David Copperfield often talks about the three P’s of success – passion, preparation, and persistence. It’s a simple message, but powerful.
David Copperfield’s Three P’s of Success
Three P’s of Success – Passion
Each one of us has special passions that keep bubbling up, whispering, and sometimes even yelling to get our attention. These are sacred desires to do things, accomplish feats, and achieve. You can find them in activities that you enjoy. If you pursue them, you’ll come closer and closer to reaching your true potential.
Sports coaches know the value of passions. Ask a few coaches which player they would rather have on their team: the one with exceptional talent and mediocre passion, or the one with exceptional passion and mediocre talent. The answer is almost always the latter.
You can’t teach passion. However, you can teach skills, and skills combined with passion will beat talent without passion every time.
One of the pleasant outcomes of following your passions is that you discover previously unknown talents. With this in mind, it’s important to set goals that ignite your passions.
Without passion, you’ll lose interest and stop. Without interest, you’ll lack commitment and flit from one goal to another without really sticking with anything to completion. In short, you’ll have a better chance at long-term success if you seek your passions and set goals related to them.
Three P’s of Success – Preparation
When you begin pursuing your passions, it’s important to take time to prepare.
If you want to be an author that writes about characters with depth and insight, you need to have some experiences with some real-life characters. In this example, your preparation is to live a little. Experience life.
Similarly, if you want to be an IT network security expert, you need to learn about networks and some basics related to security. Certifications can help. Specifically, if you really want to be an IT network security expert, consider these certifications:
- CompTIA Security+
- CompTIA CASP
- (ISC)2 SSCP
- (ISC)2 CISSP
Of course, there are more certifications you can pursue, but the key is that you need to prepare. You might also like to prepare by pursuing an degree in IT security.
Of course, real-life experience is always good. However, it’s sometimes difficult to get the experience without at least one certification like the CompTIA Security+.
Three P’s of Success – Persistence
Last, be persistent in the pursuit of your passions.
Many people tell me they pass the first time when using some of my Security+ resources. That’s always good.
However, if you used other resources and failed, be persistent. Don’t let this stop you. Try again.