The 4 Letter Word in Success

The 4 Letter Word in Success

How successful can I really be? People ask me that all the time, my normal response is: Do you know what it takes?

I have worked with thousands of individuals over the many years at Acumen Management Group; a wide variety of salespeople, managers, entrepreneurs and corporate teams.

With all of those contacts you can imagine I have seen many levels of successful and unsuccessful individuals. I have thought a lot and read a lot about the reasons for why people experience differing levels of either personal or professional success. In my analysis I like to break groups of people into two categories:

1. A) Those that possessed levels of talent that should have allowed them to take advantage of it to succeed
   
2. B) Those that did not have talent but who worked incredibly hard, with long hours and had commitment

However we all know that people with talent can fail and people with hunger or drive and lacking in talent can fail as well. We also know that talented individuals can experience success as well as those individuals who worked hard to earn success.

As I thought about these two groups (success and non-success) and various levels of failure I had to ask: what is the missing ingredient between those individuals who did not achieve a level of success and those that did?

As many of you know who regularly read my blog and during my keynote programs I speak often about creating a Menu for Your Life and what recipes are important for success, I breakdown everything into a recipe. I believe the missing ingredient in the groups that were not considered successful, and those with talent that were successful and those lacking in talent with a hunger or drive for success and who did succeed is a 4 letter word. They possessed the will to succeed.

This 4 letter word is a key ingredient not only important to understand but to activate. As a Sales Manager or in anyone in a leadership position creating this passion to succeed must exist to build a personal or professional success for yourself or any team.

Activating this inter drive or will can be the secret to unlocking your potential. Clearly it can come from a variety of stimulations and experiences based upon a person’s environment.

Taste it. There maybe exposure to what success “tastes like”, a small dab of emotional success and a will to have more can be generated. As a manager these are the actions to take to create a sense of reward and the types of reward can either be for each individual experiences or as a team.

Celebrations are important. As an individual there maybe a series of small steps, much like a ladder, that lead to what the person considers success-use each step in your path as a reason to celebrate. Reinforce the emotional connection.

Visualize it. Much has been written about the power of visualization, I like to believe this consistent mind power can reinforce anyone’s will to succeed. As a leader, providing a vision to your teams are a Critical Success Factor as well.

Certainly goals are important but an inner will to achieve those goals must be incorporated into your overall plan. Let me know your thoughts and what has generated your will to win.

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