KEY POINTS:
This may come as a shock to some, but contrary to popular belief these days, there is no "secret" to success.
The answer has been widely available and evident on book shelves in autobiographies, biographies, audio and self help titles and documentaries for generations. There is more information available today than there ever was and yet just as many people as before struggle through life suffering from "the eternal discontent."
Of course we know why that is don't we - because the formulae require effort, focus, application and follow through- something that probably more than fifty per cent of people struggle with.
Why? This is the question I have asked myself on a number of occasions.
The cynical part of me looks at all this "law of attraction stuff" and says, yeah right! The generic "search for success blueprint" is especially unhelpful when people define success differently, and define success differently at different stages in their lives. Don't we?
If there is a grand spectrum where at the one end we attract success in life through 'new-age magic' and at the other end we attract things because we "focus" on them, then I sit firmly at the "focus" end. However, I don't have all the answers and will remain open to the magic and spiritual stuff. Sort of like the Lotto philosophy - if you're not in, then you don't have a chance to win!
I had been so burdened by this question of how success really happens that one day in 2003, I got out every relevant book I owned, all the biographies and self-development titles, laid them on the floor and analysed all the contents pages to see what they had in common.
From two hundred and twenty books I clustered down what these writers, many of them famous achievers, suggested were crucial to becoming successful. The biggest surprise to me was that they were all saying the same thing, in different ways. What a croc ! I said to myself. Then I got on with trying to understand this phenomenon in more detail.
Here are what I call the 'Nine Powers', neatly distilled for your purposes. Over the next 13 weeks or so I'll give you a brief overview of them. The knowledge should keep you warm this winter. Or maybe reaffirm what you are already doing? We'll still interview goalgetters along the way because everyone is different and it's good to learn from different perspectives.
I challenge you to pick up any self-development book, audio tape, biography or autobiography of a leader in their field - you'll find most of their strategies are related to these nine factors:
The Nine Powers
1. Taking charge and being conscious of your thoughts and how they impact your life.
2. Acquiring specific self-knowledge, resulting in understanding your BIG purpose in life.
3. Using creativity and imagination to simulate success until it really happens (visualisation and affirmation).
4. Creating actionable steps towards your big purpose every single day. Linking what you are doing now to your big purpose.
5. Using past achievements to help you now, and displaying gratitude for the good things you already have in your life.
6. Being in tune with and understanding what drives other people who help you achieve your goals.
7. Giving value to and getting it from others, and improving things around you, unconditionally.
8. Creating positive habits and eliminating bad ones, making the best of 24 hours.
9. Overcoming the inevitable obstacles - bouncebackability.
How many of these do you aim for regularly? Do you have a few that might be unique- that don't fit into this summary?
What I have found interesting is that almost all of the 'Inspired People' I have interviewed (in this blog and before) have an intuitive understanding of all of these powers. While they don't succeed each and every day on all of them, most are constantly striving to utilize these powers to achieve what they want out of life and in business.
What is your secret to getting things done in your life and in your career? It is often good to take a second look at your current strategies and assess what is working and what is not.
The answers are out there and within your grasp I suspect.
* Dwayne Alexander, our goal guru is founder of LiveMyGoals, the social network for goalgetters.
