The Three Keys to Being a Successful Person

Persistence, self-belief and dreams are part of what it takes

I once knew a guy who worked at a factory and always wanted to be a writer. On his days off he would bang away at his typewriter in the hope of fulfilling his dream. There was one big problem, his partner did not approve. Time and again she told him he was wasting his time. Eventually, she took to hiding his typewriter in an attempt to stop him from doing what he loved to do.

At the end of each day, this otherwise happy couple would sit down to eat and chat about their respective days at activities. As she chatted away about her day at the local nursing home my friend had the idea to base a play around his partner’s work. He wrote it up and secretly entered it into a playwriting competition and won! What’s more, he was approached by the producer of a very successful TV soap opera who happened to be in the audience at a showing of his play.

The producer offered him a job as a scriptwriter paying him a king's ransom to do so. He eventually became the storyline head and had a very long, successful career in television.

His persistence had finally paid off and his partner never hid his typewriter again.

I had another friend with an unsupportive partner who would have done anything to stop him from being a successful thespian. He was a very successful performing artist and wanted to make the transition to being an actor. She was so insecure she felt that if he became successful he might run off with some handsome, suave actress. So she set about telling him he wasn’t talented enough and that he should just give it up. However, one day she changed tack and told him she had met a BBC TV Producer who might be able to help him get on and she organised a meeting for him.

On the day my friend went to the Producer’s house he was full of hope, at last his partner seemed to have accepted his desire to hit the silver screen, but the meeting did not go well. The Producer told him he was wasting his time and that he should just concentrate on doing a normal job to support his family. In fact, the woman told him in very rude terms that he did not stand a cat in hell’s chance of being a successful actor and chased him home duly admonished and crestfallen.

It later came to light that the Producer was nothing more than an ex-BBC cleaner and had been enlisted simply to dissuade my friend from pursuing his life’s dream. His partner felt that if he wouldn’t listen to her then maybe he would listen to somebody who was somebody. When he discovered that the meeting was all a charade he was gutted to realise how much pain his partner was prepared to cause him to stop him from acting.

Needless to say, the marriage did not last and my friend broke free and went on to become a very successful actor with many successful television programmes and films to to his credit.

The lesson to be learned here is that the three keys to success are….

Persistence…..never let anybody try to knock you off course.

Self-belief……..believe in yourself, even if nobody else does.

Follow your heart……never let go of your dreams.

And if your partner tries to convince you that you have chosen the wrong dream, perhaps you should come to terms with the likelihood that you have more likely chosen the wrong partner.