Succeeding

Have you ever wondered just how successful people succeed? We all have. Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who have it all figured out? Then again you could be like the rest of us who are still trying to learn. Well, I’m going to let you in on one of the strategies of the successful. It isn’t a secret, but it is something that is often overlooked.

Here it is. Successful people succeed because they get past being stuck by rapidly changing what they’re doing and avoiding the failure loop. Let’s break it down into the three parts I want to highlight.

Successful people don’t get stuck. They want to progress and not being able to go forward just doesn’t work for them. Call it determination, focus, high level of motivation, being driven or whatever you want, their orientation is to keep advancing. Getting stuck not only goes against their nature, but it also alerts them to something else very important: that it is time for some fresh ideas, further insight and most likely a strategy change. Which brings us to part two.

Successful people change the way they do things.  They tend to not have a strong commitment to doing things only one way. If they get the results they want, fine. If they don’t, then they change what they’re doing to find something that will work. Their commitment is to finding a way to achieve. In no particular order: new ideas – they quickly detach from something and move on to what is next; self criticism – they do not linger over what has failed (except to learn from it); focus – they are eager to find what will succeed; adaptability – they respond to new circumstances with flexibility and deftly adopt new approaches and ways of thinking. Which brings us to part three.

Successful people avoid the failure loop. If we were in the heads of those who don’t succeed, we might hear the failure loop which goes something like this:  “I know this should work, let me try it again……...” However, those who succeed have adaptive nimble minds. The kind of change that we’re talking about is dependent on our ability to go through a thought process that might be like this: “uh oh that’s not what I wanted”; “I wonder what went wrong and what I should now do?”; “let me think about it and do some research”; “ok, I’ve got some choices to make”; “I think I’m going to try that way over there because it looks promising, ok, let’s head in that direction.”

Successful people are open to finding new ways to do, think and be. They realize that today's strategies may not apply to tomorrow's situation. Consider your cell phone. Today's tech wonder may be tomorrow's doorstop due to the rapid advances in digital and cellular technology. Likewise the solutions needed to answer tomorrow's challenges might not be found in the strategies used today. Those who succeed recognize these realities. Do you?    

Eric