The Secret To Success Is Not What Most People Think!
The most common mistake people make when they are trying to find success is to focus on looking and sounding successful.
That means fancy clothes, fancy cars, big houses, fancy holidays, but that is not success, that is status and they are not the same thing!
In this video we will be sharing the secret steps to creating success in your business and in your life!
Excellence:
There are many factors to success of course, but one of the most important but little discussed is the principle of excellence.
So, let's explore how excellence feeds into success, how to approach achieving excellence, and how to become excellent in any field!
Excellence is becoming the very best you can be, in the area you are choosing to focus on.
There is an old saying that you should aim for the moon, if you want to reach the clouds.
So think about what world class excellence looks like to you and aim for that!
Example:
Let's take a simple example that many can relate to: baking a cake.
You decide that you want to bake the most delicious and beautiful cake. This is your aim, your definition of excellence in this context.
You study different recipes, understanding the roles of each ingredient, the method of mixing, and the baking temperatures and times.
You watch professional bakers, read baking books, and maybe even attend a baking class.
You fill your mind with everything about cake baking.
This is your path to becoming an expert in your field.
Diligence:
The next step is diligence.
This is where 99% of people fall down.
They don’t diligently stick to the goal they created.
They get distracted, discouraged or demotivated.
But the power of diligence practised is the only path to success!
This is where you roll up your sleeves and start baking. The first few cakes might not be perfect.
But you don't give up. You keep baking, practising, and refining your technique.
Iterative Improvement:
And this leads us to iterative improvement. Each time you bake the cake, you learn from the previous attempt and make necessary adjustments.
Maybe you find that the cake is more moist when you add an extra egg, or the flavour is better with a different brand of cocoa.
Each small tweak gets you closer to your version of the perfect cake.
When you first start out, you will find that the improvements are big, but as time goes on, the improvements get smaller.
So you might make an improvement that improves results by 30% at the beginning, but as you come closer to mastery the improvements might only make a 1% or 2% improvement.
But you keep improving until there are no improvements left. That is when you know you have arrived at the level of mastery, when you cannot think of another improvement!
Personal Growth:
As you continue to strive for excellence in your chosen field, there's one more key factor to consider: personal growth.
The pursuit of excellence is not just about achieving a specific goal, it's about who you become in the process.
It is the pursuit of the goal that turns you into a successful person, you will have to unlearn a lot of things you have already learned in life (the education system does not supply the lessons you need to experience personal growth).
Your attitude will probably need to change, your motivations will probably need to change, your pre-suppositions, your foundational beliefs will definitely need to change.
You have to be prepared for change, you have to desire to change, to improve, to excel!
You have to learn a new way of thinking, thinking based on objective principles rather than feelings and this is what creates personal growth.
Operating from principle is the only foundation of success, you cannot be successful if you don't find and practice principles as you walk on the path to success.
Check out my YouTube video on SMART Thinking if you want to learn how to develop a positive mindset for success!
Resilience:
And we must not forget Resilience!
It’s crucial to develop resilience, the ability to bounce back from setbacks and keep moving forward. In our cake baking example, resilience is what keeps you baking even after a cake doesn’t rise or when it comes out too dry.
In entrepreneurship, resilience is what enables you to keep pushing forward despite business setbacks or market changes.
When pursuing excellence, you will often have to change course slightly, change tactics, abandon something that isn’t working and try something new.
That is resilience, that is being adaptable, being tough enough to stick to your goals, no matter what!
This resilience stems from a growth mindset.
Growth Mindset:
A growth mindset is the belief that abilities can be developed and improved through dedication and hard work.
If you think someone is born successful, or inherited success, or was given succes, then that limiting belief will stop you being successful.
Don’t focus on what other people have, focus on what you need to be!
Focus on growth and be prepared for failure!
You need to understand that failures and setbacks are not reflections of your worth or potential, but opportunities to learn and grow.
Remember, every cake that doesn’t turn out as you expected, every setback you experience, every 'failure' you endure, can teach you something.
Every 'mistake' is a lesson in disguise, an opportunity to learn something new and improve. This is iterative improvement at its best.
Celebrating Your Victories:
Also, remember to celebrate your small wins along the way.
Acknowledge and celebrate your progress, no matter how small it may seem.
These moments of celebration will keep you motivated and make the journey more rewarding.
A lot of people never celebrate their wins, they move too quickly onto the next task.
But don’t do that, learn to reward yourself, when you have achieved something that is positive!
In the end, the pursuit of excellence is not just a destination, it is also a journey of continual learning, growth, and improvement.
And the best part is, the skills and strengths you develop on this journey - like diligence, resilience, and a growth mindset - will benefit you in every area of life, not just in your specific field of focus.
The journey itself will give you strength of character, strength of will.
Someone who excels in what they do often becomes very strong in their own sense of identity and this means they are not pushed around in life so much, they have more confidence to make their own decisions and not let others push them around!
Start Your Journey:
As the old saying goes, 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.' So, take that step today, start your journey towards excellence, which is the journey to success, and remember, the only limits to what you can achieve are the limites you set for yourself
And the results of this pursuit of excellence are very real and will have a direct impact on the quality of your life.
When you excel in what you do, you start to get noticed.
Positive people love to be around success, they admire success, they feed on success.
They want to know what you know and once you become the master, the next obvious step is to become the teacher.
Positive people look for teachers, you will be in demand when you gain mastery!
You Will Stand Before Kings:
So when you are struggling to keep going, remember this old proverb:
He who excels in his work shall stand before Kings.
Achieving excellence, achieving success, will lead to positive experiences and relationships in life and you will be elevated by your excellence in society, it is a law as real as gravity!
And here is the strange thing, when you stop seeking status and seek excellence instead, status naturally turns up, you don’t have to seek it, it will come and find you!