How do you define success?
Is there a magic formula for this?
How can you tell if you’ve paid the full price of success?
Many people define success in different ways. Some define it by money and position. Some define it by family. Some define it by happiness. Some define it by health. Whatever you choose, you must have a why, a goal and define it.
Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal. – Earl Nightingale
Why do some companies achieve things that completely exceed our expectations, defying all our assumptions for what’s possible?
Why do some people?
A high level of ambition is a hallmark of all successful people.
Everyone has a Why
- Why do you get up in the morning?
- Why does your organization exist?
- Your Why is the purpose, cause or belief that inspires you to do what you do.
When you think, act and communicate starting with Why you can inspire others.
According to Simon Sinek, the fundamental difference between the “Apples” of the world and everyone else is that they start with “why.”
What does that even mean? To explain this concept, Sinek has developed what he calls the “Golden Circle,” image pictured right. The golden circle has three layers:
- Why – This is the core belief of the business. It’s why the business exists.
- How – This is how the business fulfills that core belief.
- What – This is what the company does to fulfill that core belief.
Sounds simple, but what Sinek found is that most companies do their marketing backwards. They start with their “what” and then move to “how” they do it. Most of these companies neglect to even mention why they do what they do. More alarmingly, many of them don’t even know why they do what they do!
Not Apple. Apple starts with “why.” It is the core of their marketing and the driving force behind their business operations. To help illustrate this point, imagine if Apple also started backwards by creating a marketing message that started with “what.”
“We make great computers. They’re user friendly, beautifully designed, and easy to use. Want to buy one?”
GOALS ARE THE FUEL
I grew up playing sports, and I learned at an early age to have goals and dreams. I learned to clearly define what I wanted, and with the help of my coaches developed a plan to achieve them.
I was fortunate to set a state record in high jump. We won back to back championships in football and basketball, those were exciting times. Yet, I learned that didn’t happen without setting goals, and a lot of hard work.
It’s easy to pay the price when you have a clear goal and dream in site. It’s what pulls you through the valley’s.
Even the most successful have valley’s.
Success equals goals, and all else is commentary according to Brian Tracy.
Intense goal orientation is an essential characteristic of all high-achieving men and women. Study after study continues to solidify this.
Your potential in life and business is severely limited until you have learned the master skill of success which is setting and achieving goals.
The number one reason people don’t set goals is FEAR!
- Fear of failure
- Fear of criticism
- Fear in general
Joy is one of hardest feelings to hold onto, isn’t it? Fear is always crouching nearby ready to snatch it from us.
In Daring Greatly Brené Brown talks about “foreboding joy,” the idea that some sort of disaster looms just around the corner no matter how promising things look for the moment. Instead of experiencing joy, even when things are going well, we feel worry, fear, and dread.
I think this reality is especially problematic when it comes to setting goals for the future. We’re afraid—afraid we’ll fail or that others will fail us. It’s safer not to get our hopes up.
The end result is that we’re rarely disappointed. But at what cost? Brown’s research would say that the cost is joy, happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction, and a wholehearted life.
Is that true for you? It’s sometimes true for me. I can’t count the number of times I’ve let worry and dread steal my joy.
Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement!
Thomas Carlyle wrote that “a man with half volition goes back and forth and makes no progress on even the smoothest road, whereas a person with a full volition moves ahead steadily no matter how difficult the path.”
Human beings, you and I are goal-centered by design. Your brain has within it a goal-seeking mechanism that guides and directs you over time toward the accomplishment of your goals and objectives.
TWO REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESS
Many successful people fail before they hit it big. Famous oil billionaire H.L. Hunt, went bankrupt raising cotton in Arkansas. He then went on to become one of the most successful men in american.
He said that in America, you only needed two things to be successful:
- Decide exactly what you want. Most people never do that.
- Decide the price your’re going to pay to get it, and then resolve to pay that price.
We know two things for certain about the price of success. First, in order to get what you desire, whatever you define it, you must PAY THE PRICE IN FULL.
YOU MUST SOW BEFORE YOU REAP
Most frustration in achieving your goals comes from trying to avoid this timeless principle.
Next, you must pay the FULL PRICE IN ADVANCE.
How will you tell if you have paid the full price of success? It’s clear…
When you have paid the full price, the success will be right there in front of you. It will happen by law, not by chance. When you’ve sown the right seeds, you will reap the right reward.
Cause and Effect
The life you are enjoying today is a reflection of the price you’ve paid up until now. The life you enjoy in the future will reflect the price you pay between now and then.
WHY PEOPLE DON’T SET GOALS
Goals, goals, goals!
You want the goals, everybody wants you to want goals, then you put the pressure on yourself to achieve the goals….it’s a vicious cycle. Often times when people set goals, especially *cough* New Year’s resolutions *cough*, it seems great! Then life and reality set in, a few weeks go by and you can’t even remember why you set that goal.
So why don’t people set goals?
- They simple are not serious. Look at their actions not their words.
- They have not accepted responsibility for their lives.
- They have deep-seated feelings of guilt and unworthiness.
- They don’t realize the importance of goals.
- They don’t know how.
- They rejection and criticism.
- They fear failure. This is the #1 reason. It’s the single biggest obstacle to success in adult life.
Success is a numbers game. So is social media marketing. There is a direct relationship between the number of things you attempt and your probability of ultimately succeeding.
Thomas Edison was the most successful inventor of the modern age. He received patents for 1,093 inventions, 1,052 of which were brought into commercial production during his lifetime. As an inventor he also suffered the most failures of his age. He failed more times, in more experiments, attempting to develop more products, than any other living scientist or businessman. It took him more than 11,000 experiments along before he finally discovered the carbon-impregnated filament that led to the production of the first electric light bulb.
There was a story about Edison that, after he conducted more than 5,000 experiments, a young journalist came to him and asked him why he persisted in these experiments after having failed more than 5,000 times.
Edison is said to have replied, “Young man, you don’t understand how the world works. I have not failed at all. I have successfully identified 5,000 ways that will not work. That just puts me 5,000 ways closer to the way it will.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
You must maintain continuous action to maintain your momentum toward your goals and objectives. This is based upon Isaac Newton’s physical principles of inertia and momentum. These principles state that a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.
You maintain your forward momentum by taking continuous action toward goal attainment. You keep up the pressure. You define your goals in terms of activities necessary to accomplish them, and then you discipline yourself to perform the activities. You do something every day to move you toward the achievement of your major goals.
“Nothing succeeds like success.” You must develop the success habit by doing something every single day to move your toward your goals. Review them every morning and think about them everyday. Always be looking for something you can do to contribute to their achievement.
About Blair
Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.
Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.
Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.
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