Most people think success is all about luck. That in order to be successful you need to be in the right place at the right time with the right skill set. This is very rarely the case and one of the first things that superachievers learn is that success is just a game you have to play and there are rules to that game. Providing that you play to those rules and follow some simple instructions then success can come easily in any area of your life.
Now there are many rules to the game of success and if I wrote about them all here in some detail you’d be reading for the majority of the day, if not longer. Instead I’m going to focus on a simple part of the game that if you can apply it to your life, you can start to produce results in any area of your life.
The success cycle is very simple. Made up of 4 interlinked areas, it helps to show how variation in any part can change the results you get out at the end. It also helps to show that momentum can be built in one area which can then be rolled over into something else, building more success.
The idea is simple. Your potential, which can include what you perceive is your potential, determines the actions you take in order to produce results. The results you get are dependent on the type and quality of the actions you take and they also directly influence your beliefs and attitudes, which in turn then shape your future potential.
Here’s an example of how this might work in the negative sense.
Billy is a saxophone player. He practices a couple of times a week but never usually for very long. His mates at work say he should audition for their Rhythm and Blues band because they are on the look out for a new Sax player. Billy agrees and goes home to practice for the audition. The problem is Billy has never thought he was very good at the Saxophone and never thought he was skilful enough to be in a band, even though he secretly wishes he could be in one. So he practices a bit, but never truly puts his heart in to it because deep down he doesn’t think he’s got the chops to cut it. The audition comes around and he manages to not make a mistake, but the performance he gives doesn’t really have any funk to it, so he gets to be turned down. Billy walks home despondent thinking over and over in his mind: “I knew I wasn’t good enough.”
You think Billy ever auditioned for a band again after that? Or that he even picked up the Saxophone again? It’s very doubtful isn’t it? But let’s look at this from the other perspective.
Billy rushes home from work that day, after being asked to audition and begins practicing with gusto. He knows that he’s got a real shot to do something he loves and maybe make some money out of it. Billy knows he’s not put the practice in really in the past but vows to put the hours in now. So he works hard on his audition piece and by the time he goes to try out, Billy’s Saxophone playing is sounding amazing. He nails the audition and gets the gig. He walks home with a surge of self-belief that he has never had before and he knows that he can now do anything he sets his mind to.
The great thing about the success cycle is that you can have impact on the results at 2 key points; the Actions you take and the Belief / Attitudes you have.
Actions:
Action is everything in life. Every action you take or don’t take, determines the results you get whether good or bad. If you fail to take action or you take little actions that are poorly executed, you’ll always get poor results. If you’re getting consistently poor results then your actions are always the first place you should look. If they’re well thought out, well executed and there are enough of them and you’re still getting poor results, then go back a step through the cycle.
The quality and quantity of your actions however are determined by your perceived potential. If you don’t think you can do something, then the actions you take will match that. If you think you have the potential to do really well then you’ll take lots of positive actions and subsequently get a lot of positive results.
Many people fail to take action in their life and instead cling to wishful thinking. Don’t!
Beliefs and Attitudes:
Everything you experience in life creates and fuels your beliefs and attitudes. If you are a witness to an awful and bloody murder then it wouldn’t be at all too surprising if you developed the belief that the death penalty is a good thing. You can develop a belief and attitude in anything if you can find enough things to support it. A good friend of mine, Tim Brownson, explains beliefs like a stool. If you can find enough legs to support it, you can get the stool to stand up on it’s own. To deconstruct a belief all you therefore need to do is remove enough of the legs to make it topple over.
The power of beliefs is immense. Limiting beliefs, the ones that stop you from doing something, are equally as powerful. If you have the belief that you can’t achieve something or that you won’t be any good even if you try then you’ll perceive your potential as quite low. This will have a detrimental effect on the actions you take and the results you get. This will further confirm your beliefs and the whole cycle starts again. Where as if you can develop some positive beliefs, by finding evidence to support them from past experiences, you will have a high perceived potential which will affect the actions you take and the subsequent results. Similarly a lax atttitude towards what ever you’re trying to achieve will have the same effect.
So…
You can fit the success cycle to any situation you like and each area will still be applicable. In order to produce consistent results all you have to do is ensure the actions you take are positive as are the belief and attitudes you develop. You have 100% control in these two areas and it’s your responsibility as to whether you have a positive or negative influence on them.
Ben Lumley is a Motivational Speaker and Trainer from the UK who writes about personal development at 6aliens.com. Why not connect with him on Twitter @6aliens or if you liked this article then why not subscribe to his RSS Feed?
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Hey Ben!
First of all, congratulations on being the very first guest author here at SYcom. I’m looking forward to many, many more articles from you, mate.
A great article. One that is rather apt to me right now, as you know.
I’ve Tweeted, Stumbled, Dugg, and Buzz’d this…
Kind regards,
Steve
.-= Steve Youngs´s last blog ..The Self-Charging Cell Phone =-.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Thanks for the opportunity to post for you Steve. It’s a real honour.
