.

However, as the years wore on and the business became more successful, I observed among the key shareholders, a growing shift in focus and a divergence of opinion. I began to realize that my view of success was significantly different from everyone else’s. For instance, I had attempted to hinge my personal perception of success on striking a unique balance between the creation value for the owners and the improvement of staff welfare by negotiating better benefits package for the employees. And while this was done with a keen eye on the company’s status within the industry, everyone else had other ideas. And much as I tried, it was difficult to reconcile the different points of view.

As I grew older, I had observed that the experience that I gained from my time with that company had completely shaped my outlook on success. Not only had it strengthened my belief that anyone can succeed if they are willing to, but its had also made me realize that I can’t assume that success means the same thing to me as it does to everyone else.

In this book, I attempt to make you aware, more than anything else, of your potential for success if you can do away with some of the myths that are wrapped around it. You will be exposed to my unique and personal perspective on the concept of success specifically, and some other important complementary postulations that will help you succeed. In addition, you will be enjoined not to be discouraged from trying by the fear of failure, but to focus on learning the right lessons from your endeavor, in order to aid your future attempts. This is in the knowledge that, if you’re willing to try, you can ultimately make positive outcomes are inevitable.

Within these pages, I touch on some discoveries I’ve made in my quest for success in every area of my life. And though I neither consider myself the strongest nor the most gifted of persons, I have however come to appreciate my willingness and ability to successfully see things through, irrespective of the challenges that may lie in my way.

Just as how everything in life starts with a clear understanding of meaning, so also, will your journey to success have to commence with a comprehension of the term. Thus, what does success mean to you? You will discover that your ability to come up with a personalized answer to this seemingly innocuous question could very well be all that is required to kick-start your journey to success. It is my hope that this book will help show you the path.

Happy reading!

Carmel Oladipo

Chapter 1

The Concept of Success

Action Tip: There is no single and perfect definition of success.

Everything in life starts with meaning. To clearly understand and, more importantly, fully appreciate anything in life, it is essential not only to become aware of its existence, but also to know what it actually means. The reason for this is quite simple: in the natural order of things, knowledge usually precedes understanding—and later, of course, acceptance and appreciation. Put succinctly, we tend to know, before we understand.

Knowledge (or awareness) will usually pave the way for understanding, if and when we desire it. Only after you have known (or known of) something can you reasonably attempt to gain in-depth understanding of it. This rather innocuous notion holds firm because the process of deriving benefit and enjoyment from anything in life can logically commence only with a clear (and possibly, unbiased) perception and comprehension of what it really is.

To fully understand something, we must know it by name (or nomenclature) and understand its meaning, as a precursor to discovering its nature and characteristics. Virtually everything we do in life will commence with its meaning, because to even start the process of dissection, we need to know what something is called. Then we can seek to probe its core and unravel the mysteries within it.

To properly launch this insightful foray into the concept of success, we will first and foremost need to affirm an appropriate take-off point, which will be, as explained above, the identification of a perfect definition of the word success. Only then can we dive deeper into an insightful understanding of success. The problem, which might surprise you, is that although understanding success may be rather straightforward, defining it is not quite so easy—at least by my own reckoning.

Yes, you read that correctly. The plain truth is that although dictionaries, encyclopedias, and thesauruses boast of sections dedicated