Tag Archives: success

“You cannot teach a crab to walk straight.”

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“You cannot teach a crab to walk straight.”

—Aristophanes, classic Athenian poet and playwright

Image from Unsplash by Chandler Cruttenden

Picture a crab scurrying across a beach, searching for food or a mate, or avoiding a predator.

With claws and legs of different sizes and functions, getting to their destination in a straight line is not the point for this creature—being a successful crustacean living from one day to the next is.

Perhaps our changing world has altered our own way of getting around. Many direct routes to our objectives are not open or have significant detours, causing us to adapt and adjust our course.

What can we learn from the crab? Perhaps if we took more lefts, rights, and zig-zags, would we not only survive, but thrive as we headed into the future?

EXERCISE:

Where in your personal or professional world is taking the straight path not working?

Where might a less direct path lead you to where you wish to be?

“Although he may not always recognize his bondage, modern man lives under a tyranny of numbers.”

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“Although he may not always recognize his bondage, modern man lives under a tyranny of numbers.”

—Nicholas Eberstadt, American political economist

Image from Unsplash by Stephen Dawson

What time is it? What did you weigh when you stood on the bathroom scale this morning?
How fast or slow is traffic moving on your commute to work? How much money do you earn and how much have you saved?

What are some other ways you measure your life and whether you are successful?

To what degree do you feel the bondage and tyranny of our world of metrics, milestones, and the quantification of everything?

Where in your life do you experience the freedom and simple pleasures of the subjective, qualitative, and more soulful aspects of life?

EXERCISE:

Consider discussing these questions with friends and family. What are the most appropriate and useful ways for you to measure your life?

“Opportunities are seldom labeled.”

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“Opportunities are seldom labeled.”

—John A. Shedd, 19th Century American author and professor

For most of my life, I have been fascinated by the subject of personal and professional success.

I’ve read hundreds of books, attended dozens of seminars and conferences, and can hardly count the number of blog posts, podcasts, and TED talks I’ve explored.

In his book, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker digs into the science of success, to mess a bit with the conventional and unconventional wisdom on this subject.

One seemingly universal tenet of success does, however, point to the idea of taking massive action and trying many things along the way to stir up far more possibilities and opportunities to pursue.

EXERCISE:

To what degree are you waiting or being too passive, hoping for an opportunity to reveal itself?

Where would taking far more action and trying many more things help you bark up and climb the right trees for you?

“Wisdom is often times nearer when we stoop than when we soar.”

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“Wisdom is often times nearer when we stoop than when we soar.”

—William Wordsworth, in The Excursion

Image from Unsplash by Mark Pan4ratte

Achieving new levels of professional and career success is almost always a primary reason people seek coaching. They of course wish to soar, create more value for others, and better provide for themselves and their families.

In the course of pursuing these goals, most people see considerable spill over into their personal life priorities, sometimes right within arms reach.

It turns out that wisdom is far nearer than they thought. Reaching out to serve their friends, colleagues, neighbors, and other communities helps them experience greater passion and purpose in their lives.

EXERCISE:

How might you gain far greater wisdom by doing a bit more stooping rather than soaring? What actions can and will you take today?

“Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent.”

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“Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent.”

—Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft

Image from wordpress

Imagine you are Aladdin with a magic lamp and three wishes to dramatically enhance your life. How many of your wishes would be extrinsic rather than intrinsic in nature?

What internal qualities and personal characteristics would you seek to more fully realize your vision of a brighter, more fulfilling future?

EXERCISE:

Consider that you already have your own internal magic lamp within you. Where will you begin, today, to use it to rethink, reinvigorate, and reinvent whatever aspect of your world you choose?

“Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise.”

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“Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise.”

—Frank Ocean, American singer/songwriter

Image from Unsplash by Glenn Carstens-Peters

I hope you love your life. I hope all your personal and professional efforts are rewarding in themselves, and that there is no need to brag or boast to call attention to your successes. After all, tooting your own horn can often backfire in our world of considerable judgement.

Ask yourself the following questions regarding your current work efforts:

  • How much impact, influence, and say do I have in my work?
  • How much am I learning, growing, and bettering myself through my work?
  • What difference, contribution, and purpose does my work provide to others in my various communities?

