The 5 Keys to Success
Determination, Skill, Passion, Discipline And Luck
W hether we like admit it or not at some point we’ve all read an article or two about the mythical “keys” to success.
I’ve noticed recently though that writers and advice-givers of all kinds have been making the mistake of gravely over-reducing their recipes for success.
Reductionism is natural, it’s a tendency ingrained deeply in our psychology. 10 commandments feel better than 12, and the rule of 3 feels better than the rule of, say, 8. The problem, however, is oversimplification — a seemingly benign but actually pernicious effect of hyper-reductionsim.
I’ve read through as many of the best “how to be successful” articles and bits of advice I could find and noticed they, all of them, bare some striking resemblances. The most important of which being that there are 5, not 1, keys to success. They are: Determination, Skill, Passion, Discipline And Luck.
Determination is necessary but, like each of the 5 keys, not sufficient for success. I should clarify that when I say “success” what I’m referring to are the highest possible levels of success. Not middle-management or being a star on the high-school basketball team. Think more like CEO, NBA (and or MVP), Pulitzer Prize, Oscar, Grammy, Nobel, Heavyweight Champion, etc. The specific degree of success matters because determination alone is, perhaps, enough to be m oderately successful. But, unfortunately, it is not enough for true greatness. Nevertheless, I digress.
So, what is determination? Determination is both a firmness of purpose and a willingness to work unceasingly towards that purpose in spite of any obstacles, difficulties or failures along the way.
Accomplishing great things is difficult and, in the end, it’s always more difficult to achieve great things than you guessed it would be at the beginning. You knew it would be hard, but not this hard.
Ambitious goals require a high tolerance for pain, monotony, and boredom as well as a large amount of patience and discipline.
It takes a long time to achieve anything great. And to keep your sites set on something, anything, for a long time, the time it takes to do something great, you need determination. Anyone can be focused for a week or a month. And some can even be focused for a year, but that’s not true determination. True determination lasts multiple years, decades and lifetimes. That’s what it takes to be the best at something. That’s what it takes to achieve greatness. The “overnight success” is a myth, the “born natural” is a myth, and the “prodigy” is a myth.
Mozart is the exemplar of what people (wrongly) call a prodigy. People seem to think that he just sat down at the piano one day and hatched Symphony №41 on his first try. Well, I’m here to tell you that he didn’t. Not even close. A thorough examination of Mozart’s history — along with the history of every other so-called “prodigy” — clearly reveals them to be incredibly hard working people who, yes, had some natural talent but nowhere near the amount that people like to claim or believe.
Declaring someone a prodigy or a natural is the lazy man’s way of rationalizing his own shortcomings.
Skill. Skill goes hand in hand with determination. You can not become really skilled at anything difficult without putting in a lot of time and effort.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell describes an apparent phenomena which he calls the “10,000 hour rule.” The rule appears to hold true across a variety of fields ranging from music, to writing, to acting, to sports, and the like. As the name suggests, the 10,000 hour rule states that it takes 10,000 hours to master something — to, in other words, become the master of some particular skill.
10,000 hours! No wonder most people settle for mediocrity, that’s quite a lot of blood, sweat and tears. How can anyone keep their eye on the prize (i.e. be determined) for that long? The answer, is passion.
Passion. No one — not even the determined — can grin and bare it for 10,000 hours without passion. To practice something, unabated, day in and day out for the years or decades necessary to reach 10,000 hours is impossible unless you’re passionate about the thing you’re practicing. The old cliche that if you love what you do, you never have to work is true. Well, sort of.
Discipline. Even when you’re passionate about what you’re doing, there are still going to be times when you simply don’t feel like practicing/training/writing/playing/etc. You won’t always be in the mood. But you can not let that stop you. You must not wait for the lightning of inspiration to strike for, if you do, you’ll waste your life staring up at the sky.
Pick something you love to do, set your sites on it, then create a practice schedule for yourself and stick to it no matter whether you feel like it or not.
