The Real Secret to Success is Within Reach
I once heard someone make a profound observation about the nature of success and how some people who seem to have all the tools never seem to make that big breakthrough. What was truly sad, this person remarked, was that most people who don’t “make it” will never know how close they were when they gave up.
This is a great insight into what makes successful people successful. It’s often not a matter of talent or special skill, or even luck. More often, it’s simply a matter of finishing power: The ability to stick with a plan and push through in the face of obstacles.
Because the truth is, most of us know what we need to do. The hard part is getting it done. That’s why sometimes, when it comes to implementing change, we look for the easiest solutions first—the ones that represent the least pain. But those easy solutions are seldom enough to take you very far.
When we do venture beyond that point and try to implement significant change, we start coming up against resistance. And that’s when the justifications for going back to the status quo start to look appealing. It’s just not worth it. This isn’t working. Maybe now is not the right time.
This is the key moment. Those who recognize that the disturbances they are facing are just a natural consequence of growth, push on. Those who get discouraged, turn back never knowing that the results they were looking for were almost within their grasp.
That’s why it’s important to approach any significant attempt at change with a real plan to take you all the way. For instance, I recently heard from a dentist who attended our Yes Practice workshop with her team and got really excited about what they learned. But they didn’t just go back home and let the enthusiasm slowly slip away. She created an implementation plan to make sure she and the team were executing on their new goals each week. She also built on that momentum with a series of online lessons on our Digital Campus that she watched and reviewed with her team each week and created plans for implementing what they learned there.
When she called me she was marvelling at how rapidly the growth and improvements were coming, to the point where she has started to look toward new strategies to keep up with the demand. The point is, every dentist who came out of that program knew in their hearts what they would have to do to make it work. She took that knowledge and ran with it. She made the commitment to execute at the highest level and to stay with it, and now she is seeing the rewards.
Great topic Imtiaz. You mention two words that are very important—”key moment” and “momentum.” Whenever someone wants to change — it is that resistance that stops them—but once the key moment is identified—momentum builds. Recently I have been trying to create the habit of waking up early (very early), and this requires more discipline than one can imagine (waking you love sleep so much). The moment of truth is when the alarm clock goes off—the resistance is palpable. But it just takes a few seconds to break through it—then after a few days momentum builds. This can be done with anything to create change.
Thanks for the discussion.
Barry Polansky
Well said Imtiaz! Personal reactions to the potential of failure breed mediocrity which unfortunately has the highest social acceptance. Perseverance is the key to achieving excellence, but without a well thought-out plan, it will not work. Ambition without a plan is an entrapment which imprisons the seeker in a daily rut of maintaining the status-quo without ever achieving excellence.
Best Regards,
Avi Raina