EXERCISE:

Take one minute tonight after you brush your teeth to look in a mirror and reflect on all your silent successes. You may notice how others in your world often toot your horn for you.

There’s no ceiling on effort

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“There’s no ceiling on effort.”

—Harvey C. Fruehauf, President of HCF Enterprises

Image from Canva

Are you at the absolute pinnacle of success in all areas of life? If you answered “no,” or “not really,” today’s quote may get you a bit closer to your goals.

I’ll share with you three key attributes to success I learned from a wise coach and mentor early in my life, when I worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a sales person.

It uses the acronym: A.S.K. to point to the elements that lie within us or that can be developed to reach higher levels of achievement in virtually any are we desire.

The “A” stands for activity. It points us to the fact that the level of effort we put forth on any particular task is up to us. I like the idea that there is no ceiling or limit placed on us, and that through persistence, tenacity, and grit, we can all achieve far more of what we most desire.

It is through such massive efforts we can progress on to the “S” and “K,” which stand for skills and knowledge.

EXERCISE:

Where and on what important personal or professional goal can and will you raise the ceiling on your current efforts to gain the skills and knowledge to reach new levels of success?

You don’t need clarity on the rest of your life

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“You don’t need clarity on the rest of your life, just on what’s next in your life.”

—Sam Horn, Motivational Keynote Speaker

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In my Coaching Discovery process, I ask prospective clients to rate their level of agreement, on a scale of one (low) to five (high), with the following statement:

“I have a clear view of where I am and where I want to go in life.”

Virtually no one rates themselves five, and most give themselves a score of three or less.

Sam Horn suggests, on one of her recent posts, that we can all use what she calls “The Four I’s” to add greater clarity to navigating a more fulfilling and successful life. They are:

  • Instincts: What does your gut say?
  • Interests: What are your talents, skills, and unique abilities?
  • Integrity: What life choices are most aligned with your core values and priorities?
  • Initiative: How can you proactively reach out to an individual or organization that is doing work you admire and respect?

EXERCISE:

Explore The Four I’s with a coach, close friend, or professional colleague whose perspective you value to help you see more clearly what’s next for you.

“Opportunities are seldom labeled.”

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“Opportunities are seldom labeled.”

—John A. Shedd, 19th Century American author and professor

For most of my life, I have been fascinated by the subject of personal and professional success.

I’ve read hundreds of books, attended dozens of seminars and conferences, and can hardly count the number of blog posts, podcasts, and TED talks I’ve explored.

In his book, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker digs into the science of success, to mess a bit with the conventional and unconventional wisdom on this subject.

One seemingly universal tenet of success does, however, point to the idea of taking massive action and trying many things along the way to stir up far more possibilities and opportunities to pursue.

EXERCISE:

To what degree are you waiting or being too passive, hoping for an opportunity to reveal itself?

Where would taking far more action and trying many more things help you bark up and climb the right trees for you?

The future is something which everyone reaches

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“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”

—C.S. Lewis, 20th Century British author

Image created in Canva

Today’s quote has a bit of a passive quality for me. In a recent article, Michael Simmons points out the considerable downside of a passive approach by describing a term he coined “The Five Hour Rule” a few years ago. Through his research of the most successful people in the world he discovered a pattern: They all devoted at least five hours a week to deliberate learning, to ensure long-term success.

His work demonstrates that in maintaining only our current knowledge, about 50% will become outdated within a decade. He points out that each of us will need to learn five hours a week just to stay up-to-date in our current fields, and more if we want to get ahead.

Most of us know that we all forget a significant portion of what we learn, but did you know that facts in many fields of study have a half-life where previous knowledge can no longer be found in scientific citations?

Consider where the fields of artificial intelligence, app development, social media management, driverless cars and cloud computing will be even a few years from now. None of these fields existed 15 years ago.

EXERCISE:

How and in what ways can and will you invest at least five hours each week on intentional learning?

Consider checking out Michael Simmons article by reading “The Math Behind the Five Hour Rule.”