Monday, July 09, 2007

An Odd Rule of Success

We often think of achieving success as moving from one point to another, from one of failure to success, like moving between two points on a map. This is not necessarily so, and the fact can be used to our advantage.

When we want to achieve something we usually go about planning it in the same we plan a road journey. We start from point A and want to get to point B, with places to stop along the way. We mark our progress by how far we have moved along the route in whatever amount of time. Eventually we get to where we want to be.

This analogy of achievement as a journey down a road can be useful. There’s some value in being able to chart our progress day by day or week by week. The length of time it takes us to achieve the goal will vary on how complex and large the goal is, but when we see ourselves moving along the road, even if only by small degrees, it can help to keep us motivated. It’s when we stop seeing progress that we tend to give up.

But this simple road map to success—the straight line method of achievement—has its disadvantages, in that it doesn’t give a true picture of how we achieve things. In fact achieving things can be easier, or take less time than we think, and the road is not straight. In fact, achieving success is not a road at all. It’s something that is essentially non-spatial. We can’t plot from A to B because the distance to our goal is not constant.

Not always a straight line to success

The reason is that when we move toward a goal, we can sometimes take three or four steps at a time, although when we first start to move toward our goal we might have to take five steps in order to move forward just one. Or sometimes we take one step and slide back four steps. :-)

The good thing to know, and something which can really galvanize us to keep trying is that as we persist in trying to achieve our goals, the steps get easier, and that’s when we begin to take four steps for every one. One reason is that as we move toward our goal we get better at what we do. Things get easier. But another reason, and one which isn’t easily measurable, is that we begin to attract things to us that quicken our progress exponentially.

This is especially true when the success isn’t measured in terms of being “the best”—a subjective measurement at best—but simply in terms of achieving something, like starting a successful business.

Looking at success in this way, it might be useful to look at achievement not in terms of a journey, of moving down a road from A to B, but in terms of increasing the power of a magnet. If you’ve ever seen a powerful electromagnet in operation, you’ll know what I mean. Put it in the middle of a bunch of iron filings or metal tacks and increase the power slowly. At first just a few tacks are pulled in, but at some point the current reaches a certain power and suddenly all the tacks fly to the magnet and stick like glue.

Increase your power

Your success can be looked at in the same way. When you begin an undertaking, your power is weak. Maybe you won’t even attract a single tack. But as you continue in your progress and your power increases, more and more tacks will be pulled in, until one day there’ll be such a rush that you’ll wonder how it happened.

Seen from a human perspective, the tacks could be relationships, or reputation. As the number of relationships grows, your success increases—and not by single steps, but leaps and bounds. To me, this is a much better way of looking at success achievement. It shifts the perspective away from success as something you have to work towards to something that you attract to you. It means success is something that is within you and not out there.

The next time you think of something you want to achieve, try to think of it not as a journey, but as an increase in your power. Then think of what you can do to start increasing your attraction. It might mean getting in touch with a certain group of people who have the contacts you need. It might mean starting to learn a new skill that is in demand. Think of success coming to you, and not something you have to chase. It makes the job of achieving success that much easier. ()

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