Be Hungry……The Most Powerful Ingredient of Success!

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A young man asked Socrates the secret to success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. 

They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue. Socrates pulled his head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air.

 Socrates asked, 'What did you want the most when you were there?" 

The boy replied, "Air." 

Socrates said, "That is the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it." 

There is no other secret.

 

When you are hunger to achieve success, full fill your dream is so intense like the person in the story gasping for air, there can not be any obstacle, any circumstance, which can stop you from achieving your goals. 

Les Brown Said:

If you want to do something worthwhile in your life, you got to Be Hungry.

It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

Hungry people are willing to do the things others don’t do.

People that are hungry are Relentless

People who are hungry are unstoppable

People who are hungry refuse to give up

No excuse is acceptable, I am going to do whatever it takes

”I don’t like to be comfortable. Once you get used to it, it's hard to give up. I’d rather stay hungry”… Arnold

Many people in this world want to achieve success in life and have the capabilities to do so. But they are not able to realise their potential. 

What stopped them from living the life of their dream?

These people were not Hungry. Their dreams lacked commitment, passion which comes when you are hungry.

 They did not want it bad enough.

The hungry person is never satisfied with the status quo. He relentlessly moves forward to become the best version of himself.

He does not take no for an answer, no obstacle in his path can discourage or stop him from achieving his goals. He may fail in pursuit of his dream but every time he fails he will rise like a phoenix and will not rest untill he full fills his dreams.

Success is Our Enemy!

Sometimes success is our bigger enemy than failure. For when we succeed we become satisfied, we become comfortable, which stops us from achieving more success. Hence, to be hugely successful, you must keep your hunger alive.

Don’t be satisfied by your past accomplishment. 

All mentally tough people have an insatiable hunger. They are hungry to achieve more, become a better human beings. They are not in competition with someone else outside of them. They raise the bar for themselves higher and keep pushing themselves to become the best version of themselves.

What is Hunger?

Hunger is the voice inside you which tells you to persevere when you are exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally. It is the force that allows you to dig deeper into your reserves, which you never knew existed, to achieve your goals. 

It is the fuel for you to continue working when you don’t feel like working. It is the force that propels you when you are lying down in the dust of failure with broken bones and spirit. It forces you to get back on your feet and keep fighting. 

Without that hunger, you are no better than a log which does not have any life or energy. 

My greatest fear is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure—Abraham Lincoln

Universe/ Providence provides equal opportunities to everyone, it is the man who is hungry seizes the opportunity and turns it into a gold mine. He even convert the half-chances into an opportunity.

People with hunger do not rest till they have achieved their goal. They become better every day. 

They are obsessed, they have a purpose, they are mavericks. Their hunger makes them persevere when they hit the wall, it destroys and fear of failure.

 For them, failure is not an option. They don’t settle for second best, they want to be the best.  

What Fuels Your Hunger?

Nelson Mandela had a hunger to see a free South Africa, a country where all people would be treated equally irrespective of the colour of their skin, ethnicity. He was hungry to get black and coloured people out of the repression they faced at the hands of the oppressive Govt. 

For that, he spent 28 years of his life in prison. He had to make many sacrifices in his life. He spent his youth in prison, he could not see his children grow. He was not with his wife and children when they needed him the most.

The oppressive govt tried to break him down in the prison. He was humiliated, beaten down, urinated upon. Despite all this humiliation, physical and mental trauma he did not give up his dream of seeing an Apartheid free South Africa. 

Our hunger is fueled many things. The biggest ingredient to boost your hunger is to have clarity on your Why?

You must be very convinced why you are doing what you are doing. If your why has come from deep down inside of you then no one will be able to shake your faith in your goal. 

But if your why has been thrust upon you by someone outside of then you will forsake your task the moment you hit a roadblock.

The why should be so strong that it consumes you, it becomes larger than life. It 

One does not achieve big things in life by having small goals. To achieve great success in life one must have gargantuan goals. 

Michael Phelps wanted to break Mark Spitz’s record of winning 7 Golds in an Olympic, set by him in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

In his book NO Limits- Phelps writes:

I nerve set out to be the second Mark Spitz

I only wanted to be the first Michael Phelps

Phelps writes: When I am focused, there is not one single thing, person, anything that can stand in my way of doing something. There is not. If I want something bad enough, I feel I’m gonna get there.

 

When you want something bad, you are ready to pay the price. No obstacle is big enough to stop you from achieving your goal.

Michael Phelps missed 3 days of training from 1998-2003. One because of the snowstorm, two more due to the removal of his wisdom tooth. He was at the pool, be it weekend, Christmas, photoshoot, etc.

It is difficult to stop a person who has such commitment, burning desire, and hunger to achieve his goal. He is relentless, he burns the bridges so that he is not tempted to give up when the going gets tough.

Australian sprinter, Cathy Freeman had decided that she wanted to be a runner when she grew up. She even posted the words “ I am the world’s greatest athlete” posted on her bedroom wall. She did become an Olympic and world champion in the 400 m race.

 Hunger means you are not ready to settle down less than what you are capable of doing, achieving. 

Hunger comes from deep inside, it is not like a bubble in the water which bursts, when pricked by obstacles of life. 

I am a visiting faculty in one of the training institutes. One day while having lunch with the CEO and other members of the institute, as we were discussing on various subjects, suddenly the topic meandered towards hugely successful industrialists and businessmen. One of the guys asked,” How much more money these guys want to earn. They already have their coffers full, why don’t they just retire and enjoy their life.”

The CEO replied,” At this stage of their life, money is not the driving force for these guys. They have plenty of it and some more. They guys are hungry to create something, to realise their full potential and give back to society.”

How true he was. It is not only the money which is the driving force for people to achieve massive success in life but also serving others and making a meaningful difference in people’s life.

Look at Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and other successful people who are in their advanced age but are still go out every day and put their necks on the line. They don’t have to do it, they have more than enough money to lead a more than comfortable life. It is their hunger, to create value for other people, serve other people which drives them every single day. Bill Gates, is spending a huge amount of money on philanthropic work.

How to Remain Hungry? 

When you want to start a fire, you need fuel to ignite it. Once the fire is on it will last as long as there is fuel in it. So to have prolonged fire, one must keep adding fuel to fire regularly, lest the fire goes off. 

Similar way we need to keep adding fuel to the fire within us to keep us moving towards our goals. 

Here are a few strategies:

• As Jim Rohn said- Everyday stand guard at the door of your mind. Be aware of your thoughts. Shun away any thought which leads you to complacency and self-doubt. Immerse yourelf with empowering thoughts all the time.

• Associate with people who you want to become. If you hang around with mediocre people that is what you will become. Choose your company wisely.

• Review your progress every day. Are you on course or are you deviating? Do the course correction and come back on course, if you have taken a detour.

• Have high standards for yourself. You will work to achieve the standards you set for yourself. Set the highest standards for yourself, don’t settle for less.

• Play to win- don’t play not to lose. Expect yourself to win. Have an unbeatable mindset.

• Be ambitious- keep raising the bar for yourself. Once you have achieved a goal, set yourself a higher and better goal. Don’t sit back and bask in the glory of your past achievements. It is ok to enjoy the fruit of your success for some time, then pick yourself and set out to achieve the next goal. Be like a rolling stone that gathers no moss.

• Look beyond you. Don’t just think about your own success, also the people around you. Help them to achieve their goals. Make an impact on the world around you.

 

Be hungry for success, hungry to make your mark, hungry to be seen and to be heard, and to have an effect. And as you move up and become successful, make sure also to be hungry for helping others – Arnold Schwarzenegger