“90% of the battle is showing up. The other 90% is persevering after you show up.” — Guy Kawasaki
Introduction
We, human beings, have just one goal in our lives: to be successful. Fame, money, success, and popularity catch our attention. Moreover, this is what we strive for.
However, do we ever see the other side of it? Do we know how tough it is for people, who are successful and at the top, to stay there? It is not a piece of cake that you attain success today, and it will be yours forever.
People on the top must work harder than those who are trying to reach the top. The reasons, as to why staying on top is tougher than reaching there, are plenty. Some of these have been discussed here.
Reasons
Here they are:
#1 Lack of perseverance:
Throughout our career, we have been taught that our journey successfully ends at the top. Nobody ever talks about how staying there is one challenge. We always see the glamorous, brighter side of being on the top. However, pay no heed as to how hard these people have to toil to maintain their position. Because of this lack of knowledge, we are unprepared when we reach the top.
#2 Lack of motivation:
While one is striving to reach the top, there is a goal. A goal to be successful and at the top. This goal is the inspiration or motivation for us to move forward. In other words, when we have a goal, we work towards it. Once we reached that goal, there is nothing more to look forward to. Also, reaching the top needs a lot of hard work and time. A person might not have any more power or strength to continue. This can, in turn, make it difficult to stay on the top.
#3 The winner stands alone:
You were so busy reaching the top that you did not realize you were losing friends along the way. The day you reached the top, you looked around, and you were all alone. There are quite a few reasons for this.
The primary reason is that people are jealous. They all want to see you toil and work hard but they do not wish to see you succeed. If you reach the top of the ladder before they do, they will cut all ties with you or adopt other malpractices.
Another reason for the same is that the achiever waits for none. You cannot keep waiting for your friends to match up to your speed. An achiever will help his fellow mates and friends in reaching the top of the ladder, but an achiever understands that time and tide waits for none. Hence, they will not sit and wait around.
As Vann Chow said, “It was lonely to be so perfect in all respects.”
Not everyone can stay alone, and that is people find it difficult to maintain their top position.
#4 Next challenge, winning over people:
Staying on the top comes with its challenges. The biggest is people. As mentioned before, people are jealous. This jealousy, at times, can take an ugly form where people start cheating, defaming, stabbing, insulting, and humiliating people on top. To stay put on the top, you have to survive the criticism, jealousy, and judgment. As easy as it may sound, it is not so. Apart from this, there is another challenge that people pose to the successful people. Let’s say, for example, in a firm; there is an employee who has always been an over achiever. Moreover, that is why he was promoted to the CEO of the company.
With time, there were a couple of additions into the firm. A person is recruited in the company who is far more experienced and educated than the recent CEO. Now, the present CEO is under threat as to this new person can steal his chair away from him. In this case, it is quite evident that the present CEO should have kept an update on himself. Once you reach the top, that is not the end. You have to keep pace with the turbulent, changing times. If you fail to do so, a person who is better equipped will swing in and steal your success from you.
#5 Greed and pride:
Being confident is one thing, being over-confident another! If you have successfully climbed the mountain that doesn’t mean that you have attained everything. Be proud of your success but don’t let it get it to your head. Arrogance, overconfidence, discourteousness, narcissism, and pride are your personal enemies. You cannot grow with these attributes. Same way, a yearning to stay at the top is one thing but a desire to achieve more is another.
The desire will eventually turn into greed, and greed has never done anyone any good. The best example for this is Sania Mirza, a tennis player from India who was recently announced as the World Number 1 in mixed doubles tennis rankings. Even though she is on top of the world yet she is not arrogant or stuck with pride. Instead, she works hard to maintain her position.
Conclusion
The journey up the hill is tough. It needs a lot of patience, perseverance, hard work, motivation, and dedication. Once, you reach the top of the hill, do not hurry back down. Don’t be a one-hit wonder that just came and then left. Don’t be Carly Rae Jepson, who had one hit song. Instead, be like Queen, the troupe who has survived the test of time and still continues to be popular amongst the teens.
Therefore, once you reach the top of the hill – sit there for a while, enjoy the view from up there, and make your presence felt. Staying put is going to be tougher than climbing was. However, you have to be determined and strong. Giving up, once you have achieved success, is not an option. Moreover, the only way you can stay on the top is through hard work.
Follow what Mia Hamm once said:
“Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them, but don’t settle for them.”
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