Navigating the maze of success

At one point or another every one of us has asked this question. How to create success? Hundreds of books have been written on this subject. Each book enumerated a series of steps to be followed and promised success. I followed all the steps, took the advice, like most people, success still eluded me. Something was missing.

It wasn’t until I shifted my perspective that clarity arrived. What if the key wasn’t in what I was doing to achieve success and rather in what I needed to stop doing. What was I holding on to that was coming in my way?

The answer showed up in Advaita Vedanta, an ancient book of Indian wisdom. It talks about an analytical method used by sages to understand the truth of a subject, by clearly seeing what it is not.

Neti Neti -Not this, not that.

A series of exclusions, to strip off all the unwanted layers, to reveal the truth beneath. Applying this principle to success, I understood, I was creating my own hurdles.

What if the secret to success is in the thoughts and habits that hold us back?

• Fear
• Self-Doubt
• Nay sayers
• Memories of my past failures
• Give up attitude
• Self-defeating thoughts
• Comfort zone
• Dependence
• Attachment
• Negative company
• laziness

To name just a few. Dropping these negative thought processes and striping away the layers that cloud our mind, success could be achieved by each one of us.

A coach helps you work through this mental maze, and vision clouding where we constantly end up in dead ends. Once these layers are removed, what remains is success.

Like Michealangelo famously said, when asked about the beautiful statue of David, “I simply carved out whatever was not David, what remained was David”. Success isn’t always about adding more but stripping away the unnecessary.