Do you want to know the secret of success?  Well, frankly, there any many factors that impact one’s success.  In addition, the definition of success varies from person to person.  In this site we cover many topics that influence a person’s overall success, including Financial Success, Personal Development, Health and Fitness, Social Responsibility and Spiritual Growth and Ethics.   But if I had to choose one, and only one, advice to someone who wants to be successful, here is what I would recommend:  Focus on what you do best.

Focusing on what you do best will bring to light the best in you.  From a Financial Success perspective, it is easy to see how this works.  When you focus on what you do best, you will perform at a much higher level than otherwise.  If you are performing at a higher level, no matter what economic activity you are involved in, you will garner higher rewards or compensation for your output.  All other factors being constant, your Financial Success will increase when you are best compensated for your efforts.   So, for example, if you are very analytical in nature, and love to solve problems that require attention to detail, but you hate having to convince people to do what you want them to do, you would do well as an engineer or software programmer, but you would be a lousy salesman.  In this case, you shouldn’t trade you engineering career for a sales job, jut because the guys in sales seem to make the bug bucks.  You will make a lot more money being a good engineer than being a lousy salesman.

Focusing on what you do best impacts other areas of success beyond your finances.  We naturally do well the things that we enjoy doing.  If we are enjoying the activities that we involved with, we are happier overall.  And happiness has a significant impact in our health, our confidence, our willingness to help others, and so one.  If you do what you enjoy the most, your stress level will decrease.  Reduced stress decreases you risk of heart disease, helps you control your weight, makes you more productive, etc.  All these benefits in turn increase your confidence, which makes you more successful overall.  It is like a snowball effect that leads to a better life and increased success.

So, if focusing on what you do best is so beneficial, why isn’t it done more often?  Sometimes people don’t really know what they are good at.  Sometimes they have a hunch, but they don’t know how they can utilize their talent in an income generating activity.  And sometimes people know exactly what they are good at, but they have an overriding reason to do something else.  This could include reasons such as a need to please parents or a spouse; a choice to go into another field because it pays better; or just not being patient enough to let natural talents develop into a profitable activity.

Let’s examine in more detail the situations listed above.  It is not uncommon for young people to wonder what they should do with their lives.  Some people are lucky enough to know their calling from a very early age.  You probably know someone that has always had a definite and consistent answer to the question “what are you going to be when you grow up?”  Unfortunately, those are the exceptions.  The rest of us have to work hard to find out what our natural talents are and how to apply them.  There are many tools out there that try to help answer this question.   One commonly used is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which tries to map your personality in four dimensions based on your answers to a number of questions and then tries to identify occupations that would be a good fit for your personality.  The effectiveness of MBTI has been questioned by its critics.  Robert Todd Carroll, author of The Skeptic's Dictionary, is one such critic who questions the scientifc validity of MBTI.

Taking a personality test such as MBTI may have some merit in the initial discovery stage of your search for what you should focus on.  However, be aware that the model is not perfect.  Better yet, realize that there is a possibility that the answers you get from MBTI or some other test may be completely wrong, and may send you down the wrong path.  The true answer to what you are good at and, therefore, what you should focus on lies within yourself.  No one but yourself knows the true answer to this difficult question, and sometimes there is really only one way to get to the bottom of it.  It is called experimentation.

When you are young and trying to discover your true calling, it is very important that you try different things and give yourself a chance to at least find out what you are not good at, so that you can avoid that mistake in the future.  Go out and do different things.  Volunteer to work in areas that you normally would not consider.  Get part-time jobs and internships in areas that you might be insterested in to see if you really enjoy the work environment and the lifestyle of the people that are actually doing the work.  Expose yourself to lots of different areas of work and pretty soon you will start painting a picture in your mind of what you like and what you don’t like, what you do well and what you don’t.  Give yourself enough time before you settle for an answer.  Don’t be afraid of failure.  Remember, at this stage in your life you are not trying to get the perfect job, you are trying to experiment and see what works for you.  So even if you think you found the perfect answer, keep on experimenting, to see if you can find an even better answer.

Now, what if you didn’t experiment when you were young, and now you feel stuck in the wrong job and hate what you do.  It is never too late to make a change.  Obviously, as you get older, you will have bigger responsibilities and making a significant change will be more challenging.   But you must not give up.  Your search may require more careful planning, but you never have to settle.  A great way to experiment as a mature adult is to volunteer.  Join an organization that is looking for help in the area that you want to experiment in.  It does not have to be a perfect match, it just needs to be close enough so that you can see how you feel about that type of work.  For example, let’s say you would like to try a career in sales, and you think you might be good at it, but you are not sure.  How about joining a fund-raising activity for a non-profit organization?  If you are able to convince people to contribute to the organization’s cause, this may be an indication that you have good sales skills.  But if the thought of asking people for money sends chills down your spine, maybe you should consider something else.

What if you have always known what you want to do, but you have never had the courage to make a change?  Maybe you settled into a well paying job and you are afraid of giving it up for something that, at least in the short-term, you will not be well compensated for.   Remember, you only have one life to live.  You owe it to yourself a chance to live the best life you can live, and that means doing what you enjoy.  Chances are, once you start doing what you enjoy you will end up making more money than you make in a current job that you do not like.  You just need to give it some time, so that you can be noticed, and your new activity can grow with you.

You should not make a significant change without proper planning.  Seeking your true calling cannot be an excuse for being irresponsible.  Plan out the financial aspects of your change.  If it means you will go through some short-term hardships, how will you manage it so that your basic needs are met?  Discuss it with your loved ones, and build a support mechanism so that you will receive encouragement when you need it.   Make the change slowly if you can.  Instead of quitting you job on impulse, maybe you can start your new activity on a part-time basis, and once you feel you have enough momentum going for you, you can then make a complete transition.

Let’s say you have always dreamed of being your own boss and starting you own business.  How about starting with a part-time home based business before you quit your day job?  Find out what it takes to open the business, and just do it!  Soon you will find out things that you didn’t know before.  Maybe running a business is a lot more work than you imagined originally, and you just don’t have the stamina to do it.  Or maybe that idea that you thought was so great is already being used by hundreds of people, making it pretty hard to compete.  Or maybe you will fall in love with the business,  realize that this is exactly what you have always been looking for, and decide to pursue it on a full time basis.  You will not know until you try it.

Whatever situation you find yourself in, keep on searching.  Don’t settle for anything less than your best performance in the area that you enjoy the most.  And remember, the answer you have been seeking may be just around the corner.