Many people have talent, but few of them become stars in their chosen career field. In Courage To Be Great (2015), two top women in advertising show you how to develop resilience and work hard to help you succeed.
This book is for
- Anyone who wants to improve himself and achieve his goals;
- People interested in the psychology of success;
- Entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to develop themselves.
Linda Kaplan Thaler is the man behind some of the most famous ad campaigns of all time. She is the president of Publicis Kaplan Thaler and the CEO and co-founder of the Kaplan Thaler Group.
Robin Koval is the President and CEO of the Truth Initiative and co-founder of the Kaplan Thaler Group. She is a lecturer at the Steinhardt School, New York University.
Get up from the sofa and start working towards your goals.
You may sometimes wonder what your life would be like if you followed your dreams and became a rock star, a famous athlete or a billionaire businessman. You may think you are incompetent, but what is hidden in the book will show you, talent alone is not enough. What you need is courage. It's what made Michael Jordan so successful in basketball, it's what made the iPhone and why you know Oprah Winfrey. So, what is courage? It is the ability to work hard and the spirit of not being afraid to fail, the factors you need to grow if you want to reach your dreams.
Through the pages of the book, you will learn:
- Why daydreams can be dangerous;
- How Jia Jang's failure made him famous;
- How to write a bestseller at 98.
Talent won't help you complete difficult tasks or keep your passions.
Have you ever felt that other people excel without even trying, as if it was enough just to rely on their own talents? In schools around the world, some children never study and still get great grades, while others have to work hard just to keep up. But the truth is that people who rely solely on talent will not get far in life.
In fact, talent is always appreciated. Because in talented people often hide great potential. But from a young age, they realized that just rely on talent and not on hard work. On the other hand, less talented people are always striving for success and self-improvement. Not only do they look for areas in which they can do well, they also look for subjects and jobs that interest them.
So while it may seem that talented people are the winners in the world, it's actually the hard-working people who are the most successful. That's because while talented people dream of something, others are trying to achieve it.
Consider a study comparing graduate students' study and career habits in New York by psychology professor Gabriele Oettingen. Data analysis has shown that students spend more time daydreaming about their aspirations than embarking on a search for opportunities after graduation.
Working hard will get you the job you want. The two authors of this book run an advertising agency. A few years ago, they took a risk to win a big and new customer – the giant restaurant Wendy's.
What is their strategy? They tried continuously 70-80 hours a week for many months, they even worked at Wendy's to learn about the operation of the restaurant. Yes, they won the contract and Wendy said the reason for choosing this agency was because they worked the hardest – the best choice.
“Courage is real sweat, not bragging.”
At some point, you need to take risks, take on the unknown, and believe in your own abilities.
When wire-walker Nik Wallenda crossed the Grand Canyon on a 1.4-meter line, he slipped and there was no safety net to support him. But he didn't fall. Instead, without anything to support him beyond his abilities and highly trained skills, he kept the ropes.
And like Nick, there will come a time during your career when you need to lose your safety net. Then, if you have grit and passion, your career will flourish, and if you want to successfully sail through the tides, you will have to leave your comfort zone. This is the moment the brave begin to calculate the risks and venture into waters they have never known.
But that doesn't mean you should jump off anytime. For example, say that you are the CEO of a company and are eager to enter a new market: first of all, you need to anticipate risks and competition, because there is nothing worse than not assessing the risks. potential can bring down your company.
However, if you fail, courage will help you embrace and learn from the failure itself. For example, you may be an aspiring entrepreneur but you can't face rejection from investors. Yes, rejection can hurt, but you can always shine brightly with it.
Take Jia Jiang, who left her safety engineering job and started a new job inspired by Steve Jobs. He was repeatedly rejected and was on the verge of giving up, but instead he started the project 100 Days of Rejection . Jang tries to do a different task every day for 100 days, like ordering a portion of shrimp at a restaurant instead of the whole set or trying to borrow $100 from a stranger, etc. This helped him overcome his fear of rejection.
When this project went online, it made him famous. He now has a book deal and appears in many TED talks.
Success does not come overnight, patience is essential to meet your success goals.
Did you know that Van Gogh only sold one painting before he died? This came as a shock, as his paintings captivated art lovers around the world and fetched record-breaking auction prices. Although he did not receive any recognition during his life, Van Gogh still painted over 2000 paintings!
