Summary:
What does success mean to you? For most people, success will include some monetary aspect. Your definition may include owning a nice car or house, having enough money to take care of your family and to live the kind of life you choose. So money is a major aspect of success for most people. There are many other types of success as well, such as academic achievement, athletic achievement, as well as success in relationships with family and friends.
There are many different areas in which success may be important to you. Ultimately, your definition of success is going to be highly personal. It will be different for each person according to what matters most to them.
Success is a very individual thing and rightfully so, because not all of us want the same levels of success or the same types of success. However, even though each person’s definition of and path to success is highly personal, it is also true that there are certain similarities in the elements required to achieve success that are common to all, no matter what your path or ultimate success may be.
The playwright, Oscar Wilde said: “Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the results.” Knowing and mastering the basic elements or conditions of success and then personalizing them to your own circumstances will allow you to achieve your dreams and live rich.
Transcript:
Various Aspects of Success
What does success mean to you? For most people, when I ask that question they immediately begin talking about the car or house they want. They talk about all the monetary aspects of success, and why not? To most people, money is a major part of it. Of course one of the things that I work with people on is to help them have that monetary success, and I’ll talk about that in just a minute.
There are many other types of success as well. There is success with family and with friends. There are achievements at work. Having a great golf game is an achievement to many. Running a marathon or giving your time or a sum of money to charity can be an achievement that is fulfilling. And of course there are many more. Success is a very individual thing and rightfully so, because not all of us want the same levels of success or the same types of success.
The Science of Success
The playwright, Oscar Wilde said: “Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the results.” I actually agree with Oscar Wilde. I can take somebody that has the desire for success and is prepared to put in the effort and help them be more successful than they are today. In fact, with my personal coaching clients my objective is to help them double or even triple their income.
To do this you must break success down into segments. In other words, create a formula that will work for an individual. Everybody’s formula for success is going to be personal. However, there are some similarities in how a person can get there.
So let me talk about the basic formula for success…
Of course whatever success you want needs to start with the thought or vision of what it is you want to create. You need to make a conscious decision to take some action in order to create that vision. Sounds simple right? However, people have a tendency to complicate this and lose focus on what it is they really want to accomplish. That’s why it’s so important to go through the process and very clearly define what it is you want to create in your life.
A Basic Formula
Thinking of the formula as a set of ingredients, the number one ingredient is to know what you want. You need to have the vision clearly implanted in your minds eye. Another ingredient you will need is the burning desire to accomplish the specific objectives you set for yourself. In addition you need to have the right vehicle to take you there.
What’s the right vehicle for you? This will depend on your current situation in life. It may be the job you have. Or it may be the business you want to build or the investments you want to make. Let’s say your goal is to own 50 rental properties and you don’t own any right now. You need to start by acquiring one.
Now, if you already have a great job and extra cash flow, acquiring your first property may not be that difficult or that far off in the future. However, what do you know about investing in real estate? Do you have the skill set needed to know what type of property you should be buying? Knowing how to choose the right property can help you make great strides in increasing your net worth. Getting a property below market value is always the goal when buying investment property. You will want to research what community you should be buying in to have positive cash flow. However, this isn’t a real estate lesson so I won’t go any further than that.
Another component of your success formula is being sure that you have the skills you require to attain that success. If it’s running a marathon, you may need to take a seminar on running long distance or join a club of other long-distance runners so you can learn from them.
I’m currently considering an offshore sailing race from Victoria BC, just off the west coast of Canada, to Maui, Hawaii. In order to do that race I will require some additional training for my safety and the safety of the rest of the crew. So always consider whether there are any skills you need to acquire in order to have the success you choose.
Getting back to our real estate example, if you don’t have extra cash flow right now, the question is, how are you going to get it? You might need to find a second job or you may want to start a business from home. You’ll probably need some ideas on how to generate this extra cash flow. So another ingredient of the success formula is having an ongoing stream of ideas that will help carry you toward your goals and objectives.
One of the ways to do this is to sit down each day and brainstorm in a journal for just five minutes. Write down any new and fresh ideas that come to you throughout the day. Additionally, take notes throughout the day on your smart phone or in a small notebook, so you don’t forget your ideas as they come to you. I find that I often get new ideas in the shower when I’m not thinking about anything related to my business. These few minutes a day of solitude can sometimes be what is needed to come up with the idea that may just change your life.
Next you will need a step-by-step, detailed plan of exactly how you’re going to achieve what it is you want to accomplish. You want to have each and every detail of your plan mapped out, showing the tasks required to move you toward your end goal. So the detail of your plan is another ingredient in the science of creating success, the more detailed the better.
So now what? Well, you know what you want to achieve. You’ve got the desire. You’ve generated some ideas and set a plan. From here you want to continually check the activities that you have in your plan to see what is moving you toward your goal and what is not. You want to be checking each and every week to see if what you’re doing is moving you toward the interim objectives you have set.
Another ingredient is setting a timeframe for the accomplishment of different objectives in your plan. Your timeframe for the larger goal may be five years down the road if we’re talking about accumulating 50 rental properties. It might be even further down the road. However, you want to set an objective timeframe for when you will acquire that first rental property. To do this, you’ll want to know how much money you need for the down payment, the insurance and the other costs that may be associated with the property type you’re thinking of.
If your goal is to have $10,000 to put toward your first investment property, the question is how long will it take you to raise that amount of money? As you begin to implement your plan you want to continuously check and be sure that you are reaching your targets. Have you reached the $1000 bank account level within the timeframe you set in your plan? Are you on track? Did you reach the $5000 level in the timeframe you set for yourself? If your plan is working you should continue with it. However, if you find that you are not meeting the deadlines you set for yourself, you need to examine why that is and make some adjustments.
Keep in mind that you will build one success upon another success and in doing so create the end result you are after. Just as in this real estate example where you are building your bank account and growing it until you buy your first investment property.
The Key Ingredients of Success
So what I have given you here are eleven key ingredients in the formula for success:
- Your vision of what you want
- A decision to take action
- Make a detailed plan of action
- Establish your timeframe. Both for the ultimate objective and for the interim goals
- Maintain your focus
- Have a burning desire
- Have a vehicle to accomplish your goal
- Have extra cash flow
- Determine and acquire the needed skills
- Ongoing ideas – research may be needed
- Continuous self-assessment – are your actions moving you forward?
I am simplifying the formula here. In my Retire Rich program there are 8 lengthy videos to help you through the entire process. I give you all the details you require to gain the success you want in all areas of your life. Be sure to check out the Retire Rich program if you haven’t yet.
Until next time, Live Rich!