Remember, today’s struggle is tomorrow’s strength.
Last but not least, you need luck. It doesn’t matter which super-successful person you talk to, they will all agree, that you must have some degree of luck to reach the greatest heights of success.
The weak use their (real or perceived) lack of luck as a crutch and complain that so-and-so only got to where s/he is because they “are lucky.” This is often times why semi-successful people become bitter and declare themselves “self-made men.” But notice I said semi-successful, because these self-proclaimed self-made men are never among the most successful in their field. The most successful are always smart enough to credit at least some of what they have accomplished to luck.
Luck can come in many forms: genetic, social, timing, taste, all of these things are arbitrary, and anything that’s both arbitrary and beneficial is, by definition, lucky.
Even the capacity for hard work may, to some degree, have a lucky biological or genetic element. But I refuse to believe that hard work, or the capacity for it, is entirely inherent (also, I see no evidence for it).
You must work hard to be great, harder probably than you ever imaged. But you must also not be so naive as to call yourself self-made.
If you’re lucky, be thankful. Then, get to work.
Источник
Life Optimizer
Success is everybody’s dream. But what is the key to success? How can you be successful? In my post about defining successful people, I wrote that we should measure success based on how much we give rather than how much we receive. Fortunately, it also works nicely the other way around since those who give more almost always will also receive more.
Based on that, you can see that the more value you give to others, the more successful you will be. So how do you pave your way to success? How do you become more successful? The answer is amazingly simple. Here it is:
The key to success is making yourself as useful as possible to others.
That’s it. Making yourself as useful as possible to others.
If you focus on applying this, others will realize the value they get from you and they will attract more people to come to you. These new people will also realize the value they get from you and they will attract even more people to come to you. The virtuous cycle begins and you are now on your way to success.
With this principle in mind, you should aim at increasing your usefulness to others. How do you do that? Here are some ideas:
- Be observant of needs
To be useful to others, you should always be aware of even the slightest clues of needs. The more sensitive you are to the needs of others, the more appreciative people will eventually become. The best scenario is being able to anticipate a need before the other people are even aware of it. - Find solutions to the needs
Now that you are aware of needs, the next step is finding solutions to them. The solutions you offer should be as useful as possible. To be able to do so, there is no other way but to continuously build your own value. It is from the value you have that you could give value to others. - Be proactive to help
Do not wait for the other person to ask for your help. Be proactive. Give your help even before they ask. - Be sincere
What matters is not only the solution you offer, but also the way you deliver it. Being sincere means being glad to help others without expecting anything in return. Make it your joy to give something to others. People can somehow distinguish whether or not you are sincere. - Go the extra mile
Doing the above four steps is good, but add this one if you can: give more than expected. First, give what is expected, and then add a little more. If you do the above four steps people will be appreciative, but if you add this one step they will be impressed.
Источник
Samith Pich
Internet Marketing Specialist Coach, Trainer and Speaker
What is the Key To Success?
Previously I created a post about Why Success is so important in life today I want to continue the discussion. But first, a riddle.
I love riddles and here’s one for you:
‘What force and strength cannot get through, I with a gentle touch can do. And many in the street would stand, were I not a friend at hand
A key by its definition opens doors. Obviously there are many ways to open a door and get to whats on the other side. You could kick and smash the door down, you could try picking the lock, or even take it off its hinges! However, using a key works so well because it requires the least amount of effort, its very specific and it uses something really small and leverages it in a very powerful way.
Using the right key for the right door can be the difference between banging on a door for a couple of hours trying to break in or taking a moment to put a key in and turn the lock, breezing on in.
I start this discussion about keys and riddles because most people see success as a riddle and are to no fault of their own, have little real understanding to which key opens the door to success.
What is the Key to Success?
