Five Cs of Success: Competency, Consistency, Confidence, Creativity and Charisma

Some of the best things in life start with a C: coffee, closings, chocolate.

And when it comes to success, the Cs behind it aren’t so far behind.

No matter where you may be in your quest for professional or personal success, it’s important to know how you can best refine yourself in this journey.

In this article, we’re breaking down the five Cs that are vital to achieving success. It comes with insights and helpful tools to make you “C” how this can apply to your life.

Competency

Each of us is born with unique sets of gifts. Along with natural-born talent and skills, our environment growing up has also helped hone us into the person we are today.

What might come easy for one person to excel in, may be difficult for the other person to do so.

That said, it doesn’t mean you are doomed to achieve the same level of competency.

Not all the time, at least.

It just means you might need to work extra hard to gain the competency muscle for it, in order to be successful.

Enemies of competency:

Negative self-talk
Lack of motivation
Low competition

Tips to be competent:

1. Brainwash yourself positively.

Increase your level of self-awareness by being conscious of the thoughts that go through your mind every day.

I know, it’s easier said than done, but you have to trust that you are 100% in control of your life. Even if you might be going through mental struggles and challenges that you are born with or are the results of external circumstances.

What helps is having a clear goal and vision from the outset as this will be the driving force for you to sharpen your core competencies. Let’s look at athletes, for example. They are born with natural abilities to fare in a sport better than their peers.

Still, they need to believe in themselves to sustain it and make it in the big leagues. They need to think that they can be the best and are willing to do what it takes by practicing and improving constantly.

2. Learn from your mistakes.

Now that you’ve decided to brainwash yourself positively, leave some room in your awareness for the unexpected.

As you go through life, curveballs will be thrown your way and you’re bound to make some mistakes.

While preparing and predicting for possible outcomes can help mitigate your losses and mistakes, it’s important to have the mindset of accepting what is and growing through it.

Remember, being taught how to increase your level of competency can come in various forms. It can be through academics, other people’s experiences, or your own. So, embrace them as they come, and commit to becoming better because of it.

3. Be in an environment that pushes you.

Taking your competency to new heights means recognizing your potential and having the willingness to get out of your comfort zone. And more importantly, knowing that you don’t have to go through it alone.

One of the things you can do this to be part of a workplace or peers that bring out your competitive spirit.

By being surrounded by other people who share similar goals as you, you can motivate each other and increase your accountability to follow through.

Read: Mind Your Ps & Qs: Modern Workplace Etiquette

Consistency

Being consistent has a lot to do with the way you manage your important resources: time, energy, money, and attention, vs. being something that you’re simply gifted with.

Success doesn’t happen by chance, it’s a combination of skills, talents, willpower, and action.

With consistency, you are showing up for yourself and reiterating your self-belief that you deserve and will achieve success no matter what it takes.

Read: Consistency is Key: Life Lessons to Unlock Progress

Enemies of consistency:

Distractions
Procrastination
Vague goals

Tips to stay consistent

1. Be clear about your goals

Each one of us has struggled at some point when it comes to consistency. The good news is, you can brainwash yourself (positively) to become consistent by being set on your “why”.

Your action plan shall consist of setting long-term and short-term goals in a manner that’s specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). This helps set the parameters of the actions and conditions it would take to achieve them.

2. Take baby steps

Procrastination is one of the enemies of consistency because as humans, it’s in our nature to seek comfort and safety.

Being heavily laden with a massive goal can overwhelm even the most competent person, which is why it helps to break down this goal into small and simple steps.

Check in with yourself on a regular basis as well as with your peers or mentors to see if you’re on the right course of action that will ultimately lead to success.

3. Get some help

Multiple tools at your disposal can help you prioritize the tasks at hand to ensure that you stay consistent. Some of our favorite apps are:

Google Calendar. Setting up alerts to help you manage your time day in and day out.
Focus-to-do. This app can help to concentrate on tasks using the Pomodoro technique which is a time-management process of going through a task for 25 minutes uninterrupted, then going for a 5-minute break. Then, repeat.

Read: Daily Routine of Successful People from Morning to Evening

Confidence

Before we can achieve the success that we’re aiming for, it’s only natural to feel all sorts of emotions like worry, excitement, or nervousness.

When this happens, just think about this for a minute. The ones that came before had to start somewhere as well.

Successful people are relentless and have a strong belief in themselves that they too can achieve whatever they set their minds to.

That said, confidence does not involve feeling entitled; on the contrary, it’s about being secure in knowing they earned what they have.

This is why being highly skilled at what you do and consistently showing up for yourself can help build confidence. This is vital to the success loop because it allows you to expand your horizons, improve, and achieve more.

Enemies of confidence:

Self-sabotage
Imposter syndrome
Cultural barrier

Tips to be confident:

1. Level up your knowledge

Knowing more about something and putting it into use can build the competency muscle and confidence to handle life’s curveballs.

