Seeing is Believing; Believing is Achieving

This article was actually meant for another domain that I’m developing. I initially believed it not to be a very good fit for this blog and it dawned on me — for all that we may be seekers of spiritual truths and ideas, we all live in the day to day secular world as well. I hope this proves useful to some of you, this topic has been on my mind for some time.

The Success Formula

I have seen many books, advertisements, websites, CDs, DVDs, and public spokesmen, all promoting some version of a secret formula guaranteed to make you successful, if you but only pay $19.99, $199.99, or even $1,999.99 to receive the information.

Always the maverick maven, I have decided to offer you this miraculous formula for nothing more than the time it costs you to read this!

The first equation of our life engineering course is:

Life Equations #1: (Money * Ideas) + Effort = Success

 

What does this mean to us?

The amount of success you are capable of producing is directly related to both the amount of money you have AND the number of ideas you are able to generate. A simple idea, right? To put this into practice, let us first dispel a few myths.

Myth #1: Money ? Success

Perhaps you were thinking that all you need is more money and then you can be deemed “successful”. Unfortunately, this is not the case. A brief search will give you plenty of examples of those who were very wealthy and committed suicide, even more examples of the rich and miserable, and even more examples of new or next generation millionaires who squandered their funds.

It may come as a surprise to discover that you will also find examples of those who fell from great heights, only to regain or even surpass their lofty places once again.

What is the constant in both cases? Ideas – either the lack thereof or the ability to carry them out to fruition.

The concept of concepts, your ability to generate promising ideas, leads us to another myth that must also be dispelled.

Myth #2: The Next Big Idea

If the success industry has a partner in its attempts to ensnare the ever-hopeful, it would be those who promise you access to the Next Big Idea.

This is the big idea that promises to grant you riches beyond your wildest dreams. It is the idea that you must not hesitate to act upon! It’s a ground floor investment opportunity! It’s guaranteed to become the next iPod, personal computer, whoseathingywhatsit that one day we all must have!

An idea does not need to be novel and exciting in order to be successful. It does not need to promise to revolutionize life as we know it. In fact, such an idea would be more difficult to carry out.

Now, I am not attempting to discourage present or would be inventors, but what I am saying is that most ideas are concerned with the improvement of an existing product, service or process.

If you are able to add, or create the perception of adding, more value to a product or service that already has an established market, you have an idea which is worth pursuing.

Now before you go out to build and market your better mousetrap, there is one more myth we need to dispel.

Myth #3: All You Need Is a Little Capital and a Good Idea

After hours, days, months, or even years of soul searching, market research, talks with friends etc, you have it – your dream business, your direct path up the corporate ladder, the new product or service you’re going to launch, all the degrees or licenses you need. You have IT.

All the hard work is done! Your future success is assured!

Not quite yet. It is this thought that leads us to the final part of the equation, effort.

All the money and great ideas in the world will not lead to much success without positive effort. Positive effort is effort that takes you in the direction you want to go. It drives your idea forward. It is the last, but the most important part of the formula for success.

Effort is the one part of the equation that you have complete and total control over. The amount of money at your disposal can fluctuate, ideas may prove to be lackluster and need revisions or replacement, but the effort you give the project – your drive, persistence, dedication – is what guarantees success.

How can success ever be “guaranteed”?

We have to remember that success does not mean the lack of failure. In many ways, it is simply achievement despite what may look like setbacks or failures. Just as sales and cold-calling is said to be a numbers game, so is success.

News Flash! You are going to have failures. The key is to make sure you fail forward. That you move from one idea or attempt to another with no loss of enthusiasm while learning from your mistakes.

Take your cue from the science and engineering fields and be willing to experiment, and recognize that you are indeed engaging in an experiment. Learn to accurately measure your results and decide what can be done to make your project or idea more successful. For in reality, that’s all a “failure” is – an outcome that is not as successful as you desired.

It follows then that success must come from the continual improvement of our failures.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 8:00 am and is filed under Business, Life Engineering, Success, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.