There are many important keys to success. Many of them useful. Just ask any entrepreneur or sports person and you will hear a range of varying opinions. Some will say ‘Having a Why’, or having motivation and peserverance. Others will say focus and will power. Some will insist it comes down to mindset and having a mentor.
But over the years of working with my clients helping them achieve their goals, and looking at how I’ve accomplished many of my own I’ve come to one simple conclusion.
And when you see this simple key to success you will probably exclaim how stupidly simple it is.
(But wouldn’t a key seem so stupidly obvious to someone trying to break into a door?)
There’s only one critical key to success. And its your ability to take consistent action.
Lets define what consistent action really means.
Action means you DO something that moves you closer to your goal. Planning, visualizing and sending positive thoughts is not an action. Watching motivational Youtube videos or reading over your company’s compensation plan is not action. Action is writing a chapter of your book, having a healthy breakfast, doing a 30?minutes workout, making a call to your prospective customer. Actions are always very specific.
Consistent means that you are doing something every day, even if it’s just for a small period of time.
You write 2 pages every day. You go for a 30?minute run every day in the morning. You make 10 new calls to prospective clients daily the first thing after you enter your office.
Real power lies in consistency.
But there are actions and then there are actions. Some actions yield better results. Like using the right key, some actions require minimal effort but create powerful results.
What are the most powerful actions we can take?
Hands down, the most powerful action you can take is the creation of powerful habits. Powerful habits can turbo-charge your success because habits are actions that you perform habitually , on the everyday basis. The best part is that once you install a new habit the action itself doesn’t require much effort (like a key).
I bet you brush your teeth everyday without forcing yourself into it. There is no great motivational speech needed every morning, like “Common, brush your teeth, you can do it!” You do it automatically and often even without thinking about it.
That’s what we want to achieve with our success habits. We want to do things that help us achieve our goals consistently and on autopilot, without having to force ourselves every time.
In my next blog post I will talk about why consistency is so important and why its such a challenge.
Remember this:
The key to success is taking consistent action.
Do This:
Identify a consistent action someone you admire takes to reach their goal.
Know This:
You are no different than the people you admire, before they became masters they were all starters. You have the ability the create powerful habits that serve you just like them.
Источник
How To Be Successful In Life – 10 Powerful Keys
Do you know what leads one person to achieve success in life over another? After doing a lot of research, we’ve come up with 10 Keys to Success. Success is within reach if you are willing to put in the work. But first, you need to first learn how to be successful, so you do the right work.
Here at Finally Family Homes, it’s our mission to help youth who have the odds stacked against them to beat the odds and succeed in life. So, what is the secret sauce of success? We’ll fill you in below along with some success quotes to inspire and motivate you.
Defining Success In Life
How do you define success in life? Most people consider success as having a great career, wealth, and respect from peers. But, don’t overlook goals that will support a happier life. Prioritizing relationships, physical health, safety, contributing to others, and creative expression have been shown to improve feelings of happiness.
However, don’t confuse the feeling of happiness with success. You could be quite happy eating Cheetos in your parents’ basement while you watch TV. That doesn’t make you a success. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Happiness is not a goal…it’s a by-product of a life well-lived.”
Success in life means attaining your vision of a good life. It means achieving specific goals that result in the future you have planned for yourself. Success in life is defined by the individual. Your vision of success looks different than someone else’s.
If you are looking for the key to success in business vs the key to success in a relationship, your strategies and efforts are going to be quite different.
It’s also important to take care that you don’t let someone else dictate what a successful life for you looks like. You only have so much time in life, so make sure you create a holistic picture for yourself.
This post contains affiliate links. We earn commissions to support youth in need if you shop through the links on this page. You can read our full affiliate disclosure here.
The hilariously talented Ken Jeong was raised to pursue medicine, and even though he was a successful physician, it wasn’t what he really wanted. Later, he found his way into acting and comedy, and to the delight of audiences everywhere he is now living into his vision of success.
