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The Secret Sauce of Success – Part 2

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The Additional Ingredients for Success

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.
Success never comes easy. It will cause you to sweat. Many times it is actually blood, sweat, and tears before success. I know that has been true in my life. Be willing to mix these 20 crucial ingredients together, and you will possess the Secret Sauce of Success.

Dealing with the Major Obstacles of Life

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Overcoming Obstacles

In this Wisdom Note we want to determine, the best way to take huge and overwhelming tasks or goals and break them into manageable segments. Or the question we will ask today is, “How do you eat an elephant?” And the answer is always, “One bite at a time.” Let me assure you that no actual elephants were harmed during the creation of this newsletter.

Most of us have heard this saying, probably many times. But that does not lessen its value. I know I have used it with my children throughout the years. Even now that they are all adults, when they come to me with a huge issue that they are facing, I always remind them, “Just eat the elephant one bite at a time.”

Although I have used this phrase hundreds of times, like probably most of you, I often fail to apply this lesson in my life, as I am sure you do, too. If you view the elephant as one giant obstacle or goal that your whole life depends on, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. As we trek through life each day, we need to learn to enjoy the small bites along the way. Let’s break this into three segments.

1. It’s not just about big goals or huge obstacles.

Many people make a major mistake in being entirely overwhelmed by a huge obstacle, or focused on big goals. To keep with our hiking analogy, let’s say your goal is to become a Colorado fourteener, which is to hike all of the 53 Colorado Summits that are 14,000 feet or higher. To look at this goal all at once would be a very big obstacle to overcome, but if you strategically plan to accomplish this goal over a period of months and years, one summit at a time, then it becomes doable. If you plan on becoming a fourteener in a matter of a few weeks or months, then you are probably in for a great disappointment.

Long term goals are great and even huge obstacles can be exciting because of the challenge. For every long term goal you have or for every major obstacle you face, you want to have many short and medium term goals or tasks.

2. The beauty of small goals.

When you have small goals or minor tasks, there are a couple of advantages. First, a small goal or minor task gives you something concrete to focus on. You can easily be overwhelmed by huge tasks. If you don’t know specifically what to do or how you are going to handle it, you’re only going to get frustrated. As time goes by, you notice over and over that your goal or task still hasn’t been achieved, yet you’re not sure what to do about it. When you determine a course of action to overcome that obstacle or to complete that goal, you’re much more likely to take inspired action.

Second, you enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishing a task or achieving a goal and enjoying the benefits. Even if it’s a small task or goal, you feel good for checking it off your to-do list (whether it’s on paper or just in your head). You also get to have something that brings a little satisfaction right now. This will give you a sense of accomplishment, even though you have a long way to go to your ultimate goal or overcoming the entire obstacle.

3. Life is a journey, not a destination.

Your life satisfaction will probably be a lot higher if you view your life as a series of many small milestones instead of one huge milestone that you may or may not ever achieve. This is not to say that you shouldn’t have big goals or face major obstacles, only that you should also have smaller ones to focus on along the way.

If you want to lose 40 pounds, great. But, don’t just focus on that one huge goal. If you do, then every time you get on the scale, you’re only going to notice that you haven’t achieved your goal yet, and so you continually reinforce failure in your mind.

Instead, break it down into smaller goals. There are plenty of goals you can try to accomplish even before losing 1 pound. Maybe you want to read a book about weight loss, or find a support group, or learn a new healthy recipe. A series of small accomplishments will keep you on track and make you feel good about your life, whether or not you eventually go on to accomplish your ultimate goal. If you end up eating the whole elephant over time, that’s wonderful. But don’t forget to enjoy the bites along the way. In fact, when it comes to losing weight, small portions are a requirement.

I have to admit, the past few weeks have been a bit overwhelming for me. With the business issues I faced and the overall ramifications of the projects I am working on, all I could see was the entire elephant in front of me. I have to pause several times throughout each day and remind myself, “One bite at a time.”

This also led me to the letter to the church in Corinth that the Apostle Paul wrote when he was faced with some major obstacles. 1 Corinthians 1:8-11 reads, “We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.”

When you are faced with major obstacles or are trying to accomplish huge goals, think about what Paul endured and draw your strength form the prayers of others. Learn to rely on God.

Moving Toward Success

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Turning Failure Into Success – Steps 16-20

This week in our Wisdom Note, we continue to explore the 25 steps needed to turn failure into success. As mentioned, obstacles and failures, if handled wisely, can become our stepping stones for a successful life trek.