Thanks for the support
.-= 6Aliens´s last blog ..What to do with your internet earnings… =-.
Twitter: 6aliens
This is good Ben! Funnily enough I’ve been thinking through something similar for a post, but you explained better than I could, so I’ll can mine.
Looking around the blogging community I work with, I see the two biggest weaknesses being a lack of action, closely followed by a lack of belief.
Twitter: mikecj
Hi Mike.
Great to see you here. I think that lack of action and low levels belief is the reason most new bloggers not matter which niche they’re in, to give up after only a few months
.-= Ben Lumley´s last blog ..What to do with your internet earnings… =-.
Twitter: 6aliens
Hi Mike!
I just noticed that this was your first comment here so I wanted to say “Hey” and welcome to my site.
Kind regards,
Steve.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Echoing the gents before me but I agree, great article Ben. I loved your practical example of the sax player. It reminded me of how natural ability might come into play in all this. I’ve played clarinet and sax since the age of 9. It comes naturally to me and I preferred playing in the band to being at home alone practicing. However, despite have some natural talent, I still had to take action and put the hours in before an exam. Failure to do so would have been a disaster, talent or no talent
.-= Eleanor Edwards´s last blog ..#CharityTuesday: The Big Audio Challenge =-.
Yeah natural talents and abilities that come easy to some people are really nothing if you don’t follow through on them with action.
Thanks for stopping by Eleanor
.-= 6Aliens´s last blog ..What to do with your internet earnings… =-.
Twitter: 6aliens
Cool site Steve – You’re right, nothing is set in stone. Our sites are an expression of us — constantly evolving.
Great to see you here Ben. A Belief’s job is to prove itself and likewise, results prove our thoughts. I’d like to add that beliefs & attitudes fuel our emotions that then drive our actions. Our emotions are a key area to explore to enhance motivation for forward action.
Your illustration and example are gems that anyone can relate to. It’s also wonderful that you highlighted where we can have a positive impact.
Hi Kim!
Thanks, and welcome to one of my bits of the internet.
Kind regards,
Steve.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Hi Kim
Thanks for stopping by. Yeah emotion are really important to success.
Really glad you like Steve’s site. You definitely should get into the archives, he’s got some great stuff here
.-= Ben Lumley´s last blog ..Book Review: How to be Rich and Happy. =-.
Twitter: 6aliens
I reckon part of Billy’s problem was that he didn’t have any sax in his blood. If he truly loved playing the sax then the sheer enjoyment of playing it would have showed in his rehearsal, any self doubt would have been lost during the session as the love would have taken over.
Sax aside, a positive attitude is necessary in life because without it you’re simply setting yourself up for defeat.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Is Disqus Costing You Comments? =-.
Twitter: AussieSire
Hey Sire!
Yeah, I think you’re right about poor Billy. His passion certainly got him over the line in the second example, didn’t it?
That passion… that love… that sax, would have been fueling his attitudes, which push the action, which fuels the passion.
Here’s to hoping we can all get more sax in our lives.
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
You can never have enough sax in your life Steve!
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Homework =-.
Twitter: 6aliens
Hey Sire, great to see you here.
I think passion is linked a bit to beliefs and attitude because those people who can’t find their passion (apparently) generally have low self beliefs and negative attitudes about themselves.
Twitter: 6aliens
Attitude does have a lot to do with success, but would never negate being in the right place at the right time either. Think about how many models and actors/actresses there are who just happened to be in the right place when someone came along and decided they were going to be the next big thing. Now, that still took an action, that being to get out of the house and be out somewhere, and of course making oneself presentable so they could be recognized, but if they had decided to go elsewhere…
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..Don’t Join Because Of Hate =-.
Hi Mitch!
Welcome to my little piece of the Internet. Great to see you here!
I think what Ben was alluding to in his article when he spoke of being in the right place at the right time not being a major contributor to success was those “lucky accident” occasions. When you find yourself in the right place at the right time, but you hadn’t planned it. I would say that all successful people are always in the right place at the right time when they meet with more success. But it is because they plan to be there. So, yeah, I think you are dead right, Mitch.
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Hi Mitch.
Those genuine incidences of “luck” are very rare and then usually unsustainable. Those successful people who appear to be in the right place at the right time in life have actually subconsciously placed themselves there by all of the actions they have taken behind the scenes.
Some people are lucky but its really unreliable isn;t it?
I’d much rather rely on the better odds of developing the right actions, beliefs and attitudes to produce consistent results.
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Homework =-.
Twitter: 6aliens
[...] on we’re on the topic of success, Ben has a great post that discusses the cycle of success. Here he discusses the simple rules you follow to get what you [...]
A gambler would dissagre with you
And even in other areas, luck still plays a part, though not a critical one. You can work hard and make things perfect, then something happens that you can’t control and the project dies.
Maria Pavel@CNA Training wrote: CNA Training in Connecticut