How to Be More Successful

Main point: Great ______ do what others don’t.

Replace the ______ with whatever you want:

Managers
Leaders
Entrepreneurs
Inventors
Gardners
Bloggers

Whatever

This is a simple message but also very true. Let me explain. Well, I probably don’t need to explain – I am would guess you understand and intuitively agree – but allow me to elaborate.

Whenever you hear a story about a person who has created uncommon or great success, you also learn what they did to get there. Often this includes taking steps we would not have thought of, doing things in a different or deeper way, or simply trying harder – beating more pavement (tangible or mental pavement).

Note: Before I go on, I want to clarify that I do NOT advocate creating success by working yourself to death or burnout. It usually doesn’t work.

Great ______ are great because they do things we don’t. And when we are at our best, our greatest, when we do things that others don’t or won’t.

This is a somewhat corney story but is a good illustration. The Chicken Soup book authors made their first book a success buy working it – day and night, with books in their trunks. It took time and they did things other less successful authors did not. Sure, it helps if you have a big publisher who spends millios on PR (DaVinci Code), but for the other 95% of us, being relentless about gettin our work in people's hands makes a difference. And when they first started out, the Chicken Soup guys had to do it the person-by-person way. Now, they are a huge franchise.

Sometimes it is doing something a different way – consider the  “Snakes on a Plane” story. Consider the way Fast Company started.

Perhaps the reason Fast Company has faded in popularity is partly because they stopped doing things that others didn’t or wouldn’t.

This is an easy and really hard formula for success.

Easy = do what others are not or will not
Hard = actually doing what others don’t or won’t and picking the RIGHT things

What you do is very important, of course. But do you need to get it exactly right? No, of course you can’t actually know which action is the best.

But you CAN put more high value added and directionally correct actions into play.

Think about some project, some aspect of business, some something about which you are passionate and want to achieve success. Are you doing great?

Great _____ do what others don’t or won’t.

Articulate the possibilities. What would greatness look like today?

I like this view of greatness better than looking only backward at the past. How does one BE and DO great?

This post is as much for me as it is for you. I need to periodically kick myself in the arse (a gentle and benevolent kick) and remind myself that I have to do things differently to be great and to improve my success. I have been thinking about whether I can honestly say I am doing things others don’t or won’t...

Reality check: sometimes I am not doing as much! Yikes.

Time to get in gear.

One more clarification – this is not about comparison or competition either. The competition is inside – we are the competition. It’s about how and whether we apply ourselves and it's about acknowledging that people who pay more attention to this will likely be more successful. If we want to be optimally successful, we ought to think about what and how we are doing – and whether we are doing – greatness.

It’s a simple but powerful success formula.

Great _____ do what others don’t or won’t.

Every day we choose whether to be and do greatness. We choose what we are willing to do. We choose our focus. These choices are decisive.

Well, decisive, but not in an absolute life or death way usually. Small daily choices add up, add up, and then there’s the tipping point (nod to Gladwell). You want to create a good tipping point – positive momentum.

Each choice is decisive but we often don’t give it any attention because taken on its one it does not seem important.

Great _____ do what others don’t or won’t and often these differences are small and accumulate.

Let’s design and manifest today for greatness. Take five minutes, ten if you need it, and think about what your greatest performance might look like. Don’t get too hung up on particulars, but focus on going beyond mediocre.

What does your design look like? Give it a shot. Let's do this for five days in a row and see where we are at!

Comments

[Alexandra Levit]

This is so true. Lisa. I've had a similar observation as I've conducted interviews for my new book on dream careers. People who have the jobs others want typically don't do anything magical or even supremely special to get them. They just want them badly enough to take action in the face of hardship. Instead of simply talking about making a living doing something they're passionate about, they move on their desires. It's not rocket science, but it does involve creativity, ingenuity, and above all, persistence.

[Lisa Haneberg]

Alexandra: "They just want them badly enough to take action in the face of hardship."

Yes - we see this time and again. We go where we give attention. People achieve uncommon success by pushing through what stops others.

[Andre Blackman]

This is just what I needed to read...thanks Lisa.

[Lisa Haneberg]

Andre - Yippee! Just what I like to hear, thanks.

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Genius Lisa. Pure genius! I couldn't agree with you more. It's so simple, anyone could do it. Anyone won't but anyone could. Love it! Thanks for saying it!

[Lisa Haneberg]

Yeah, that is the point within the point. People who are coachable and apply learnings will be more successful than those who do not.