I have been wanting to share this advice with my readers for quite sometime now. I was struck with a lot of confusion about my life and especially career. At the face of it, everything looked glorious, I was contended but deep down I felt I can't continue like this for long. I wanted to explore much more, read a lot of books, travel, create more content for the blog, become fitter.

I was getting restless too often, as if there was no sense of patience in me. I could feel the restlessness, the agony and lack of clarity. I realized I needed a break. And my favorite place for a retreat has always been my grand parents home. My grand father is the man I resorted to when I had some strong internal dilemma.

Now let me tell you! My grand father was a success of his own kind. A teacher who couldn't stop even after his retirement, he carried out huge activity in the field of social work after retiring. In his dressing he is an old fashioned man but his mind never was or is. He grew up as an atheist in a conservative Telugu Brahmin family. He got a job at a very young age as a teacher and reached the top by being the school head master.

What's so glorious in it? You may ask. There is a lot, he was a man known for his honesty and ethics. His conviction and spirit were undying. There are of course a lot of school teachers & head masters but he was treated as an unique person.

He pressed his arguments against rote learning decades earlier before this debate was brought into the mainstream, emphasized on the need to encourage creative learning amongst his students, conducted & organized various competitions to fill them up with competitive spirit, earned thousands of students who still remember him for his uniqueness, recognized by the politicians, felicitated many times. Yes! He was merely a school teacher who still lives in an 150 years old house and until a few years back drove his old scooter. His reach might not have been massive but created an impact in it's own right.

That my friend is success! I don't mean the accolades or praises but rather the satisfaction and contentment that one can achieve and feel at 85. He saw so much in life, many people passed by, many serious situations passed by. Nevertheless, his ideal and purpose stood with him to define and shape his life and success.

That's precisely why I felt, I had to share some of his valuable words & perspective. That's one of the ideals of TPM too, to bring various perspectives together at one place. We all have our metric of success and it differs from person to person. This advice is definitely going to come in handy.

Let's Go!

1. Patience:

It is a very important trait. Lack of patience often leads to restlessness, it could even target your self - esteem a great deal at times. You could have chosen any profession or you might have your own perception of success. Whatever it is, Patience is the key. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.

2. Observation:

Whatever might be your goal, has it been done before by someone else? Or, if it is something novel; are there any persons in that field that can contribute something to your journey? Observe! Observation is the second key. We are all learners for life. Be open to learning, observe their methods & strategies, get inspired. And then try framing your own personalized approach based on your circumstances, understanding & ideals. Observe and learn.

3. Dedication:

I believe success is not a miracle, but rather an outcome of dedicated efforts with consistency. If dedication is the vehicle, consistency is the fuel. Lack of consistency is going to halt you. Dedication with consistency is the third key.

4. Application:

Nothing comes to life without taking action. Success can only come to you when you apply the things you have learnt, by practicing patience, by dedicating yourself to learn more, create more and do more consistently. Without application everything else is useless. That is your fourth key!

We are living in a world where everything is glorified and often exaggerated, thanks to the internet. While it is a positive space to become the better version of yourself, sometimes you might just get bogged down too. Remember, no social media account, person, or thing can define what success means to you personally. You must have your own metric to evaluate yourself. When you are clear about that, you start feeling good about yourself, you start being more dedicated and are on your path to achieve your own standards of success.