The road to success?
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“The road to success” is a common metaphor, but a flawed one. It implies that all you have to do is travel this mythical road, “stick it out” through rough terrain with brute force, and you’ll get there eventually. “The key to success” is also flawed; it makes people believe that there is just *one* thing they need to do or buy, and everything will get easier.
As far as I know, these beliefs only leads to trouble. I know, because I’ve subscribed to both of them at various points in my life, with no positive results. My thoughts often took the “If I could only…” form: If I could just get a good grade on my SATs… if I could just find three hours to organize all my papers… if I could just fix the graphic design on my website… etc.
The health industry is making a killing because of this tendency — “If I could just buy this home gym equipment, I would be thin and healthy.” I don’t blame Bowflex or anyone else for profiting from it. This tendency comes from within us; it is not created by advertising.
The “one thing” mindset is a completely false belief that we create based on our desires, not reality. It would be so easy if it were true! If I could just find the one workout video that really gets results, I would be fit forever!
But what really works like that? In my experience, nothing.
Success Is A Complicated Combination Lock
A better metaphor for success is a complicated combination lock, the kind where you have to put in a parallel row of numbers. Once we get the right combination, though, we’re often faced with another lock to get to the next level. You have to expect that, to survive in goal achievement. If you’re completely convinced that you’ve got the key to success, and it doesn’t work, it creates a void of helplessness from which you have to recover. “Well, what do I do now?”
Success, whatever your definition of it may be, is a combination of things all done basically right, continuously. For example, success in health is a continuous combination of:
- healthy eating
- healthy sleep
- exercise
- mobility
- positive mental attitude.Without all of those things, total health is incomplete. And, even worse, the combination is different for everyone.
Success in writing is so much more than just language ability or “talent.” You see plenty of “talented” writers never even finishing a single story! Success in productive writing is a continuous combination of storytelling, self-honesty, being aware of the world, discipline, focus, and much humility. And those are just some of the things that one has to do right in order to be a writer.
Success in business is also a combination of factors, and depending on who you are, they may be different for you than for other people. You cannot expect to take one class and have all the knowledge you need. It’s more realistic to expect to take class after class or read book after book, forever, as your success maintenance program.
In business, there is no one key to wealth. There is so much emphasis on breakthrough thinking, but that is because a breakthrough is dramatic, easy to understand, and makes everyone wish / hope that a breakthrough will “happen” to them.
Breakthroughs are nothing more than the last number in your lock.
I think of achievement as the output of a machine. This machine has many parts that all have to be in good working order to produce results. It may be that there is one major thing holding you back, but all too often, that one thing just covers up another thing that you have to see to. Is it frustrating? Yes! Especially when you buy a book or take a class promising you a “fast, easy way” to build a business and start getting money TODAY.
That is why I’m never going to tell you that there is a fast, easy way to build a good business — any more than there is a fast, easy way to learn to play the violin (I do play fairly well, by the way, so I know what I’m talking about here.) I will never promise that there is ONE key to success in business. In my experience, there are several keys, and they are all equally important. Only when you have all the numbers will the combination be right, and the lock unlock.
Do something worth doing.
This is why it is so important that you are doing something worthy of your time and energy. If you aren’t, you will look back five years from now and it will feel like wasted time, no matter how much money you get (success is not only measured in dollars!) How do you know if you’re doing something worthy? Only you can know that — see the section on The Drive in “What It Takes” and “A Day Without Action,” two of the chapters in my free business course.
About The Author
Katherine Durkes
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