I talk to a lot of business owners.
A LOT of business owners. I’m fortunate enough — now — to truly be able to choose my clients, pursue those I want, turn away those that aren’t a great fit — or that I simply “don’t like” (lol….) or know I can’t help in a measurable way. But there’s one thing that 95% of my clients have in common with me, and it’s INSTRUCTIVE TO ALL OF US.
For many I encounter, they’ve made success an option. Certainly, a favorable option. An option they’re pursuing, of course. But still an option.
And they feel good about this. You see, they’ve risen from NOT really thinking they COULD succeed to having a glimmer of hope that they MIGHT. A step in the right direction for sure.
But it’s not enough for me and those I work with most often.
For us, success is an OBLIGATION.
My clients run the gamut of religious and spiritual belief systems. (To their credit, they tolerate my blatant conservative Christian worldview!) But, what’s important for us is that we share a common philosophical belief. We believe that we have a moral and ethical DUTY to succeed, and to succeed wildly. And, we take this “duty” very, very seriously.
And, call us crazy… but “success as an option” is completely unacceptable. It’s an obligation. We came here, are given breath in our lungs, and walk this earth to DO something… to CREATE something… to HELP people…. and we’re willing to “leave it all on the field” in order to make this happen. We’re busting our humps to fulfill our obligation, and we call it “Living the dream.”
On Planet WOW! success is an obligation, an honorable duty. And, we — courageously and confidently — accept.
But, let me tell you the flip side of this coin. I’ve failed. Sometimes, miserably so. No big shock there. And in EACH and EVERY case of my own personal failure, I can trace it back to my having an “OPTION” attitude. My heart was “playing around”. My thoughts were more along the lines of, “Man, this would be cool to do. MAYBE I can really pull this off. Wouldn’t that be neat?” Success, in those cases, was a “cool” option. And this optional mindset led AWAY from success.
So, I challenge you today to challenge your OWN belief system. Maybe you AREN’T where you want to be in your business or life or health or marriage. If you’re NOT, perhaps you’ve made success in those areas OPTIONAL… rather than an OBLIGATION. I think it’s a question worth pondering.
The great news, is that you can — AT ANY TIME — take a goal OUT of the optional category in your mind and move it to the OBLIGATION center of your brain. At any time. Doing so will stack the odds of wild success squarely in your favor.
Michelle – What a total mindset shift this makes. Your post reminded me of my attitude toward college. I went into college knowing that I was going to finish my journalism degree no matter how long it took or how hard it was. It was a non-negotiable. It wasn’t an option not to graduate. I was not going to go home without that degree in my hand. Thank you for this reminder that I have this ability to stack the odds in my favor in all areas of life!
Oh wow, I had never thought about success this way, makes me totally review my vision of it. Like Christie said, thanks for reminding us that we have the power anytime to set ourselves up for success – non optional!