A Foolproof Way To Increase Your Success Rate Significantly
Succeeding at anything in life takes both time and effort. That’s given. But if the answer is so obvious, why do so many people struggle? Why aren’t more people doing what they love while earning a great living at the same time?
Because it’s hard to break out of your routine. It’s hard to get started.
One thing I’ve learned is that when a task seems daunting, it helps to break it down into bite-sized pieces. For example, when I wake up in the morning, one of the first things I do is work out. The problem is my lizard brain wants me to just stay in bed and hide from the cold.
My lizard brain does everything it can to make excuses:
- “It’s too cold.”
- “Shouldn’t we eat breakfast first?”
- “You’re going to be exhausted, how can you start work after?”
My run usually takes about 30 minutes so it’s easy to just give in and lie in bed. The key here is to tell myself that the goal is to just take the first step. I’m not going for a 30 minute run – I’m just going to take one step.
This technique comes from Standford professor BJ Fogg, who has a free program aimed at helping people develop ‘tiny habits’. These ‘tiny habits’ are basically aimed at conditioning you to take that very first step.
Think about approaching flossing as ‘just flossing one tooth’ or reading as ‘just reading one page’. The most important step is getting started.
After you take the first step for anything, there will be a snowball effect and you’ll develop that ‘tiny habit’ into a regular habit.
The same goes for business:
- Start small.
- Take baby steps.
- Fail. A lot.
- Keep failing until you find success.
- Rinse and repeat.
Now apply this to other things in your life. All you need is one key takeaway per blog post. All you need is one good contact per networking event.
If you can get multiple takeaways from an article or multiple contacts from each networking event, great! But don’t set your goals so high that they become daunting to you. Start with one and let the momentum roll.
The key is that you start small so it doesn’t feel too daunting to get started. If it’s too daunting, your lizard brain will find excuses to put things off.
I like Mark Cuban’s explanation of business success:
In basketball you have to shoot 50pct. If you make an extra 10 shots per hundred, you are an All-Star. In baseball you have to get a hit 30 pct of the time. If you get an extra 10 hits per hundred at bats, you are on the cover of every magazine, lead off every SportsCenter and make the Hall of Fame.
In Business, the odds are a little different. You don’t have to break the Mendoza line (hitting .200). In fact, it doesnt matter how many times you strike out. In business, to be a success, you only have to be right once.
One single solitary time and you are set for life. That’s the beauty of the business world. – Mark Cuban
It all starts at one, so make sure you start with the all important first step.
Image Source: Finding extraordinary success and fulfilment