Here are some resources you can use to upgrade your mental aptitude:

Books (visual/audio)
Podcasts
Seminars/ workshops
Online classes/ courses

Read: Best MasterClass Courses to Help You Level Up Professionally

2. Get a mentor.

Successful people like athletes, entrepreneurs, artists, and professionals have people who believe in their potential and help nurture them.

Look into mentorship programs within your organizations or consider hiring someone who can give bespoke coaching to your unique needs and aspirations.

3. Outgrow limiting beliefs.

One’s self-confidence is proportional to their experiences, environment and upbringing. When faced with a cultural or linguistic barrier, some people may tend to clam up due to the fear of making mistakes and being embarrassed.

To overcome this, first you need to embrace cultural differences. Understand that you have your own unique traits, that are not necessarily flaws. For instance, if your native language is not English, instead of refusing to communicate, you can use language assistance tools to help enhance your vocabulary and express yourself better.

Read: Improve Your Vocabulary: Simple Steps to Sound Smarter

4. Keep practicing.

Overcoming your weaknesses requires discipline and practice. When you do the very thing you think you cannot do, that’s a win in life from which you can gain confidence massively.

Creativity

Many entrepreneurs who achieve great success in life are creative minds who execute their ideas in a multitude of ways, to the point of exhaustion.

Creativity breeds creativity and what we’ve learned studying these people, when you love something enough, the willingness to try hard and try different things in order to succeed can triumph the uncertainty and failures.

So it’s important to believe enough in your vision and your abilities and let nothing and no one limit you from pursuing your goals.

Enemies of creativity:

Constancy
Boredom

Tips to be creative:

1. Don’t be afraid to take risks.

Understanding the pros and cons of a specific course of action and summoning the courage to dive into it can help you discover the creativity that lies within you.

Follow your intuition, and let the experience be your guide to finding other creative ways to solve a problem.

2. Keep exploring.

When you find yourself feeling stuck in a rut, muster the energy to hit the breaks and change your routine.

Take a moment to tread down a different path and be receptive to different signs and new opportunities that may arise. Embrace the “5-Second Rule” that encourages you to act in your instincts within five seconds before your brain starts to overthink.

Charisma

No person succeeds in life by doing it all by himself. Often, we come in contact with people who will make things happen for us, whether they are in the form of business partners, customers, employees, stakeholders, or even silent spectators.

In order to grab their attention, we would need the first four Cs: competency, consistency, confidence, and creativity.

But sometimes, the distinction can be boiled down to charisma. Or what some may call the ‘x-factor’.

Therefore, your presence can influence others to close a deal more than you know.

To give you an example, say, you’re ready to move up your dream job.

You have enough experience and evidence of such (competence), and you are willing to take on more on your plate (consistency). You have decided to make a go for it and submit your application (confidence) and come up with a way to stand out from the sea of candidates by throwing in an extra report or analysis that the job requires (creativity). Brilliant!

However, will doing so guarantee success? It’s hard to say.

You would still have to prove your desirability to every person in the room by making a pitch and selling yourself that you’re the perfect hire (think, Shark Tank).

That’s where charisma comes in.

Charisma is the special quality or power that makes you capable of influencing or inspiring others.

The good news is there is no single type of charisma that can guarantee success. Your presence is unique to you, and charisma is a relational skill that anyone can master at any point in their life.

For instance, the notion that charismatic people are reserved only for extroverts is a myth. That’s an excuse that people who choose to retreat use to avoid facing rejection, rather than trying to improve their chances by upgrading their self-image.

Enemies of charisma:

Self-importance
Toxic environment

Tips to be charismatic:

1. Be generous with casting the spotlight on others.

True charisma is more about how good you make others feel when you’re in the room than an internal feeling you have about yourself.

A charismatic person tends to project enthusiasm, calmness, clarity, honesty, and authority through their body language. They pay attention to others and show empathy where need be.

When you are trying to sell to people, whether that be applying for a job position or having them buy a product, it’s important to highlight answers to the #1 question in their minds: “What’s In It For Me?” (WIIFM), which is the underlying motivator that drives people to hire you, be in contact with you or do business with you.

2. Don’t engage with naysayers.

Participating in gossip, crab mentality, and other low-energy behavior that tends to put other people down must be avoided as much as possible.

Charismatic people are open-minded, and want to believe in the good of others. This helps open up the doors for more opportunities for them that can lead to success in many areas of their lives.

Takeaway

The road to success can be simplified by “C-ing”  and utilizing your valuable resources.

Having an action plan in place to carry out your dreams and goals will help you be more competent in your job and stay consistent with it.

This can then boost your confidence to strive for more and find creative ways to see them through to fruition.

But remember, while life’s possibilities are endless, your time and energy are finite. It plays to be strategic in upgrading not only your skills but also your overall presence.

When you focus on developing and improving the five Cs, success is within reach. Your odds of self-fulfillment are heightened, and you’re a step closer to living the life you aspire to have.

Which among the five “Cs” do you think you need to improve most? Let us know in the comment below.