Success Is a Choice

This based on an article I wrote, many years ago, after interviewing business leaders, political leaders, writers and artists, each one a success in their field, explaining that success is a choice. I recently found a copy of the notes I kept back then. I was curious, from a personal standpoint, to see how I had fared with the lessons and advice I had been given, and I was pleased to find that each of these elements had been a great advantage to me personally through my own journey to success, including my many failures, over the past many years. I should offer a disclaimer in that I am not someone who has yet made a million dollars. But I have defined what is a success and what isn’t, in much different terms than money. So if you feel the same, and if you suspect that success is a choice, please read on.

I have illustrated these elements as an Inukushuk, which the Inuit would build to let arctic travelers know that someone has been here before. Each stone here represents one of the following ten elements. Each stone represents one element. I would not say that any one element is more important than another. In fact, if you remove one, the entire structure would certainly collapse. As Tony Robbins said, “Success leaves clues.” My wish is that the clues I have discovered from others, from the privilege of speaking to these men and women one-on-one, and in my own journey to success, will also help you. The one characteristic each of these people has, is that success is a choice. It is not something you fall into by accident (and if you do, it never lasts long), and it is never something that finds you. You must go after it.

1. Goals. Your goals today are how you will later define success. Write down your goals. Look at them daily. Success should be defined by your own terms, not anyone else’s.

“The goal you set must be … challenging enough to make you stretch, but not so far that you break.” – Rick Hansen

2. Failure. If success is a choice, then failure is a choice too. Failure is an important component to any success story. There are many ways to leverage today’s failure towards tomorrow’s success. Amongst the most successful people I have interviewed over the years, this has been one of the most important lessons: Do what works. Don’t dwell on what should work, but doesn’t. Too often we get caught up in the way the world should be, and not the way it really is. Don’t dwell on your failures. Learn what you needed to learn and then move on.

My friend Darren Monroe has a phrase, or a mantra, “Fail Fast Forward”. Think about that. As a young life insurance salesman, one of the very first things I was taught was the importance of failing quickly, and failing often. Life insurance is not the easiest sale in the world. So when you know you need to introduce yourself to 100 people on average to make one sale, it only makes sense to talk to 100 people each day, not 100 people each month. Success is a choice. Choose to integrate every failure today into tomorrow’s success.

If you have a substantial fear of failure (as most of us have had at one time or another) you may be interested in this article on the fear of rejection.

3. Passion. Success without passion is difficult; long-term success excruciating, if not impossible. When you believe that success is a choice, then passion is the fuel that keeps you going when times are tough, gets you out of bed in the morning, keeps you working and playing longer. If your goals in any endeavour do nothing to ignite this precious fuel, you need to redefine your notions of success and choose better goals.

4. Opportunity. One of the most successful business leaders I know, and a man I respect very much, has a quote from Albert Einstein on his desk: “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Understanding that success is a choice, he told me, means choosing to see opportunities around you that others have not looked hard enough to see.  If you don’t see them, look harder. If you still don’t see it, look at your difficulties from a different perspective. Ask yourself how someone you admire would see the situation, and what they might do if they were in your place. Break out of your thought routines and look for the opportunity. If there were no difficulties in life, no one would need to create a new solution.

5. Risks. Of the hundreds of successful people I have met, every single one of them has been a risk-taker. That is not to say you should blindly go forward without understanding the consequences of your actions. Each one of these individuals has developed a skill in weighing the odds, examining the likely outcomes, and choosing the most promising course of action. This seldom means the safest course of action, but neither does it mean the riskiest action either.

Most people do not accept that success is a choice. They construct explanations for their lack of success. Remember that if you are doing the same as everyone else, then it is improbable you will do better than anyone else. Risk messing things up if the payoff is going to be worth it. Stand out. And if you do fail the first time, you will have the experience you need to do better the next time around.

To Read About the Next 5 Elements, please continue to Your Journey to Success…

Related posts:

1. 25 Ways to Motivate Yourself

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