Success is a funny thing… Just talking about this topic can bring out the best in people, but it can also leave many left wondering and questioning themselves.
The whole point of this program is to SIMPILFY and I think that success is absolutely something we need to work on.
We live in a society that measures success on material possessions. What sort of house you have, what type of car you drive, what you wear, how much money is in your bank account, where you go on holidays… but is this really success?
Because the goal of a business is to make profit, many business owners confuse money with success. In the end, the profit or money is just what we use for exchange, it is our currency. If we lived hundreds of years ago, people wouldn’t have paid for a product or service with money, it might have been with gems or beads or even other products or services like they might pay for something with two dozen eggs or with a pig! In today’s society, we use money because not everyone wants a pig!
This doesn’t mean that we need to get caught in the trappings of what the world is telling us success is.
If I asked you to tell me why it is that you think the majority of people come to me as a business coach and what they want, I bet that a lot of you would say that they want to make more profit in their business and you know what, you are CORRECT! But what people don’t ask is, why do these business owners want to make more profit?
I think we just don’t ask enough questions.
When I’m speaking at conferences or doing workshops, I do a really simple exercise, where I ask the people in the room to write down what they would do with $1 million in profit? If their business made a $1 million in profit in the next year, what would they do with that money. You know what the number one answer is? They would pay off their mortgage and any other debts.
Remember, we don’t ask enough questions. We could leave it at that, but I always go around the room and ask people to tell me why that? Why pay off their mortgage? Why pay out their debts? Surely with a million dollars you could go on some pretty cool holidays?
Are you thinking about your answer? Was it something like – if I pay off my mortgage or my debts, then I have achieved financial security for my family. We will always have a roof over our heads no matter what happens to the business. Did you think that?
So is the goal in the business to make $1 million in profit, or is the goal to pay off the mortgage to have financial security?
This week is a bit of a questioning week for you. I want you to really think about what success is for you.
I used to think that I wanted a grand mansion of a house on the beachfront, but you know what, I don’t. I’m not a house person – yard work, gardening – please don’t make me do it!! Sure I could hire people to do it, but I actually love to live in an apartment. I’d rather have a nice simple apartment with a nice view than a big house that impresses people that I don’t even like!
My family and friends that know me, they want to see me happy, not be impressed by some big house.
When I was 6 years old, my Dad won a trip to the USA for he and my Mum. They saved up and took us 3 kids with them. We went to Disneyland, the place that nearly every child dreams of going to. What is my absolute favourite memory of Disneyland? When we were there, it rained – like bucketed down rain! So at lunch time, we decided to go back to our hotel, have a hot shower and change clothes. We somehow mixed up the bus times from the car park, so we decided to walk through the carpark back to our nearby hotel. I remember, splashing in the puddles of the carpark, singing ‘singing in the rain’…… That’s what I remember, that was my favourite time at Disneyland.
How many of us – me included – are running around trying to get ‘stuff’ to be successful, when maybe success is as simple as singing in the rain.
What do you REALLY want?
It is not about what other people think of you, it is what YOU think of you.
For me, time is more important than money. My brother and I had this conversation recently and he said that if I doubled my profit, what would I change? The only thing I could come up with was that I would fly business class instead of economy! Yep, that was like my big goal of success.
Am I saying that you can’t dream of having a big home at the beach or a fast car or even grand holidays? NO… not at all. I had a client years ago that LOVED cars. That was their passion so for them, having goals to drive or even own particular cars was great for them, because it MEANT something to them.
I just believe that we can get caught up in the idea that we have to have these massive dreams, but if they don’t mean something to you, then they are just causing you stress.
Stress does not equal Simple!
I remember a client calling me to thank me for helping them in their business. It wasn’t because he had just had a record month of profit (which he had), it was because he had just spent the day at his kid’s school sports day! It was time that was success to him, not what sort of car he drove.
Stop worrying about what other people think… what would make you happy? What is success for you?
I once read a quote that said something along the lines of ‘If you have the ability to make money, then make money for those that don’t have the ability.’ For some of you, it might be a bigger motivator, a better success for you to make millions in your business, not for a big house, but to give that money to charity.
Making lots of profit is a good thing! If you want to buy a big beach front home, then great – let’s get that for you. It is not about judgement from me or anyone! I want you to get what it is that you want and for some of you, you may just realise, that actually, you already have everything you want…….
What do you want? When will you know you have crossed the line of success? What is success to you?
Action Step:
An activity that you will find everywhere when talking about success and setting goals is to write down 100 things you would want to have, do or be in your life.
I’m not going to suggest that to you!
I’ve found that when you do this activity, you start to make up stuff you don’t really want to have, do or be in your life, you put down things just so you get to 100 and have the activity completed.
What I’m going to suggest for your action step this week is to take a few moments out, put yourself in an environment that makes you happy – a coffee shop, on your couch at home, in the garden, where ever you want, but somewhere you can feel good and concentrate.
Take out a pen and paper (my two favourite business tools!) and write down what success is for you in your life. Or if success is the wrong word for you and it is stopping you, what about writing down what life would look like where you know that you are happy, just at peace, calm, and happy. What would that look like?
Then you will know what success is for YOU! It is not about competing with those around you or ‘showing off’ your success, what is it for you?
Once you achieve YOUR success, that doesn’t mean you can’t want more or want to achieve more things, but you are doing it from a base of success, not that you have to do or be more to be a success, you are already successful.
The simpler it is, the easier it will be to achieve. Maybe, you might just discover that you are already successful…. How different would life be if you realised you have have already ‘made it’?