4 Things Idris Elba can Teach You About Career Success

Neither of us will touch the sky if we give ourselves boundaries.”

Idris Elba

Idris Elba has been a well-known name for the past few years because of his unique approach to career success and a dogmatic determination to succeed. In the galaxy of talented actors, his star is shining the brightest. In short, he couldn’t be any more popular than he is right now.

Fifteen years since his role in The Wire, Elba has starred in hit blockbuster movies, launched a clothing label, founded a production house, received an OBE, released two music albums, made his directing debut, and won a Golden Globe.

And with his new movie Beast” coming out soon, his future already looks promising. This post will share the four things we can learn about career success from this great entrepreneur and Hollywood icon.

Who Is Idris Elba?

Idrissa Akuna Elba (Idris Elba) is an English actor, writer, producer, musician, songwriter, and DJ, best known for his role as Stringer Bell on HBO’s hit series, The Wire.”

Elba has cemented himself as one of Hollywood’s most demanded actors.

The British actor has starred in comedy (The Office), action films (including The Dark Tower, The Suicide Squad, and Fast and Furious-Hobbs & Shaw), become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and lent his voice to a few highly acclaimed animated films. As of May 2019, his films had grossed a staggering $9.8 billion at the global box office.

Born in the London Borough of Hackney in 1972, Idris Elba has become an inspiration to many entrepreneurs, marketers, and those looking for an acting career. And in 2016, Elba was featured in the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

4 Things Idris Elba Can Teach You About Career Success

Elba’s success story is a wake-up call to many looking to launch a successful career, especially in sales. Here’s what we can learn from Idris Elba.

1. Always Start with a Goal

Setting goals help trigger new behaviors, guides your focus, and enables you to sustain that momentum in life. Goals give you direction and a destination. They provide you with something to aim for and direct your resources and efforts towards achieving it.

And when it comes to goal setting, we can learn a thing or two from the master goal setter—Idris Elba. This is what Elba says about goal setting, Know what your target is and don’t guess it...if you don’t know your destination, you aren’t going to get there.”

Idris Elba advises people to focus on the goal and not look around at what other people are doing. Inspired by his dad, Elba brings up his swimming laps in a pool, then strives to keep his head down, focusing only on reaching his goal.

Guaranteed, if he stops momentarily to lift his head up and start focusing on other swimmers or the laps left, he gets tired quickly and is more likely to give up.

Sales reps, marketers, and business leaders alike can also adopt Elba’s strategy by keeping their eyes on the ultimate prize and not allowing distractions to steer them away from the goal.

2. Be Authentic to Yourself

Being your true self in a world constantly trying to change you into something else is a great accomplishment. As the wise say, always be yourself, not a duplicate of a wannabe.”

When you’re authentic” or true to yourself, you trust your judgment and decisions, and others also trust you. Elba knows this fact and is always trying to bring it to light.

Here’s one of his most famous quotes on being your true self, waking up in truth is so much better than living a lie.” Elba recons that he comes from an era where you have to define your true self and what you do.

Idris Elba is a man with great accomplishments. Yet, in an interview with the Daily Mail, he focused on his inner self—his most treasured possessions, biggest disappointments, losses, and what last made him really happy (the birth of his son Winston)

He openly regrets that his biggest disappointment is his personal life because he has sacrificed it to be where he is today, which has taken a toll on many relationships.

The thing with self-acceptance is that it makes you more confident with yourself and less vulnerable to criticism. Sales reps can borrow a page from Elba’s book on being authentic to themselves. Maybe you’re not an expert negotiator or good at public communication. These attributes can be learned in good time, but it all starts with acceptance and being authentic to yourself.

3. Value Connections

Connecting with others comes with many benefits. It can help you lower anxiety and depression, regulate emotions, and lead to higher esteem and empathy.

Elba advises on the importance of establishing personal connections. He advises people to maintain eye contact when interacting with people for two reasons:

• You can tell whether they’re lying to you
• They can see you mean whatever you’re saying and that you can establish a personal connection with that person

Elba values connection with others. He knows pretty well that you need the right people to push you to the next level of your career. But you need to take the role of a detective to find the right people or the people with the same dream and mindset as you. Likewise, building a network of like-minded people is critical to the success of any business.

4. Hard Work Pays

Laziness” is not in Idris Elba’s life dictionary.

Elba embodies what hard work” looks like and what it really means to juggle many tasks/roles at a time. At 50, he has a life that is relentlessly full of projects, releases, and a ton of new activities. He talks about work” as his therapy.

He’s a star in the upcoming Beast movie, a rapper who releases music online at a rate of about a track a month, a businessman who just released a new line of T-Shirts, a DJ at night, and he also hosts podcasts from time to time.

Elber also spends a lot of time writing, despite his busy schedule. Earlier in 2021, he signed a deal with HarperCollins to write children’s books. Not to forget, he is one of the few actors who have consistently averaged over three movies a year.

Marketers and business leaders who aren’t putting in enough effort to grow their business should borrow a page from Elba’s handbook. They should diversify their offerings and adopt multiple marketing strategies and mediums to get the word out and create brand awareness.

To Sum It Up

Idris Elba is a fantastic role model for those looking to succeed in their careers.

His explosive success comes from hard work, astute strategies, connections, and a persistent determination to succeed.For those reading who are looking to find Career Success similar to Idris Elba, the tips and tricks are there for you to read — but it's what you do after reading that will truly matter! Best of luck on your journey — and if you need some support by your side, Uvaro is always here to help!