Aim for excellence, says Priyanka Chopra

Success, it is said, is a journey and not a destination. As with everything else in life, how you conduct yourself on that journey is what will determine your continued success or your complete failure.

I come from a very humble background, far removed from the world in which I exist today. My first brush with this new world was at age 17. In the nano-second that it took them to place the Miss India-Miss World crown on my head, I had crossed into a new world. Nothing has ever been the same since. The world, as I knew it, ceased to exist. Then came the movies and with it, instant success and adulation that literally knocked me off my feet! The journey had well and truly begun.

In my line of work, nothing is certain and nothing can be taken for granted. A film career gives you so much — fame, power, money — but it also asks for a lot in return, a lesson I learnt early in my career.

I was riding high, with a bright and promising career in front of me, when I hit my first road block. Maybe it's a natural way of life, but the first failure can have a profound effect on your life. I learnt that pedestals which are built one Friday can easily be knocked down the next. Success is unimaginably heady while failure can be ruthless, literally cutting out the ground from beneath one's feet.

It was only my family and the values I grew up with which saw me through the tough times. I remember my father telling me that failure is part of life and I will encounter it often but it's how I deal with it that will make the difference. Quitting, he said, like winning, can also become a habit.

There have been some great times and some really bad times in the journey so far and both have taught me important lessons. I believe these have led me to where I am today and will take me to where I want to be. They're really quite simple:

Build the jaw of a prize fighter:
There will be punches — hard and fast. You have to learn how to roll with them.

Understand that we live in a critical world:
But criticism is not always bad, just tough to digest. You have to recognise the constructive parts and ignore the rest.

Talent and luck are the icing on the cake:
But nothing works like hard work. It only adds to the talent and luck you possess.

Be a sponge:
Absorb and grow. Learning is a continuous process. You meet people everyday who will teach you something new. You have to recognise the need to constantly evolve or you will become stagnant, which is a professional curse.

An outlet from work is a must:
Find your own 'thing' that helps you get away from what you do from time to time. It helps refresh your energies.

Don't let success or adulation get to your head:
It's so very easy to do! Revel in it, appreciate it but don't let it take over.

Aim for excellence:
As Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do" . Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit! I don't know where my journey will lead me. All I know is at the end, I WILL arrive, slightly battered and bruised, but thinking, WHAT A RIDE!