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Harvey Mackay's
Column
for the week
of August, 2012 |
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Super secrets
to becoming a superachiever
Because I do a lot of public
speaking, I have developed a deep appreciation for top-notch
speakers. So when I was brainstorming and looking for a real
show-stopper to address a group of business people I am mentoring,
I asked Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS magazine to be one
of our presenters.
Darren is in the rare position
to interview the most celebrated achievers on the planet to discover
how they have created their extraordinary success. Astute SUCCESS
readers use the advice to achieve more and lead greater fulfilling
lives.
Darren’s message, three
productivity secrets of superachievers, was a real eye-opener.
Number one might surprise you, because so many people want to
know what individuals like Richard Branson do to create great
results. But the answer is just the opposite. It’s not what
they do at all. It’s what they don’t do, according
to Darren. |
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Saying “yes” is easy,
he said. There’s no hassle in saying yes. The master skill,
however, is saying “no.” Everyone can say yes. No is
hard because it causes conflict in relationships.
When Darren got a chance to
interview Warren Buffett, he
asked him the question that
everyone wants answered:
“What would you attribute
your grand success to?” The key to his great success was
this: “For every 100 great opportunities that are brought
to me, I say ‘no’ 99 times.
Darren asked the late Steve
Jobs, “Of all the things that you have built and created,
that have changed the world, what are you and Apple most proud
of? His answer was, ‘I’m as proud of what we don’t
do as I am of what we do.’”
Distinction number two of superachievers
is to learn to focus on the vital few.
“A lot of us try to become
master of many things,” Darren said. “We try to be
great at a lot of things, and as a result, we don’t ever
become world class at a few things. Look at Olympic athletes,
entertainers, Nobel laureates or Albert Einstein. They were all
world class at just a few things. The rest of their lives they
were pretty mediocre.”
Darren makes the point that
long hours are very different from hard work. Hard work is doing
the few things that are hard to do but produce the big results.
“A great confusion for
a lot of us is that we think there are all of these functions
we need to be involved in and we need to be great at,” he
added. “Really, like anything in life, there’s about
a half dozen vital functions that you need to become excellent
or brilliant at in order to create gargantuan success.”
What are your vital functions?
What are the three vital functions that only you can do? What
are the three functions that contribute the most to the success
of your business or job? If you take the time to write them down,
it will force you to focus your attention on what it is you should
be doing every day.
Darren’s personal goal
is to spend 90 percent of his time on his three functions. Best-selling
author Jim Collins says if you have more than three priorities,
you don’t have any.
Steve Jobs learned when he was
running Pixar that there’s great power in working on just
one big thing at a time. When you can get your whole staff to
focus on one thing, their creativity is off the charts. That’s
why Jobs and Apple did one thing at a time. They did the iPod.
Then they did the iPhone. Then the iPad. Then they did retail
– one big thing at a time.
The final distinction of superachievers,
according to Darren, is that they’ve developed unconscious
habits of success. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly
do.”
Darren explained: “When
you repeat an activity over and over, the reason why it becomes
an unconscious habit is it develops what’s called a neurosignature.
It actually burns a brain groove. Every time you do something,
it continues to reinforce this brain groove and we become what
we practice the most.”
You can read more of Darren’s
advice in his book, The Compound Effect, which I highly recommend.
Especially helpful are the five ways to change bad habits and
seven ways to install success habits. Bottom line: You have to
develop a daily routine that will lead you to success.
“If somebody were to ask
me what’s the one attribute that I would attribute my success
to, it would be the ability to stay consistent.” Darren
said. “Staying consistent creates momentum.”
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Mackay's Moral: |
Lots of people start, but few people
finish. |
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