What Do You See?
Your Outlook Sets Your Success
“Show me a successful person and I will show you someone who has failed more than most. Show me an unsuccessful person and I’ll show you somebody who quit after failing a few times.” ~Donald Miller
This is about outlook. It literally shapes your life. Do you think things will work out? If yes, you’re likely to try even if it means you might fail in the process. If no, you likely won’t try even if the risk is minimal. Run this pattern a few times, for a few days, for a few weeks, months, years. It’s like compounding interest but in both directions.
Which person is more satisfied, happier, and ultimately more successful? Pretty obvious, right? And, given you’re still reading this, you see yourself as the person who thinks things will work out… at least to a certain extent. Keep reading!
Now let’s talk about goals. In life, in our careers, in our businesses, we set goals. Big plans for the year as an example. Personally, those goals are around your health or relationships. Professionally, you set goals for your sales or for a promotion. You’re set. You have a plan. Off you go. And, then…
Too often we find ourselves compromising. Maybe you feel like you’ve hit a wall. Maybe you’ve heard more ‘no’ than you planned. You tried. You really tried. You even failed a few times but getting up one more time? Maybe it’s time to get real. Face the facts. “The goal was too big” (at least for me). “The goal was unreasonable” (given the circumstances). It’s time to make the goal more reasonable, easier to attain, smaller. Compromise – concessions that at best lead to mediocrity, at worst create regret and resentment. Yuk!
So, what do you do? Here’s three things that every successful person does.
- DECIDE. What do you really want. Most people set goals that are too small. Too reasonable in the first place. This might sound counterintuitive, but you are more likely to give up on a ‘reasonable’ goal because you don’t really want that. Setting a big goal – something juicy, exciting, outside of your current experience and something you really want sets you on a path to extraordinary results.
- DISRUPT your thinking. The adage holds true – what you think about you get. Check the self-talk at the door. When you hear that worry, doubt and fear start to seep into your thoughts, turn it around. Take “I can’t” and replace it with “but what if I could”. That single shift in perception will open your mind to a world of possibility. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
- BE RELENTLESS. The absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence. The bigger the goal, the more growth and disruption you can expect. Successful people don’t see failure. They see experimentation, growth opportunities expected on the path to the goal. And, they keep moving forward.
R. Buckminster Fuller put like this, “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” It’s the perfect example of the absence of evidence not being evidence of absence. And yet, there is nothing more relentless, nor disruptive than that transformation. But, the beauty released from the cocoon… Be the butterfly you were born to be.
