Breaking Down the Secret to Decoding YOUR Secret to Success
One of my philosophies I write about often is how I view the secret to success. If there was one secret to success, then I would only have to write about it once. However, my philosophy is that there are many secrets to success.
There is a secret to YOUR success and there is a secret to MY success, and there is a secret to success for every successful person you know that is unique to that person. This is why reading essays and books that claim they can teach you the secret to success are often so disappointing.
What you will learn from someone else’s secret to success won’t be groundbreaking. It’s going to be similar to something else you have already read or already know. But I believe it’s still beneficial to learn about other’s success stories even though it’s not groundbreaking.
Before you can decode your own secret to success, you must accept that the secret is in mastering the fundamentals of life, not the complexities of life. Fundamentals aren’t groundbreaking, they aren’t sexy, and they won’t change your life overnight.
Thus, why so many people ignore the fundamentals and seek out a deeper truth. Then, after a lifetime of searching, one is left disappointed when they find out that deeper truth was always there in the fundamentals.
However, the fact that the secret to success is in the fundamentals must not be disappointing to you. Realizing that all you need to find your secret to success is to find a way to master the fundamentals is a game changer.
Starting with the Fundamentals of Success
These fundamentals include all the obvious “secrets” you already know.
- Purpose / Vision
- Discipline / Consistency
- Habits / Routines
- Grit / Persistence
- Resilience / Perseverance
- Mentoring / Coaching
- Emotional Intelligence / Mindset
- Planning / Strategy
It’s obvious that success takes all or most of these skills. What’s not obvious is how you go about mastering the utilization of each of these skills so each build upon one another.
For some people it starts with discipline and consistency that then leads to purpose and vision, which then leads to planning and strategy, which then leads to all the other skills. For others it’s the opposite.
While another group of people will be forced to start with a failure or tragedy that then leads to them developing resilience and perseverance, which in turn leads to emotional intelligence and mindset which then leads to purpose and vision which then leads to planning and strategy, which then leads to grit and persistence, which then leads to all the other skills.
Your job is to figure out which path to mastery is the best starting point for where you are in life. Then focus on mastering that skill and the skills that naturally follow. If you struggle with discipline and consistency, then don’t force what’s not fitting. Eventually you will need those skills, but that’s not where you want to start. This thought process applies to each of the skills. Start your path with what comes easy and avoid what doesn’t until another skill leads you there naturally.
Furthermore, if you don’t know where to start then start with mentoring and coaching. Let a third-party advisor help you discover your path to self-awareness so you can then find the path to the next step and the steps that follow.