24/03/2019
What Makes You Successful in Life
Most people have the wrong idea about what makes someone successful in life. I know this from personal experience and extensive research. The average person thinks that life success means having fame, fortune, and happiness. But today’s star is tomorrow’s has-been. A fortune can be lost in one bad day at the stock market. And haven’t you ever been happy one minute and miserable the next, perhaps after hearing terrible news? There must be more to life success than that.
My Experiences with Fame, Fortune, and Happiness
I, the founder of Visoul, was an authority and domain leader who influenced decisions and actions related to building the entrepreneurship ecosystem in my home country of Saudi Arabia. People would ask me for my photograph and send me fanmail and gifts. My articles went viral. Some were translated into other languages, while others became classroom material. I was interviewed for magazines and invited for public speaking appearances everywhere from the oldest university in Saudi Arabia to international venues. I had to start introducing myself using my middle name, “Osama Bakur,” because people would react so strongly to the name “Osama Natto.” Maybe you have made a name for yourself in your field as well, or maybe your family name is well-recognized. Can that be called life success? When I moved to Dubai to work on certain projects, I became a small fish in a big pond. Hiring became difficult for me as an entrepreneur because people in Dubai had not heard of me. Surely true success in life should be something you can carry with you from one country to the next.
Money comes and goes, too. At the height of my career, I was running multiple successful businesses and generating millions in revenues. But can you base your concept of life success on a resource that circumstances could take away from you? I remember how quickly I went from having $50,000 in my bank account to not having enough to pay for a ticket for a missed flight. My phone was disconnected, my credit cards were blocked, and I couldn’t afford to take a Careem or Uber out of the airport. Life success couldn’t be that fleeting.
I have also enjoyed many experiences that I know I was blessed to have in my life, like traveling the world while flying first class and staying at the best resorts. You may be used to some of the finer experiences in life, too. But the happiness that these experiences brought me wasn’t consistent. Homesickness would sometimes hit me hard while I was traveling for business, for example. How can life success be measured by something that, like happiness, can fluctuate so quickly?
True Success in Life Lasts Much Longer Than Fame, Fortune, or Happiness
According to Dr. Barbara Alane Kerr, a counselling professor, self-fulfillment is "the attainment of a satisfying and worthwhile life well lived." According to psychologist Abraham Maslow, we all ultimately strive toward self-fulfillment. When your whole life is fulfilling, that feeling of success always stays with you.
On the other hand, when you aren’t striving toward self-fulfillment, you feel lost because you have no eventual goal to use as a compass, nothing to work toward that will matter to you when you are on your deathbed. Imagine a runner in a race with no finish line: always rushing from one place to another, never knowing where to go next or finding respite, becoming more exhausted and confused with each step. No matter how many miles she runs, she feels like it’s not enough, because she can’t see the finish line. Do you sometimes feel like that runner?
A runner in a race should pursue a purpose: reaching a clearly-defined finish line.
Pursuing a Purpose is the Key to Self-Fulfillment
According to former psychology professor Emily Esfahani Smith, author of The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed with Happiness, pursuing a purpose is more likely to lead to self-fulfillment than pursuing happiness. Fortunately, a purpose doesn’t have to be a big, save-the-universe mission, writes Smith, but it does require self-reflection and self-knowledge to discover. She says a purpose can be an overarching goal, plan to contribute to the world, or drive to improve one’s community, to name a few examples.
Deciding on your unique purpose is the first step to fulfilling it. Explore the intentions, benefits, and questions that come to mind when you think of your purpose. Learn to work within your circle of influence to achieve it. Do whatever it takes for you to pursue your purpose.
How I Achieved Life Success Through Pursuing a Purpose
I designed the life success program that is now called Visoul to help me find my purpose and create a new life based around it. It took years of research into fields ranging from religion to psychology to art therapy, but the end product changed my life. I knew that it could do the same for others. With $400 available to me at the time and the help of my children, I launched Visoul, then called Visualizing the Invisible, from my dining room table with the spiritually-focused purpose of empowering souls to build the Earth. I am no longer running behind deals, jumping on every opportunity, saying yes to anything that comes my way, hustling. That is what I used to do in the past and is what generated revenue and drained me. Now I am very selective. I only pursue what is in line with my values, needs, emotions, and purpose. I am focused on building revenue-generating assets rather than generating revenues. I am more wealthy now than I was before, figuratively and literally. I feel happy when I hear people from more than 24 nationalities tell me how much Visoul has helped them, but more importantly, I feel like I am doing what I was meant to do.
Allow Me to Help You Find What Brings You Fulfillment in Life
When you use Stage One: Realize of the Visoul life success program, the very first exercise will guide you through finding a fulfilling purpose in a creative, visual, hands-on way. This purpose will form the basis of the rest of the experience, whether you choose to stop at Stage One: Realize or continue on through the other three life success modules. Your purpose will be completely unique to you. My team proudly ships worldwide, so place your order and start on the path to a successful life now.
Let’s Start a Discussion on Social Media about What Makes You Successful in Life
If you want to learn what members of your network really value, share this article on social media and ask your connections how they define life success. Some may find that this article provided exactly the message they needed to understand in their current circumstances, while others will disagree with it. Debate opens minds, so all perspectives are welcome.
About Me
OSAMA NATTO
I founded the Visoul personal development program after years of providing empowerment coaching to more than a thousand individuals, first one-on-one from my office, then through Miqlaa Ventures, a youth development organization that I established. My goal is to help people from all over the world transform their lives and achieve their dreams. I live in Dubai with my family.
