Just found a couple of videos on success that really made me think about what exactly is success. And how to attain it. Check my facebook page to see them. One thing that jumped out is the first step for success, according to this author. Passion.
Passion. That is something that has dogged me for my whole life. Being honest with myself, I've skated along in life based on ability. Natural ability and talent. I've gone a long way without completely being passionate about anything. In grammar school I didn't care about getting all E's (which is A's for everyone else… in Chicago E's were for excellent). In high school I had a 2.78 grade point average… just above the 2.75 I needed to keep my academic scholarship. In college I had a 3.75 grade point in computer science, and a 1.75 GPA in everything else I didn't care about.
I've played basketball since 4th grade. Always one of the more naturally talented players, but never really motivated to get great. I was the only one on my 6th grade grammar school team to play 4 years in high school, and I was the only player in my class in high school to play in college. But I could take or leave basketball. I played from October 15th through the end of the school basketball season, then didn't touch a ball until the next season.
You see where I'm going. I couldn't care less about anything that didn't come easy. Now at the age of 42, I'm coming to grips with my lack of passion, and realizing that is the problem with everything in my life. I've never had to work hard for something, so when I do want to ramp it up, I don't know how. I have a lot of friends that try to tell me "you're doing great" "you've accomplished so much" "I wish I was doing what you're doing." But only I know how much more I could be doing. If something didn't come easy, I console myself by saying "it wasn't meant to be anyway." The sour grapes theory.
I know I can't will something into existence. But can I work harder to put myself into the position to succeed? Yes I can. The passion to work harder to succeed? That is what I'm struggling with. I read so many books that have incredible advice on how to succeed. I've taken a lot of advice from books and people on moving forward in life. I'm coming to grips, however, with the fact that with each book, I'm looking for the magic elixir that will catapult me into superstardom.
Reggie, there is no magic elixir.
No, actually that's not true. Passion. Work. Focus. Push. Ideas. Improve. Serve. Persist. These are the 8 principles of success that Richard St. John put forth in his books, “Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky, and Rich,” and “8 To Be Great.” These are the ingredients to the magic elixir that make up success. Very simple, but powerful words that make me sit up and think. How badly do I want it?
How badly do I want it?
How badly do I want it?
That's not a mistake. I typed that three times for a reason. I know what I want out of life, but how badly do I want it? I will become a "celebrity" touring DJ, spinning at nightclubs around the world for $3,000 to $5,000 a night, all expenses paid, but how badly do I want it? I will be a millionaire by 45, an 8 figure multimillionaire by 50, but how badly do I want it? I will attain it by doing something I love. Whether it is DJing, radio or something out of the blue, it will be something that I enjoy immensely and would do for free. I will have the wife, the kids, the dog, the house, the white picket fence, the 2 car garage with 2 cars in it… BUT HOW BADLY DO I WANT IT? It all comes back to passion.
Work. Work has never been a problem for me, as long as it is placed in front of me. You can ask my co-workers at the radio stations I've worked for… I worked harder and longer than anyone there. No one would challenge me on that statement. Not bragging, just a simple fact. But do I have the passion to seek out other work that does not reward me right away just because it will help me create my reality?
Focus. Focus is a weird one. I'll give you an analogy. If you're at a shooting range, you don't know if you are good at shooting if you don't have anything to shoot at. But if you have a target, nothing else matters, it's all about shooting not only to hit the target, but to hit the bulleye. Actually, I just realized that's the best reason I've heard for setting goals (and I made that one up myself… even though I KNOW someone else has used that somewhere… I can't be the only one to come up with that analogy, I just haven't seen anyone else write it in that way). How passionate am I to create my own targets to focus on?
Ideas. I am never at a loss for ideas. I have hundreds of promotional ideas for nightclubs, for weekly and monthly events, for promoting myself as a disc jockey. For making my radio show and my radio station fun, interesting and compelling. But do I have the passion to implement my ideas if other people don't see my vision?
Improve. This is my best skill by far… as long as it is something I'm interested in. But do I have the passion to improve my skills in things I couldn't care less about?
Serve. Another trait that is a strength. I have no problem taking orders, helping other people, making sure everyone is fed before I take my plate, metaphorically. I feel DJing is a type of service, delivering music to the masses to make them feel better than when they walked into my establishment. My radio show was all about serving… I know people hate the "same 5 songs, 15 times a day, for three months," but serving up parts of myself, opening myself up to my audience, allowed me to get the ratings I did despite the repetition. But even so… do I have the passion to serve for less money than I deserve to attain my ultimate reality?
Persist. Push. I think Persistence, Push and Passion go hand in hand in hand. Yes, I know I don't have 3 hands, but you get the point. Am I passionate enough to persist in the face of negative or no feedback? Am I passionate enough to push through my natural shyness (which nobody believes!) to sell myself effectively? Am I passionate enough to create my reality in the way that I see it in my minds eye, no matter what the self-doubts are lingering inside of me?
I visualize Passion as the Sun, and the other 7 traits as planets circling, drawing heat from it and supplying the power to give them life. Or maybe Passion is the base of a pyramid, supporting the other 7 traits. That's all well and good, but what supplies Passion's energy? The Sun visualization works again because the Sun generates its energy from within. It takes the materials it was born with and uses that to create the flaming fireball that sustains life all around it. So the passion for the reality I'm creating for myself starts and ends from within. Outside sources fueling my passion always burn out. But creating that self-sustaining, undying, roaring fire of desire passion is the magic elixir, the open sesame word, the key to the city to creating the reality I desire. So I ask myself again…
HOW BADLY DO I WANT THIS?
Ultimately, passion is equal to how much confidence I have in the reality I'm creating, so keep moving forward. Passion is believing it is only a matter of time for my vision of my life to come to fruition, so keep moving forward. Passion is the understanding that the word "no" has little to no effect other than to speed me along to the next person who will say yes, so keep moving forward. Passion is KNOWING the life I want to live is attainable, so keep moving forward. Passion is the ability to believe 1000% that when there is no way, I will still find a way, so keep moving forward. And passion provides courage to overwhelm my shyness, provides a voice to shout down my self-doubts, provides wings to give flight to my ideas, and provides legs to keep moving forward.
P.S. I write these things because I know I'm not the only one thinking these thoughts. By putting my thoughts to… well, not paper… I guess to "the cloud," it definitely helps me define what I want my reality to be. But I think if you read my thoughts and see the correlation between my life and yours, my words can help you also. And especially when you think that, to the people who know me from the radio, I actually am a celebrity, for you to know my strengths and weaknesses, my thoughts and fears, my strong traits and faults, you begin to realize that I'm no different than you. Sometimes seeing things from another perspective helps clarify the problems and identifies the solutions you can implement in your own life.
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