Some of the smartest people I know are constantly struggling to get ahead because they forget to address some simple truths that together determine our potential for progress. Here’s a quick reminder:
1 – Education and intelligence achieve nothing without action.
It doesn’t matter if you have a brilliant IQ and a PhD in quantum physics, you can’t change anything or make real-world progress without taking action. There is a big difference between knowing how to do something and doing it. Knowledge and intelligence are useless without action. It’s that simple. For some practical instructions on how to trade, I recommend The Now Habit.
2 – Happiness and success are two different things.
I know an extremely accomplished businesswoman who has made almost a million dollars online last year. Every entrepreneur I know considers them extremely successful. But guess what? A few days ago, she told me out of the blue that she was depressed. Why? “I’m burned out and lonely. I just haven’t taken my time lately,” she said. “Impressive!” I thought. “One of the most successful people I know is not happy.”
I also know a surfer who surfs on the beach in front of our apartment complex in San Diego for most of the day. He is one of the lighthearted, most optimistic guys I’ve ever met – he always smiles from ear to ear. But he sleeps in a van that he owns with another surfer, and both often treat tourists for money. Although I can’t deny that this man seems happy, I wouldn’t consider his life a success story.
“What will make me happy?” and “What will make me successful?” are two of the most important questions you can ask yourself. But they are two different questions.
3 – Everyone runs their own business.
No matter how you make a living or who you work for, you only work for one person, for yourself. The big question is: what do you sell and to whom? Even if you have a full-time job as a Corporate America employee, you still run your own business. You sell a unit of your existence (one hour of your life) to a customer (your employer) at a fixed price (the related fraction of your salary).
So how can you save time and increase your profit at the same time? The answer is slightly different for everyone. But it’s an answer you should look for. The 4-hour work week is a good read on this topic.
4 – Too many decisions affect decision making.
Here in the 21st century, where information moves at the speed of light and the possibilities for innovation seem endless, we have a variety of options for shaping our lives and careers. Unfortunately, a plethora of choices often leads to indecisiveness, confusion, and inaction.
Several business and marketing studies have shown that the more product choices a consumer has, the fewer products they usually buy. After all, it is certainly much easier to narrow down the best product from a pool of three choices than to narrow down the best product from a pool of three choices. If the purchase decision is difficult to make, most people will simply give up.
So when you sell a product line, keep it simple. And when you’re trying to make a decision about something in your life, don’t waste all your time evaluating every detail of every possible option. Pick something you think will work and give it a try. If it doesn’t work, choose something else and keep pressing.
5 – All people have dimensions of success and dimensions of failure.
This point has something to do with point 2 about luck and success, but it is also strong on its own …
Trying to be perfect is a waste of time and energy. Perfection is an illusion.
All people, including our idols, are multidimensional. Powerful business people, top-class musicians, bestselling authors and even our own parents have all dimensions of success and failure in their lives.
Our successful dimensions usually include the things we do most. We are successful in these dimensions because we remain committed to them. This is the part of our life that others should see – the successful part that contains our life’s work. It’s the idea of doing our best. It is the public person that we imagine as our personal legacy: “The Successful ABC” or “The Award Winning XYZ”.
But behind every polished action that we publicly promote is a multidimensional person with a long list of unprofessional mistakes. Sometimes that person is a bad husband or wife. Sometimes that person laughs at the expense of others. And sometimes that person just takes his eyes off the road and drives the car in front of him.
6 – Every mistake you make is progress.
Mistakes teach you important lessons. Every time you create one, you are one step closer to your goal. The only mistake that can really hurt you is deciding not to do anything just because you are too scared to make a mistake.
So don’t hesitate – don’t doubt yourself. Life is rarely about getting a chance. It’s about taking a risk. You will never be 100% sure that it will work, but you can always be 100% sure that nothing will work. Most of the time you just have to do it!
And no matter how it ends, it always ends the way it should be. Either you succeed or you learn something. Win win. Remember, if you never act, you will never know exactly and will stay in the same place forever.
7 – People can be great at doing things they don’t like to do.
Although I don’t suggest that you choose a career or profession that you don’t like, I’ve heard that far too many smart people say something like, “To be great at what you do, you have to like it, what you do.” It’s just not true.
A good friend of mine is an accountant. He has told me several times that he doesn’t like his job – “that it bores him to death”. But he often gets increases and promotions. At the age of 28, he was one of just two of nearly a thousand Jr. Accountants in his department who were promoted to Sr. Accountants last year. Why? Because even though he doesn’t like to do it, he’s good at what he does.
I could come up with dozens of other examples like this, but I’ll spare you the details. Just keep in mind that someone who spends enough time and attention to perfect a skill or trade can be insanely good at doing something they don’t like to do. For an insightful read in this department, I recommend The Talent Code.
8 – The problems we have with others usually concern us more.
Very often, the problems we have with others – our spouse, parents, siblings, etc. – have little to do with them at all. Because many of the problems we think we have with them are created subconsciously in our own mind. Perhaps they have done something in the past that touched one of our fears or uncertainties. Or maybe they didn’t do something we expected them to do. In both cases, such problems are not about the other person, but about us.
And that’s okay. It simply means that these little problems are easier to solve. After all, we are responsible for our own decisions. We can decide whether we want to keep our heads overloaded with past events or instead open our minds to the positive realities that unfold before us.
All we need is a willingness to look at things a little differently – letting go of “what was” and “what should have been” and instead focusing our energy on “what is” and “what could be possible”.
9 – Emotional decisions are rarely good decisions.
Decisions driven by strong emotions tend to be misguided responses rather than informed judgments. These reactions are the by-product of minimal amounts of conscious thinking and are based primarily on current “feelings” instead of mindful awareness.
The best advice here is simple: don’t let your emotions outperform your intelligence. Slow it down and think before making life-changing decisions.
10 – You will never feel 100% ready when an opportunity arises.
The most important thing I keep seeing when I hold smart people back is their own reluctance to take an opportunity just because they don’t think they’re ready. In other words, they believe that they need additional knowledge, skill, experience, etc. before they can adequately take the opportunity. Unfortunately, this is the way of thinking that inhibits personal growth.
The truth is that no one feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most of the great opportunities in life force us to grow emotionally and intellectually. They force us to stretch ourselves and our comfort zones, which means that we don’t feel completely comfortable at first. And when we don’t feel comfortable, we don’t feel ready.
Remember that significant moments of opportunity for personal growth and development will come and go throughout your life. If you want to make positive changes in your life, you must take advantage of these moments of opportunity, even if you will never feel 100% ready for it.
