You've probably heard of Stephen Covey and his bestseller, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". While his 7+1 habits (the 8th released quite recently) are good on their own, I have taken the liberty to take 5 principles from another time tested system, tested their validity on other existing success stories and evolved them to universally apply to this day and age.
These are universal and timeless principles, and brutal truths that do justice to those of us who crave to go beyond knowledge to wisdom and finally find and ultimately fulfill a grand self-defined purpose in life.
Without further ado, here are the top 5 theoretical principles of success:
1) Truth
Live, breathe, speak and act by the truth. Instead of living your life by the standards of something you had never understood, be true to yourself (a common phrase usually meant to tell people to follow their whimsical desires) and only think, say or do those things that you truly, deeply mean.
“This above all – To thine own self be true”
At the same time, always seek the Truth behind any and every matter, situation or circumstance. Do not be swayed by appearances or facades. Do not allow your most important decisions in life be influenced by conclusions that you had come to without rigorous investigation and validation.
What is the reality behind this situation? What is the truth of the circumstance? What is realistically my place in this scheme of things? What can I really influence? What is outside my control? What had truly caused me to be in this place and time?
2) Justice
Justice means a certain sense of harmony or fairness. Fairness does not necessarily equate with absolute equality. Justice means placing the right things at the right places. Just as you should be fair to others, you must be fair to yourself. Why should you deprive yourself of the right to fairness? Why should you be a martyr for others who may not want to appreciate you?
More importantly, just because someone or a number of people had treated you unfairly or short-changed you before, you should not do the same to others, not even to those who had offended you. Justice also comes about as a natural extension of awareness of the truth.
3) Knowledge
Gain whatever knowledge is relevant and required of you at any moment. The first step to realizing the truth is to first gain knowledge about matters you are currently dealing with.
Get the right knowledge from the right sources in whatever it is you are pursuing. Usually the best sources of specific knowledge are those who have successfully done before what you are seeking to now do.
4) Wisdom
You need to translate what knowledge you have into wisdom and the only way to do that is to practically apply the knowledge you have and gauge for yourself the details, nuances, personal evolutions and permutations that best suit you.
You can also gain wisdom from those who have successfully applied the knowledge you are exploring, and getting them to guide you,lead you or mentor you. Here, the wisdom of humility is apparent in becoming a student to these wise teachers – and they can be anybody or come in the guise of any vocation.
5) Purpose
Ultimately, all the values and principles up to this point have existed to serve the purpose of having a purpose. The 5 principles are listed not in any order of ascending or descending importance, but the principle of purpose can be said to be the overall overarching principle that encompasses the rest, made up of the rest of the parts, existent in all the other parts, at the same time. Purpose here apparently means having a purpose for your life, however you choose to define it.
You should take as much time as possible to define your purpose, constantly evolving it to suit current situations. The ultimate, universal end purpose of all humanity is to live a life good enough to warrant a sense of satisfaction and peace with oneself before death.
Think of death, not as something that haunts or looms over your life, but as an excuse to have a grand unifying purpose that satisfies you philosophically, emotionally and psychologically, as an excuse to make the best use of the time you have to live.
There you go. The 5 theoretical principles of success that are universal and timeless. The above pointers cannot do enough justice to the depth and scope of the principles, even extensive essays or books cannot achieve that. But only when you truly understand these principles will you be able to take full control of your life and ultimately your success.
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