Tag Success is in Doing

Where Success Comes From – Part Two

Steve Keating 8 Comments

Very successful people are not necessary different than less successful people, they just do different things.

Success comes from doing. 

I could just leave it at that and this post, while very short, would still be pretty good. But it’s really not as simple as just doing something to succeed. In order to succeed you must do the right somethings and you need to do them at the right time. 

Doing something may make you busy but being busy doesn’t make you successful. Doing the right something makes you productive and being productive is very likely to lead to success.

So what are those right “somethings” that successful people do? I shared 6 of these “somethings” in part one of this post, the final six are highlighted now in part two. I found the graphic that accompanies these two posts online and I’d give credit to the person who created it but I still have no idea where it originated. While I didn’t create it and despite a few grammatical errors, I think the 12 “somethings” are absolutely spot on. 

So here are the 6 more “somethings” that successful people do…

Successful people keep life simple. They seldom make anything harder than it needs to be. When communicating they don’t count their words, they weigh them. If four words will convey their message then they don’t say five. If a goal can be reached in 7 steps their plan won’t have eight. They don’t worry about things that happened in the past and they don’t borrow worry from things that might not ever happen. They have a strong focus on what they are doing right now.

Successful people focus on continuous improvement. Instead of looking for a way to improve something 100% they look for ways to improve 100 things 1%. They make those improvements every single day and they are never satisfied with “good enough.”

Successful people know how they are doing. They track and measure their progress, usually on a daily basis. They know which actions produce the greatest results and they know which activities cause waste. They know when they are getting better and they know almost the very moment they fall into a rut. They use their goals to get themselves back on track towards success.

Successful people know that their attitude is their choice. They also know that every area of their life is easier if the CHOOSE a positive attitude. Successful people do get down, they just pull themselves back up more quickly than less successful people. They accept their mistakes as an opportunity to learn and then they move forward. 

Successful people invest their time with people who can help them succeed. They stay away from the nattering nabobs of negativism. The most successful people have a mentor or a coach who cares about them enough to be honest with them about their performance in all areas of their life. Successful people embrace people with opinions that are different than their own because they understand that they can’t learn as much from people who already think just like they do. 

Successful people have balance in their lives. They understand that sacrificing their personal life for business success is something less than full success. They understand that when success comes at the expense of other people it is success that is probably not worth having. They also know that the best way to increase their success is to share it with others. Truly successful people are successful in all areas of their life. 

If you’re like me you’ve likely seen at least one of the twelve “somethings” that you need to work on. I hope you do because success for you is unlikely unless YOU make it happen!

 

Where Success Comes From – Part One

Steve Keating 12 Comments

Very successful people aren’t necessary different than less successful people, they just do different things.

Success comes from doing. 

I could leave it at that and this post while very short would still be pretty good. But it’s really not as simple as just doing something to succeed. In order to succeed you must do the right something and you need to do it at the right time. 

Doing something may make you busy but being busy doesn’t make you successful. Doing the right something makes you productive and being productive is very likely to lead to success.

So what are those right “somethings” that successful people do? I’ll share that with you over the course of the this post and the next one. I found the graphic that accompanies these two posts online and I’d give credit to the person who created it if I only knew who it was. While I didn’t create it and despite a few grammatical errors, I think the 12 “somethings” are absolutely spot on. 

Successful people pursue goals. If you walked out of your house in the morning and had no idea where you were going then you would never know when you had arrived. You would never know that you had successfully completed your trip. Working towards success without goals is very much like that. Without goals you’re merely wondering around your day never being certain that what you’re doing will get you where you want to go. Goals, real meaningful, clearly articulated and written goals, are essential in your search for success.

Successful people are productive. They use their goals to plan and organize their day. They know that no matter how busy they may have been if they didn’t do something to get at least a little closer to one of their goals then they were not productive. They don’t fool themselves into thinking a busy day means they accomplished something, they measure their productivity with their goals.

Successful people decide. The have the ability to make decisions and act upon them. They realize that not every decision will be right but they also realize that almost 100% of “non decisions” are wrong. So they get as much information as possible to make their decision, then they act on that decision. Failure to make decisions when a decision is needed will lead directly to failure.

Successful people don’t make emotional decisions. They inform themselves with facts and logic. They seek out advice from those they trust, they use their experience, they use the experience of others, and they are brutality honest with themselves. Successful people know that emotions are temporary and they don’t apply what could be a permanent decision to fast changing circumstances.

Successful people know that good is the enemy of great and that absolute perfection is the enemy of progress. Sometimes they won’t get everything they wanted from their plan but they will move forward anyway. They understand that perfection may yet arrive and it’s okay if it doesn’t come until tomorrow so long as they make progress today.

Successful people embrace the unknown. They are okay with being uncomfortable because they know that comfort hinders growth. They know that in order to succeed they must do things differently than less successful people and that the differences will never stop. Long-term success requires continuous, continuous improvement and they know that all improvement requires change. So change they do!

We’ll finish this two-part post in a few days with the final six “somethings” that successful people do on a regular basis. Until then, do something! 

Don’t Walk Home

Steve Keating 2 Comments

One day a pride of ostriches were sitting around with their heads in the sand. (yes, I know that ostriches don’t actually bury their head in the sand but it works for this story) One brave ostrich pulled his head out of the sand long enough to see a convocation of eagles flying overhead. He was amazed by the site, large birds flying, soaring, and going where ever they liked.

The ostrich thought to himself wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to fly like those eagles. So he did what we would all do, he looked for a flying school on Google. Soon enough he located a nearby flying school and convinced his fellow ostriches to join him in learning how to fly.

It was a challenging course and it took several days to master the art of flying. But the ostriches loved it, they flew and they flew, up and down, back and forth, it was just as amazing as they had thought it would be.

After several days they received their certificate indicating that they were certified to fly. They had a big celebration and slapped each other on their backs and then they all walked home.         

Yes, they walked home.

The ostriches made the all too common mistake of believing that the goal of education is knowledge. The goal of education goes beyond knowledge; the true goal of education is action. 

Success requires more than simply knowing what to do; success requires that you actually do it. 

You can’t just prepare for success and then wait for it to arrive. All the education and preparation in the world does no good unless you put it into action. Successful people DO!

Successful people do more, they do it more often, they do it in spite of fearing failure. When they fail they do it again, often differently and with a better plan but they do it again. They simply DO! 

The ostriches learned how to succeed and yet they did not succeed. They didn’t succeed because they didn’t DO! In every success there is action, somebody did something to bring about the success. 

If you’ve yet to receive the success that you believe your due perhaps it’s because you’ve yet to actually DO.

Think about it.