What it Takes to be a Winner

You already know the score here: dedication, perseverance, persistance, consistency.

OK, end of blog post, let's just get on with it.

Obviously not.

There is, obviously, more to be said.

When I started up in business 3 years ago, I remember thinking: "This is gonna be like when I first started teaching: at first, there will be a steep learning curve as I seek to acquire new skills, I'm not expecting to become an overnight success. I'm in this for the long haul. I know that I will have to persist if I want to succeed."

So it is with everything of real value in life, and in one sense, this extends to the entire physical realm that we're part of.
 

Kneed The Dough (Not Need the Dough)

Everything has to be worked, like kneeding dough to make good bread.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't some good ways to speed up the process. There are, and I will allude to what I believe is one very important "success accelerator" in a minute.

And in fact, I believe that that key is the one which unlocks all the other doors that must be opened to enter into the success journey.

But before I explore the nature of that key, I want you to understand what I personally mean by success – what are the metrics I use to determine whether or not I'm pointing my life in the "right" direction?

Two key metrics for me are summarized in these two words:

• Fulfilment 
• Fruitfulness 

The "Superkey" for Success

If I have a sense of fulfilment in my life, and evidence of being fruitful – making a difference – then I believe that I'm travelling on the success journey. Then I'm winning.

So winning, success, is a journey into fulfilment and fruitfulness.

What about the destination then? If I believe success is a journey, where do I think I'm going?

That brings me neatly onto the "superkey" that unlocks the other doors to be passed through.

Simply put, in order to be a winner, I must have a strong sense, a vision, of why I am doing what I'm doing.

Confession time: when I fisrst started on this new journey of entrepreneurship, my far view was very blurred and foggy.

At the time, I simply want to have more time for my family, to have more fun. Actually, that could be enough as a why, but in my case, I also wanted to make a wider difference.
 

Defeating Death

You know, that "legacy thing". Many of us feel this way as a way of combatting own own mortality: it's a natural desire to want to leave a mark so that long after our DNA molecules have returned to the Earth, we somehow live on in the minds and on the lips of future generations.

And I'm not knocking that one iota. I feel the same way, and have done ever since those explorative teenage years when I began to emerge from the protective shell of self-centeredness.

Back to this "superkey": how do I find my why, how do I unlock that synergy within my being that will lead to harmony in my inner and outer life, and how do I know when I've reached that sense of purpose?

In other words, how do I judge when I'm winning?

Finding Life's "Why"

You've almost certainly guessed what I'm thinking by now, and if I've done my job well, the answer will be self-evident.

To know when I am winning, I must have a clear sense of my why – my aim.

"Why am I doing what am I doing?" is the question that will help me determine my focus, and then I will be able to see more clearly my target, so I can constantly refine and trim the direction of my life to achieve that fulfilment and fruitfulness that I desire.

Pretty easy then?

Obviously not.

Kneeding the dough requires a lot of energy, time and commitment.  BUT, if I have a clear sense of why I'm doing what I'm doing, and how I'm going to proceed along the journey, then that energy, time and commitment will seem much, much easier as life's curve-balls batter me into shape.

Let the Journey Continue…

In conclusion then, you, me, everybody, in fact, must discover our unique "why journey", and even more importantly, build and become part of a tribe of others who also want to discover a clearer sense of  that same journey together.

Everything else: the how and the what should stream from that greater sense of shared purpose.

Find your why.

Begin the journey.

Share that journey with others who become part of your tribe.

That's what it takes to become a winner.

Oh, and finally. notice that the dart board above has lots of holes in it.  Don't give up simply because you haven't hit your target yet. The process, the journey, is a fundamentally important part of the journey towards success.

For more information on how to find your why, read Start With Why, by Simon Sinek.