What Successful People’s Stories Teach Us If We’re Ready to Read Between The Lines
Are you ready?
How many times have you read about successful people and asked yourself why you couldn’t do it?
What do they have that you don’t?
What do they do differently to overcome roadblocks?
Obstacles often get in the way and make us stumble. It may be a crazy idea we have that everyone laughs about. An inner voice that tells us we should stop trying. Or the time is not right, and we postpone things to a later date.
And once frustration sets in it’s easy to find excuses to abandon our projects.
But why do some people carry on through gritted teeth, while others give up without a fight?
I dived into this topic in the hope to shed some light on the root cause of my own failures. And what I found is that success is never the result of one particular skill or one specific personality trait.
Rather than the compound effect of certain characteristics and habits developed over a longer period of time.
While the list of helpful tips is endless, I found the following approaches are the most common amongst high-achievers.
Increase The Expectations to Achieve Better Results
Imagine you open a book shop on the corner of a busy street.
People fall in love with it. Freshly printed paper and ink smell linger in the air. And your friendly chat and warm smile instantly pop the customer’s wallets open.
The shop thrives and life couldn’t be better.
But what if you took a step further?
What if you opened a small cafe at the back of the shop?
Or if people ordered online and arranged collection without having to wait?
What if you added a handwritten thank you note to every single sale?
While this could be hard to execute in practice, it’d certainly help you boost your reputation and increase book sales. Why settle for good, when you can offer excellent?
Warren Buffett is a brilliant example of how one can grow when constantly aiming higher. He might be a billionaire today, but he didn’t start building his wealth by buying stocks right away.
He sold chewing gum at the age of 6.
He delivered the Washington Post at the age of 13.
And he increased his earnings by selling subscriptions on the side.
He later learned about investments and worked as a stockbroker. Took public speaking classes and taught investment principles at a University. He was constantly thriving to better himself and enrich his ever-growing skills.
What makes Buffett’s career mind-blowing is not the number of businesses he tried his hands at but how he raised the bar with every new adventure.
He didn’t stagnate and sold chewing gums forever but bought pinball machines, and placed them in barbershops to add extra to his wealth. Experimenting with ideas quickly became his second nature and failures only meant lessons to be learned.
He recognized that incredible success can only be achieved by constantly increasing expectations.
As he says:
“You know…you keep doing the same things and you keep getting the same result over and over again.”
Silence The Voice of Naysayers (they are somebody else's audience)
Has anyone ever told you that your idea was silly?
Or simply worthless? You’d just waste your time and it wasn’t worth the effort?
Rob Law could certainly relate to this when one of the investors on BBC Dragon’s Den told him:
“You think you have something. I tell you, you don’t.”
His spectacular rejection by the judges must’ve shattered his dreams to pieces. But instead of packing up his ride-on suitcases and rolling off into despair, he secured the investment needed elsewhere and turned around his company. He sold 4 million suitcases for tots with customers spending $ 200 million on the Trunki brand.
He’s won over 120 awards and created a thriving business with over 80 employees.
What does Rob’s story tell us?
Self-belief and confidence in your idea can help to block out the noise and act on your gut feeling. Entrepreneurs don’t allow obstacles to stop them from taking action. They simply look at them like problems that need to be solved.
It doesn’t mean they never receive discouraging comments from time to time. But they differentiate others’ criticism from what they believe can be achieved. Determination is the engine of their business machine that simply can’t be turned off by the defeatist caveat of naysayers.
Develop New Skills Even If They Terrify You
What if someone told you to get on a stage and give a talk?
Would you feel confident? Or would you be terrified?
I fall into the latter category. And the presentation I was due to give some time ago caused many sleepless nights before the event.
Public speaking terrifies me. It makes me feel sick, and worry to the core. But we have to remember, that feeling uncomfortable when trying out something new, isn’t unusual or abnormal. Doing something you never attempted before is a big deal.
And accepting the feeling of initial incompetence is the right step to winning over the fear.
Mahatma Gandhi could hardly be defined as your typical, confident leader who eventually he came to be. Frequent panic attacks made him miserable as a student. And public speaking gave him the jitters. On one occasion, he even abandoned a speech and relied on someone else to finish it for him.
Not exactly the kind of lawyer who you’d expect to get you out of trouble. Or the politician you’d entrust to lead an independence movement. But his impediment of weaving clear sentences together didn’t stop him from becoming the leader we know today.
The roadblocks Gandhi stumbled over could’ve badly bruised his knees. And probably they did. But after shaking off the dirt and dressing the gashing wound he remembered the why. His passion for a free India was stronger than his crippling fear. And speaking in front of people was his tool to stand up for his beliefs.
So he made lemonade out of lemons and what was a disadvantage first, became his greatest strength. Gandhi learned to squeeze meaningful information into extremely concise statements.
“My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words.” — Gandhi
You see? Even now-famous gurus had humbling beginnings. We aren’t equipped with every skill we need in life. The question is whether we’re willing to peek out of the cocoon and get ready to become a butterfly.
Final Thoughts
Which one are you guilty of? Getting comfortable in your cozy little bubble?
Listening too much to others’ opinions? Or are you simply afraid to take the first step and own your incredible goals? I’m with you. The fear is real. While some rise to the top through gritted teeth others stay stuck in the status quo.
But knowing that our actions can determine the outcome, somehow makes me believe that success is available to anyone.