Have you ever wondered what makes some people super-successful. Some people will suggest it is just luck but while luck might have played its part it is never the whole story. It has been said by a number of these “lucky” individuals that “the harder I work the luckier I get!”
It is widely acknowledged that top performers have a different mindset to most of us mere mortals but what is the difference that makes the difference?
Richard St John is known as a success expert and he has certainly had a great deal of success in his life, however, what makes him an expert in this field is studying successful people.
He set out, like a modern day Napoleon Hill, to interview the successful people to find out what they had in common. What made them successful.
He identified eight secrets of success which he shares in amusing and extremely short TED Talk!
These eight secrets are extremely simple and so can be put into a talk of less that three minutes long, however, I would suggest that simple does not translate as easy … if it did then success would be a breeze.
You will forgive me then as I ask you to read on rather than zipping off to see what Richard St John has to say as I unfold these secrets with a little of my commentary and quotes of some extremely successful people.
Passion
It is said that if you do what you love you will never work a day in your life. I am not sure that many businesspeople would agree with that, especially in the light of the comments that they make about work. I do believe, however that they believe it is essential for success.
The truth is I suppose that if you love what you do, if you are passionate about it then you don’t mind putting in the hard hours, taking the risks, continuing in the face of adversity and ignoring the naysayers.
“Love what you do and do what you love, otherwise you will become unhappy and self- defeating.”
Lord Sugar
“Zig Ziglar says, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Being passionate will make you motivated. This is the kind of motivation that comes from within. Occasionally we all need a bit of a pep talk, a bit of an uplift and that is why motivational speakers do so well.
This kind of motivation though does not hold though.
Being passionate will help you stay motivated during the tough times.
Building a business is hard, hard work and there will be times when you want to give up, where you think you cannot move another step, where you feel that you have given everything you have to give. The COVID 19 pandemic will have taken many businesses to the very limits. Passion will be what helped people survive.
It also feels fantastic to be doing what we love. There will be moments when we are struggling but when we look overall at what we are doing it will give a sense of satisfaction.
Practice
“People should pursue what they’re passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.”
Elon Musk
Practice, practice, practice!
According to Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills. That being the case, if you practiced for three hours a day intensively then it would take you a little over 9 years to gain expertise in that skill.
Daniel Coyle, in his book The Talent Code explores why practice is so important. Whenever we do a new activity or learn something new, we create neural pathways. As we practice, we create myelin these neural pathways develop myelin sheaths. These sheaths strengthen the pathways which help the impulses to travel more quickly. The more we practice the thicker the myelin thickens and the thicker it becomes the more established the pathway becomes. He writes:
“To sum up: it’s time to rewrite the maxim that practice makes perfect. The truth is, practice makes myelin, and myelin makes perfect.”
Daniel Coyle
Practice requires patience and dedication. The super-successful have this in spades. They will toil night and day to become the expert they need to be to make their ideas come to fruition.
“Patience is a key element of success.”
Bill Gates