As Thomas Merton put it, “People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.” Don’t put your ladder against the wrong wall! If are meant to be a yoga teacher, you won’t feel successful as a “successful” investment banker.
People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”
10 Keys To Success
So now that you know what success is, how do you get there? Believe it or not, although success may look different for everyone, there is a common list of strategies or keys to achieving that success. And here’s the really good news, once you learn how to succeed, you can apply these tools to bring about success in multiple areas of your life.
These keys or tools listed below will help you unlock success in your life. They are strategies used by successful athletes, businessmen, and artists. Make sure you have your clear vision of a successful life in front of you as work through them.
The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”
1 st Key: Make A Plan
The very first key to success is to make a plan. This means having a clear picture of what a successful life looks like to you and putting together a well-defined set of goals to get you to that life.
Planning well starts with figuring out what you want and writing it down in detail. It’s important to have clarity on your definition of success. This is the foundation for your plan.
To succeed means to accomplish a goal. By this definition, if you don’t set goals, you’ll never succeed.
2 nd Key: Prepare For The Unexpected
Many of the best laid plans have been derailed by a single misstep. Preparing for the unexpected can make the difference between your plans ending in failure or succeeding despite a bump in the road.
So how do you prepare for the unexpected? Start by making a list of things that could go wrong in your plan. Then create workarounds and backups for each potential problem. Even when I’m driving a route I know well, I usually keep my GPS up and running to help me navigate traffic jams, construction, or missed turns.
3 th Key: Prioritize Your Goals
As you create your systems and put your good habits into practice, you’ll probably find there isn’t enough time in each day to work towards every goal. Manage your time wisely, so that the right activities take priority.
If you’re not sure how to prioritize goals, it may help to apply some techniques like a numerical ranking system or the Eisenhower Matrix. Prioritizing your goals also means not letting things that never even made your list get in front of pursuing what did. In other words, don’t let talking to a telemarketer derail your plans to work on your website.
4 rd Key: Develop Good Habits
You can have big dreams, great goals, and still fail. The third key of success requires you to turn your goals into actions. Repeated actions in the right direction become helpful habits. And once you form the right habits, you create momentum.
Creating systems for your life as you are forming good habits can help you to stay on track. You can build systems by grouping good habits together. Having a system in place can keep you from having to make decisions on the fly or keep track of doing all your goal-oriented tasks one-by-one.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
Instead, you follow an intentional daily pattern that moves you towards your goals with less stress. This has the added benefits of reducing stress and freeing your attention to focus on the things that truly require more brainpower.
5 th Key: Learn from Your Mistakes
They say “the road to success is paved with failure.” What they don’t say, is that each piece of failure on that road probably looks different than the other. Success most likely came by way of trying (and failing) many different ways. Yes, you can fail your way to success, but almost never by making the same mistake over and over.
Failure is a part of the process of becoming successful if you make it a teacher. Learning and growing after failure makes it useful.
For example, consider a runner. Every race a runner loses, they may still be improving. If they build up strength and try new running techniques, they will likely see progress. They may move up from 5th place to 3rd place to 2nd. Even though they aren’t first, each race is a part of the process of success, moving them closer to getting first place.
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.
6 th Key: Try Different Strategies
The road to success is not straight. There are stops and starts, turns, and detours. Anyone who says they’ve got the exact path to success for you is probably lying. As the (creepy) saying goes, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Heck, there’s more than one way to get the meaning of that saying across. Let’s make up a newer more pet-friendly one: “There’s more than one way to peel a banana.”
Any way you put it, there’s more than one way to do – just about everything. So, if at first, you don’t succeed, try another way. Try a new strategy. Come at your goal from a new angle, at a different time, with a different person. There could in fact be many effective strategies. You just need to find the right one. The only way to find it is to keep changing and keep trying until you find one that works.
7 th Key: Take Smart Risks
As you try out different strategies, you may find that you’re trying something entirely new. It might feel scary. Admittedly, taking risks is intimidating, but taking smart risks can have big payoffs. Taking a smart or calculated risk means researching potential outcomes and determining what your chances of success are and if the payoff is worth risking the harm that could be done.
