Although much has been written about the common denominator and that famous phrase, "Successful people formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do," has become the dominate piece Albert Gray wrote. However, the first two paragraphs of his book rate higher in my opinion than that famous phrase. The words in those first two paragraphs say it better. Those words describe why Albert was searching for what success really looked like. Unfortunately, he got lost in his search to find what success looked like. He found one of the key reasons instead. The reason 'why to find the what' got lost in his original search when he found and shared one of the key answers he discovered along the way. It is his "why" that lead Albert Gray to the famous phrase in this book, which is how he eventually delivered the key 'what.' Albert Gray asked, "why." We now read and see one of the key 'whats' that are required to become successful. Just do the things failures do not like to do. It is easy to see this truth. Ask yourself the question, "What kind of things did I not do yesterday because I do not like to do them?" Those are exactly the kind of things successful people do anyway. It is never about what they like to do. It is always about what they are able to bring themselves to do, especially when they do not want to.
The first two paragraphs are developed by Albert Gray because his 'why' was big enough to search deeper into the reasons for success. Here is how Albert Gray began the book with those two paragraphs.
“Several years ago I was brought face to face with the very disturbing realization that I
was trying to supervise and direct the efforts of a large number of people who were trying
to achieve success, without knowing myself what the secret of success really was. And
that, naturally, brought me face to face with the further realization that regardless of what
other knowledge I might have brought to my job, I was definitely lacking in the most
important knowledge of all.
Of course, like most of us, I had been brought up on the popular belief that the secret of
success is hard work, but I had seen so many people work hard without succeeding and
so many people succeed without working hard that I had become convinced that hard
work was not the real secret, even though in most cases it might be one of the
requirements."
The first two paragraphs tell a better story. So many business leaders manage their models every single day without knowing what success really looks like. Albert Gray was spot on in his assessment about not knowing what success really looks like. That message in the first two paragraphs of his book is larger than the one he made famous in the popular phrase he penned which has now been heard all around the world. The truth still remains, most business leaders do not know what success looks like. Albert Gray told us how to do it. He shared with us how we can produce success. He did not tell us what it looked like. Albert Gray shared with us one of the key secrets to success, not what success looks like.
I still submit that most business leaders fail to know what success looks like. That is the key reason why they fail to succeed. They have no idea how to do the things they do not know they need to know. They lead their business models through the life of that business without truly knowing what success looks like. They have been told what success can be. They have also been told what needs to be done to be successful. The fact still remains, most are not yet successful. They have been told how to succeed, what needs to be done and still they remain short of the successful mark. Why is that?
I think the reason why so many business owners are not successful is because they truly do not know what success looks like for themselves. In total respect to Steve Jobs who recently passed on from his founder-ship work he did on the Apple Company, Steve knew exactly what success looked like. He certainly had the financial means to hang it all up and go do some life cruising around the world. He did not choose that. It did not 'fit' into his sights of what he knew success to be. Steve Jobs knew what success looks like. He accepted that set of truths and did what successful people do, he succeeded. He knew what it looked like.
So many times we get up in the morning to head off and do our daily work. We set up the rules that we like to follow to do the things we think we should be doing. We ponder along the trail once in awhile to see if we need to alter the course we chose. We sometimes search for added ideas and improved methods to help us achieve more on the trail we tread. We often work hard to produce more than what we thought we could. We try new things, new ideas, new methods and hope they help us win more often. We discover a lot of things we decide we do not want to do. We work hard on avoiding them. We worry about what will happen with the things we do. We question our path, our work, our efforts and our results. We get frustrated, worried, stressed out and confused. We think we ought to be further along than we really are for the kind of efforts we have already given. We complain, criticize and condemn those circumstances that fall all around the path we are trying to travel. Then we get up in the morning to head off and do our daily work. We have no idea what success looks like.
Steve Jobs, knew. Albert Gray, knew.
It might be time in your business career to determine what you think success looks like. Do not get confused about that process. We already know what it takes to be successful, but what does successful look like? Do not go to work on finding how to be successful. We all do too much of that right now. What we might need to do is to determine what success looks like to each of us. Steve knew what it looked like for him. Albert knew what it looked like for him. Both of them did what it took to be successful, but in addition, they also knew what it looked like to be successful. What success looks like is completely different than doing the things that will get you to where that is. Where is that for you? Where does your success go to win? What does it look like to you? What does business success look like?
Can you picture what success looks like? Will that picture satisfy you when it arrives? Do you know how to recognize success when it arrives? These are very difficult questions to answer. I think Steve Jobs and Albert Gray could easily answer them. I think they had that kind of stuff sorted out. I might not agree with what they decided was their picture of success, but the only thing that mattered was that they knew what it was for themselves. They knew what success looked like. That is one of the key reasons why they did succeed. They knew.
Do you know what success looks like? Have you spent the proper time to define in your mind what it looks like to you? I suggest that if you do not know what it looks like to you, it ain't coming. How can it arrive if you do not know what it is? Think about this truth. If you do not know what success looks like to you, how can you accept it when it arrives? You do not have the ability to recognize it because you do not know what it looks like? This is success 101. Know what it looks like. Steve Jobs, knew. Albert Gray, knew. That is why they did what they did. They knew enough to do because they knew where it needed to go. The results they produced became the by-products of where they were headed. That is exactly how they succeeded so well. Their successes became the pieces of litter that fell alongside the trail they traveled. The reason why they had so many good things fall onto that trail is because they knew where they were going and why they were going there. They knew what success looked like and they were in strong pursuit of it. That's why. Steve Jobs and Albert Gray, knew. That is why they did what they did.
Program after program, after program covers the lives of successful people and defines in great detail the wonderful things they accomplished. We marvel at how successful they became. We watch with amazement and do not have any clue as to what we think about how we personally view our picture of success. We watch theirs, instead. Get to know what success looks like to you. Get it down well. Then when you get up tomorrow morning, begin going to work on your success. Know what it looks like to you. Go build the path of your own successful pursuit. Let the dogs out and go find where you think your success lives. Do the things that support your view. See what it looks like. Pursue where it is.
Until next time...
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