We tend to use the work “success” very loosely and it's open to all sorts of interpretation, but when I refer to success, I mean in anything you want to achieve in life. Of course we can automatically associate this with business, and I’ll use business as an example, because it’s rather a large consumption of our lives, but here's the thing… there's something you can do to pretty much guarantee the success of anything you do - and it requires the following 2 things:
1. A clear understanding of what you need. (Harder than you may think!)
2. A lack of other options.
#1. A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU NEED.
Of course we must understand what we need from ourselves in a practical sense, for example, if you want to start an online business you’re going to need a website, if you want to become a virtual assistant, you’re going to need a computer, if you want to cycle around the world, you’ll need a bike, etc… these are all pretty obvious necessities in order to get from A to B.
BUT - it’s not just about that, it’s so much deeper, and you’ll have to be very honest with yourself to find out what you’ll really need. For example, if you want to become a virtual assistant, and we already know you'll need clients, you’ll also need confidence, people skills, expertise - let’s say you're aware that you lack confidence, and you're aware you need to gain confidence, then you’ll need to work on your confidence skills, you might want to explore a confidence coach or workshop, read some self-help books, but whatever you decide to do, you need to really focus on getting that area of need sorted.
The point is, you know and understand what you need to work on, to make whatever needs to happen, happen - and here's the thing, if you don’t address it, the need won’t suddenly evaporate and go away. Success can be complicated, it’s like a chain with many links, and if a link is too weak, the rest of the chain won’t be strong enough to hold.
If you have an intention to travel the world, you’ll need your first ticket - go book it. Take action, do it. Then if you have a fear of flying, or a fear of travelling alone for example, those are the things you’ll need to really work on, or nothing else will fall into place. You’ll get to the airport and flake out and go home.
That leads me nicely on to my next point...
#2. LACK OF OTHER OPTIONS.
So, you've started the virtual assistant business and you’re ready to take in clients, you have done what you needed to do in order to achieve this, BUT… You've left yourself with other options which could potentially keep you from pushing yourself hard enough, for example:
* “It’s okay if my business fails, I’ll go and get a job.”
* “It’s okay if I flake out at the airport, I’ll just go home.”
* “It’s okay if I don’t complete the marathon, there’s always next year.”
Do you see my point? Having options, whilst we think they are good, they're not an EXTREME way of going about achieving your goals or reaching the success you need to realise. What if there were no other options?… What would you do then?
What if there was no option to go out and get a job, what if that flight was the last flight to your destination and you would never get another chance to leave again, and what if that was the last marathon, and if you don’t complete it this time, you never will? Wouldn’t your attitude change? Wouldn’t you feel less ‘comfortable’ with going back…
If you want to be successful, in an “extreme” sense – then failure is not an option, period. You find your weaknesses, (there is always a reason, or maybe several as to you why you’re not succeeding as you had hoped) and you work on them until you've overcome them – you keep going, and then you put your best foot forward knowing there's no going back, and there are no other options, you simply cannot back down, like a rickety bridge where with each step you take to get to the other side, the previous step on the bridge falls down into the canyon below, and the only way left for you to go is forward or plunge to your doom… I would go forward if I were you.
THERE'S NO FAILURE UNTIL YOU STOP TRYING.
If you want an Extreme Success Experience, you’ll need to suffer, honestly… But in a good way. This relates to me, as I have been faced with several situations where I either make it work, or give in and go back… I toy with the idea, but in the end, I always do whatever it takes to not have to reverse, so I remove the option completely, and when you do that, there's only one way for you to go – BUT – you have to be quick! You have to focus on your weak spots, and improve on them as fast as you can so they don’t hold you back – consistently asking yourself if you know where the underlying issue lies, maybe you're psychologically trying to cover it up with something else, and if so, get help with that.
Be honest with yourself, find the problems and create an action plan for a solution - do what you gotta do, so they're no longer a weakness – I believe there's a solution to everything if you set your mind to it.
If you give this your all, you’ll be surprised at the outcome.
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