The Secret Sauce of Success – Part 2

As I mentioned in our previous Wisdom Note, I believe that everyone desires to be successful in life, but what success means to you may be completely different than what it means to me. Regardless of what you view as success, there is a “recipe” that contains 20 special ingredients that will help you to be successful in any area of your life. If you missed the previous Wisdom Note with the first 10 ingredients, be sure to read it as well. This week I will provide you with the final 10 ingredients that you will need in your life to be successful. 

• 11.) You have to deliver results when making excuses is an option. – To be successful, you cannot fall prey to making excuses as is so readily done today.  Take responsibility for your actions, and do everything with excellence.  As I have worked with team members within our businesses throughout the years, and with my own children, I have tried to emphasize that in everything I expected results, not excuses.  “Even when you fail, don’t become a victim. Be a victor.”  The only way to learn how to ride a horse is to get back on every time you fall off. “It’s easier to go ahead and succeed than it is to spend all the time and energy it takes making excuses,” Jim Rohn. Success = No Excuses.
  
• 12.) You have to search for your own explanations even when you’re told to accept the “facts.” – To be successful, it is not always wise to just accept what you have been told, even if it is supposedly a fact. Discover the results for yourself. Forge a new path on your trek of life. “Discoveries are often made by not following instructions; by going off the main road; by trying the untried,” Frank Tyger.
• 13.) You have to make mistakes and look like an idiot. – There is nothing wrong with making honest mistakes, even if it casts you in a negative light. A life of making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. Although none of us want to look like an idiot, we need to put away our pride and the façade that we try to portray to makes us look better. We should not be afraid of making mistakes, but be afraid if we are not learning from those mistakes. “Through mistakes and learning from them, we gain experience and wisdom.” Face it. You are going to make mistakes in life. It’s what you do after the mistakes that really counts. So, get over yourself and pursue success. In his letter to the dispersed Jews, Christ’s half-brother James put it this way in Chapter 3 verse 2,“Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.”
• 14.) You have to try and fail and try again. – The only lasting failure that we will have in life is if we fail to try. You will not become a permanent failure unless you are satisfied with being one. “Mistakes are the stepping stones on our trail of life.” Celebrate when you fail, for then you will know one more trail that did not lead you to your destination. You will only be poor if you allow yesterday’s failures to bankrupt tomorrow’s efforts. One of my virtual mentors, Zig Ziglar said it well, “Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night and today is a brand new day.”
• 15.) You have to run faster even though you’re out of breath. – No runner quits when they are out of breath, for they realize that if they run, maybe even faster, it will not be too long before they get their second wind. It is a physical and psychological fact. It is the pain of losing that first wind that needs to drive you onto success. Run for the prize.
• 16.) You have to be kind to people who have been cruel to you. – Some people are just cruel and unkind. That is a fact in life. We should never treat them in the same manner. Yes, sometimes those people will cause us to be angry, which is understandable, but that never gives us the right to be cruel. We will never be successful long term if we are cruel to others. When Christ taught us the Golden Rule he put it this way,“Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!” “Be kind. You never know what battle others are fighting.”
• 17.) You have to meet deadlines that are unreasonable and deliver results that are unparalleled. – To obtain a level of success you must not only meet deadlines, you must exceed expectations of those you are serving. Don’t be content with doing only what is expected. Do more and do it with excellence. It’s the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.
• 18.) You have to be accountable for your actions even when things go wrong. – Personal responsibility is so important for success. Be willing to accept the results of your actions, good or bad. Don’t blame others if you fail. Be fully accountable for your own life. If others are to blame then you have given them control. Success is putting aside our pride, accepting responsibility, and then making it right.
• 19.) You have to keep moving towards where you want to be no matter what’s in front of you. – As we have talked before about the obstacles that appear on the trails of life, we need to keep moving forward. Find a way over, under, around, or through every obstacle that you encounter. That is the stuff life is made of. “If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals.
• 20.) The secret sauce to winning is all the other 19 points blended with sweat equity. – Our last ingredient in our Secret Sauce of Success is the blending of the previous 19 ingredients into the sweat equity that allows us to accomplish our success.