As we continue today with stepping stones 16-20, we will traverse life’s trails before us. As we continue our trek, we will look at the benefits that failures bring into our lives. Imagine as we hike up the trail we see a thick covering of dark clouds. Those are the failures that we experience in life. As we look at those failures for what they are, we will start to see the sunbeams piercing through them shining a light on an otherwise dark trail. The more we realize and understand what we have learned from failures, the brighter our day will become until the clouds are insignificant by comparison. Some clouds may remain, just as the consequences of our failures do, but they do not need to control our lives.

You are not a loser unless you accept the failure as final. Failure is the catalyst that allows us to make positive changes in our lives, and that allows us to move on to something different, maybe even bigger and better. Failure pushes us just a little bit closer to inevitable success, for in failure, we learn what won’t work or what more needs to be done. Only when you quit trying is it real failure since you give up hope of ever doing anything “right.” Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter how fast you run. What matters is how long you run. There may be many instances that knock you down on your journey; what makes you a winner is your ability to stand up and run again. “Never lose on your way; you are not a loser unless you accept it.”

Stepping Stone #16 – Never look at failure as final.

It depends on how quickly you learn from failures. The consequences of failure are determined by how quickly you learn, how quickly you grow, and how fast you transform yourself into a new person, into a wonderful reflection of the beautiful creation you are. If you don’t allow yourself to grow and to learn from your failures, you’re doing a great disservice to yourself and to those people that you impact who deserve to have you be the wonderful person you have the capability of becoming. “No matter how you fall, just think how to get up fast.”

Stepping Stone #17 – Learn quickly from your failures.

Have positive attitudes toward challenges. Look at failures and shortcomings in your life as refinement, as you move on and become a beautiful example of what you can be. And remember, failure is not the absence of success; failure is a step toward success. “Your attitude toward your challenges is the key to your happy life.”

Stepping Stone #18 – Have a positive attitude even in failures.

Failures teach us to welcome changes. Change happens whether we want it to or not. We need to welcome change and find ways to turn the unexpected failures into an opportunity for growth. Don’t become frightened and simply react, instead take action. How we handle the inevitable changes in life is key to living a life without fear. “When life takes a U-turn towards failure, make the changes needed to turn towards success.”

Stepping Stone #19 – Welcome the changes that failure provides.

Failures teach us to be strong. Turning failure into success may not happen overnight. Realize that your spirit, mind, and body are all working together toward success. Doing so will help you stay focused and, in the end, become successful. Picture yourself in the best case scenario after you have succeeded in meeting this challenge. Believe it can happen. “Always be strong, even when you are weak because only the strong ones find strength in themselves.”

Stepping Stone #20 – Failure teaches us to be strong.

Our practical lesson from the Bible today is a very interesting story. Let’s set the scene taken from Judges 6;1, “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years.” So in other words, the Israelites had failed in keeping God’s commands not to worship other God’s. To shorten the story a bit, the Midianites were whooping up on the Israelites. They stole their crops, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. They found themselves hiding out in caves.

Finally the Israelites realized that this was not fun, and verses 7-8 say, “When they cried out to the Lord because of Midian, the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites.” We pick up the story in verses 11-16, “Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’

‘Sir, Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?’ Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.’

Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’

‘But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’

The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.'”

So we see in today’s story when we are in the middle of hardships and failures, it is difficult to see how we are going to recover, especially if we feel we have to do it all on our own. Like Gideon, when failure strikes us, we may feel weak and inadequate to overcome the issues. We need to draw on our own strength at times, but we must never lose site of the fact that we can and should draw on the strength of others to help us through difficult periods and times where we have failed. Certainly, as a follower of Christ and one who adheres to the teachings of the Scriptures, I also draw on the strength that God provides for my life.

In next week’s Wisdom Note, we will continue to build on the story that will show how Gideon was able to overcome not only his own failures but the failure of an entire nation.

10 Obstacles That Destroy Motivation

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Motivation-Destroying Obstacles

Each day we are faced with problems, issues, and obstacles – that is part of life.  We can allow them to stop us, or we can overcome them and continue making progress.   The 10 most common obstacles that destroy our motivation and get us off the trails of life.  They are:

  1. Worry
  2. Fear
  3. Crossing bridges that you have not come to
  4. Handling multiple problems at once
  5. Sleeping with your problems
  6. Borrowing other people’s problems
  7. Bringing yesterday into today
  8. Not listening
  9. Frustration
  10. Not counting your blessings when life’s trails are rough

When you learn how to deal with and overcome these 10 obstacles, you will be able to live the rich and satisfying life that is possible.  Does that mean you won’t face these obstacles again?  Of course not, in fact, they tend to crop up almost every day.  When you have a plan to combat them, then you can push them aside and continue towards your summit.

As the Apostle Paul told the Philippian church in Chapter 4:13-14, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Create a great week this week.