Yesterday I participated in a webinar hosted by Lynn Terry. Lynn is the author of SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com, an excellent resource for anyone interested in making money through an online business. She cuts through the hype (and believe me – there’s a LOT of hype out there about making money online) and offers practical “how-to” advice based on her 13 years of experience with online marketing.
In the webinar, Lynn shared her observation that some people think there must be a “secret ingredient” to building a successful online business, or any business, for that matter. And if they’re not achieving the results they had hoped to see after “x” number of months of effort, they get discouraged and feel doomed to failure, because they don’t have this secret ingredient. In their mind, some people must have “it,” whatever it is, and some, like them, don’t.
I don’t think there is one singular “it,” or one secret ingredient, that everyone needs in order to be successful in starting a business or in achieving any desired change in life.
But I do believe there are several “its” or ingredients that must be present in order for us to achieve the success we hope to achieve. Miss any one of them, and our efforts at life change could, and probably will, end in frustration and failure.
For some, their secret ingredient is belief – belief in themselves, that they can actually live on purpose and create the life of their dreams. I think belief is the starting point of any effort to change our lives. If we can’t believe that things can be different, we can’t receive or achieve the desired change.
Alignment is a big factor that many miss. They don’t consider how or whether their desired goal aligns or fits with their personal values. Believe me, I speak from experience when I say that there’s nothing worse than pursuing something that you decide, later on, wasn’t worth pursuing because it didn’t really align with your personal values and big-picture goals for your life.
Others lack vision – they haven’t clearly envisioned and defined the goals or objectives they want to achieve. The problem with this, as Lewis Carroll said in Alice in Wonderland, is “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” We must have a clear and well-defined picture of our goals, otherwise, how will we know we’re on the right track and that we’re making progress toward achieving them?
For some, it is planning – they failed to make a plan, starting with the end result in mind, for the goals they want to accomplish. From my own experience, I can say it is true that if we fail to plan, we are definitely planning to fail.
For others, they lack focus – focusing on their dream and making it a reality. They easily get distracted by “bright shiny objects” that vie for their attention and pull them off into other directions.
Perseverance is missing for some – they never learned how to stick with something until they complete it or achieve it. As I’ve reflected on situations in my own life and the lives of others, I’ve found that people sometimes give up right before the breakthrough would have come…if only they had stayed the course a little longer.
Last, but not least, there’s honesty – being honest with yourself and those you’re asking to help you. Anyone can ask for, and receive, guidance and advice. But the responsibility is on the person doing the asking. You’ve got to take action and do the work. If you’re not finding success, don’t blame those who gave you advice if you haven’t taken your best steps forward and done all that you know, deep down, that you need to do.
Looking back on my own life, I can say that every single one of these ingredients has been missing at one time or another, as I’ve attempted to make change or achieve success in certain areas of my life. As a result, I didn’t achieve the success I had hoped for, or it was seriously delayed.
So how can we make sure we have all these ingredients, these success factors, in our lives all the time? I’ll share my ideas in my next post.
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