How? It is thanks to dedication and courage. Most projects take a long time to execute; to make real progress, and even longer to find success. As a result, many people lose patience, lose motivation, falter, and give up. But there is another option. You can keep motivating yourself over the long haul by finding joy in every small achievement you achieve.
Attorney Mike Moore, who is best known for his legal battle against Big Tobacco, has spent years calling on states to speak up to hold tobacco giants responsible for lung cancer deaths. . But his efforts were repeatedly rejected by various attorneys in different states. However, over the years, he slowly built up a group of righteous advocates, and spurred on by small measures of support from many other lawyers, the court eventually ordered the drug companies to leaves pay about 100 billion to 46 states, including medical expenses.
But some people feel that as they get older, there is less that can be done. Therefore, it is important that you stay motivated, do not settle. Make good use of your time by making an annual plan. Don't let your "never" attitude sway your decision. It's never too late to start doing what you're passionate about. Captain James Henry, who grew up on a farm, became a fisherman again, and did not learn to read until he was 92 years old. Not only that, he wrote a best-selling autobiography entitled The Voice of a Fisherman at the age of 98.
Success means learning from one's own experiences and adapting to new ones.
We've all been through setbacks and we all know overcoming it isn't easy. However, those failures do not define who you are, what is more important is what you do with them. You can see how poker players learn and grow from mistakes. It's not just true for poker players.
No matter what you do, there will be times in your career when you will face setbacks and obstacles that seem insurmountable, but within each challenge there are opportunities to learn and improve.
For example, Eleanor Longden was diagnosed with schizophrenia after she said she heard voices constantly playing in her head. That stems from a deep-seated fear: fear of failure and fear of abandonment. But she didn't let her illness defeat her. Instead, she started studying psychology, earned a doctorate, and is now a member of a global research and support organization that helps people with the same condition.
However, overcoming adversity does not mean that courage comes only from fear and loss. We are braver than we think. In fact, many people fail to achieve success simply because they are afraid of failure. They can gain courage by accomplishing their goals. This way of thinking allows aspiring people to accomplish the seemingly impossible and conquer every challenge they face.
In other words, they don't fail because they dare to fail. Oprah Winfrey was fired by her boss right from her first job as a host, because her boss thought she was "not for TV shows". But she clearly didn't give up. She was determined to succeed and we all know she is now one of the biggest TV stars in history.
Helping others will increase your courage.
Have you ever wondered how thousands of years ago humans were able to survive, even though that era was full of factors like disease and wildlife? The key to their success is teamwork: helping each other, sharing food and improving each other's quality of life is essential for the development of a first-person community.
That holds true all day. In fact, helping others will increase your motivation. Have you ever reached out to help an elderly woman with a heavy basket? Have you ever given a homeless person a blanket, shelter or food? If you've ever done those things, or anything like that, you've probably felt like a good person and felt gratified by the experience. Yes, that very satisfaction will increase your courage.
Consider Navyn Salen, once a housewife with three young children. One day she decided to help malnourished African children. She spent years building NGOs and the necessary support to expand her network. After years of investing, she has managed to serve more than 2.5 million children in 44 countries.
You see, helping others will lead you to do things you never thought possible, while also helping you build your personality and meet new people. Helping others will make you connect more deeply with your own emotions and personality.
You will find that you can act selflessly and kindly. You will also meet and collaborate with like-minded people, which will help your work advance quickly. Not only that, once you meet someone who wants to share your values, you'll want to instill your courage in them. It's easy, just teach others kindness, resilience, and perseverance. As a result, a tremendous momentum will be spread to those involved.
“With courage, there is no such thing as how far you can go, how much you do, or how successful you are. So what are you waiting for?"
Summary
The book's message to you:
The key to success is courage: patience, passion and hard work. So instead of daydreaming and relying only on your natural abilities, start and work towards your goals. Use failure to your advantage, take calculated risks and brave the unknown.
Helpful advice:
Run a marathon and give up junk food.
A lot of people wish they could run a marathon, but many of us still use Saturdays to lounge on the couch with a bag of snacks. But it will be very easy to work towards your goal if you are willing to fight your snacking habits. Just make a workout plan and every time you feel tempted by fast food, reach for running shoes instead of food!
