What does it mean to be dedicated, after all? Well, for starters, it means that you should always, and I mean always, respect your commitments, regardless of the problems you may encounter. Having mastered this skill (being committed), an alpha individual is capable of dealing with all sorts of challenges. First he will need to accurately establish what the problem is before trying to apply the solution; it makes perfect sense, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. No matter what the problem is, the alpha will press on and come up with a fix (by analyzing all the possible causes of the problem and confronting them), and this pretty much sums up what dedication means. Problem solving is most important for the alpha, and for a good reason; he finds his drive in various challenges as they build up his confidence and determination. As a matter of fact, his efficiency of solving problems will basically open all the doors you need opened, even if you don’t have the key; it is a sought-after quality that will give you the advantage you need.
However, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, so let’s recap some other important aspects of what it takes to be a positive alpha. It’s only natural that any of us should want to be the best at their game but it takes a lot of practice and planning in order to walk that path. The planning part consists, at first, in acknowledging your qualities and locking into them; in other words, you should invest as much time as you can and concentrate all of your efforts into knowing yourself, as this will provide a clearer image about what you can do. You will find that self-discipline can be a great way to build up your confidence and willpower. This will also require much of your time, but it really depends on how badly you want to have a better life. Self-discipline is not something to be scared of, unless you’re the kind of person who sets goals and the next day “forgets” all about them. This is where apathy comes into play, a worthy enemy that’s not to be treated lightly. If you find yourself incapable of following through with your goals, write them down on a piece of paper or a notebook; you will be surprised by the results.
The choices you make are yours and yours alone, and they should serve you well if you’ve reached the point where you can say “I know exactly what I can and can’t do!” Think of it as a Lego game. You build your life from the ground up, one piece at a time. First comes your dream, then the dream becomes the goal, and ultimately the goal turns into reality, your reality. Place one brick on top of the other and you will steadily build up your life, and the beauty of it is that it can be anything, you can be anything. This is the perfect analogy as it explains best that the path to success is built little by little, brick by brick, one step at a time. Don’t be afraid to take more of these smaller steps rather than a big one because, as you probably heard more than once, you have to think big, but start small. Have you ever seen a rocket launch? Does the rocket propel itself right into the vast unknown? No, it doesn’t. It slowly lifts its own weight by using fuel, and only then it goes further into exploration. Just like a rocket, use your experience as your fuel, and if you don’t have any experience, experiment! Try and fail rather than not try at all. What would have happened if NASA would have stopped all space programs after the 1986 disaster (reference to the space shuttle Challenger)? We’d live in the dark, we’d embrace ignorance. Learn from your failures just as humanity has done for the past 200.000 years. To fall and stand up again is our greatest quality. We are stumbling and punching and kicking through this road we call life, and this is a good thing, ‘cause it’s better to struggle rather than to lay down on our backs. There’s plenty of time for that when you’re dead. Really.
Successful people as well are often regarded as fortunate, but no man has reached the heights of triumph by sitting on his butt and waiting for something to happen. No, they’ve worked hard, they‘ve gathered all of their forces in order to continue walking this path. Do you know why? Because they are aware of the fact that even the strongest alpha can fall the hardest if he allows himself to stray away from the path. Simply put, once you’ve chosen the road to a better life, you can never stop walking it. This brings me back to what dedication means, and strengthens the idea of being committed to your goals.
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” (Max DePree)