It takes time to develop good risk-taking skills. You may have a few painful failures as you figure out how to take calculated risks in life. It’s best to start out taking small risks. As you get better at it, you’ll probably become more comfortable. But don’t let your comfort be the only deciding factor. Often, taking a risk is the only way to achieve success.
Meditate on awesome success quotes while destressing with these coloring pages for adults. Visit our Esty shop now and get 50% OFF! Make sure to use the coupon code SUCCESS50 at check out.
8 th Key: Learn from the Experts
Truthfully, there is no one path to success. Nevertheless, a lot can be learned from studying other successful people. Even better is to be mentored or to study directly under someone. Recorded history doesn’t always catch all the details and nuances.
Start with doing some research and study successful people who did something in the same realm of what you are striving to achieve.
Want to innovate?
Study innovators.
Want to be a great painter?
Study Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso.
Want to own a restaurant?
Learn from a restaurateur.
Watch what they do, take notes, and ask questions.
9 th Key: Master How to Say No
I think our culture undervalues the importance of saying no. It can be uncomfortable. If you listen to interviews with successful people, you’ll probably hear them talk about turning down great opportunities they knew aren’t right for them.
Learning how to say no is an essential key to success in life. Successful people say no all the time. Saying no means knowing yourself, your boundaries, and being able to determine what is worth your time and energy. Saying no to the wrong thing leaves space to say yes to the right thing. It leaves room for the right opportunity.
10 th Key: Invest in Relationships
While the saying, “it’s not what you know it’s who you know” may overstate the importance of relationships to success, it’s certainly not without merit. As a rule, investing in relationships is quite valuable. People are made to be connected to a community. The benefits of being in a safe and encouraging community go beyond success in any one area of life. As James Clear says in Atomic Habits:
One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.”
There are many types of relationships that can boost your chances of success in life. For example, the relationship you need most may be a friend who has no “connections,” but supports you when times are tough.
Maybe the relationship you need is with a competitor, someone to challenge you and keep you sharp. In particular pursue a mentoring relationship, which can lead to networking opportunities and invaluable advice. We know that the lack of these relationships can be the biggest gap between aged out foster youth and success.
Share This On Pinterest!
What Makes a Person Successful in Life
The above keys for success are not all or nothing. However, the more of these you have, the better you will do as you try to figure out how to achieve success in life. And all of these keys or tools can be acquired and developed by anyone with enough time and grit.
It also bears mentioning that a successful life is not all about pursuing success. It is not consumed by delusions of grandeur. How can you be happy if you are consumed?
Some of your most powerful and most meaningful moments will happen in the midst of failure and defeat. Some of the best memories can be made in the mundane. These are valuable too. Without a doubt, success in life also means developing the ability to be grateful and to find the nuggets of beauty in less glamorous times.
We believe true success includes making a difference in the world. The most powerful difference you can make is the difference you make in the life of others. Otherwise, all your success dies with you. As Roy T Bennett put it:
Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.
Ready to dig deeper into a key to success? Check out these next steps.
Dig into our recommended reading by the authors quoted above. GOALS! is one of Brian Tracy’s top-selling books. In his book, he shares how he took himself from rags to riches.
Not sure what to do or where your talents are? Get a free assessment from Brian Tracy! —>
Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada, and 55 other countries worldwide.
Atomic Habits is a number one New York Times bestseller by James Clear, an author and speaker focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement.
Atomic Habits will give you a proven framework to make good habits & break bad ones.
His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning
One purpose of this blog is to help parents of teens navigate the challenges of preparing their children to be successful independent adults. The mission of Finally Family Homes is to provide the same kind of support for those teens who don’t have a family or home to help them transition into adulthood.
Be sure to check out:
You can make a difference by sharing this post!
Источник