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Here is a recipe for success

Written by: Stephen Goldberg

Article Overview: We all want the magic formula or recipe for instant success. Unless your definition of success is to have millions of dollars and you win the lottery, success is never instant but the result of deliberate action toward a pre-determined objective. Every chef has his own recipe; this is mine but keep in mind that success is in the journey, not the destination. Recipe for success: Motivation + Belief + Effort = Success

Here is a recipe for success

We all want success in our lives and work and each of us has a unique definition for success. What is yours? Do you know? Have you taken the time to reflect and think about it?

Of course our definition of success can and will change as we grow and evolve. As conditions in our lives alter so will our outlook and desires for what we want.

Suppose your definition of success is to be at peace with yourself. Can you ever have too much peace and contentment? And is that enough, or do you also want to be at peace and be financially independent? My coach told me that he read about a wise successful teacher who said that a well evolved man need only work 4 hours a day to generate income and use the rest of the time for personal development and recreation. This sounds to me like a good situation to strive for.

We all want the magic formula or recipe for instant success. Unless your definition of success is to have millions of dollars and you win the lottery, success is never instant but the result of deliberate action toward a pre-determined objective.

Every chef has his own recipe; this is mine but keep in mind that success is in the journey, not the destination.

Recipe for success:
Motivation + Belief + Effort = Success

Let’s break this down. Motivation refers to how much you desire something, whether it is a material object or a state of being. The greater the desire burns in you, the more you can dream about what you want and easily see it happening for you in your mind. You can also feel what it will be like to have it because you want it so badly.

Belief is the level of confidence you have in your ability to do what is required for success and the certainty that if you put forth the effort the result will be positive. This is often based on proof that others have done it.

Effort is the level of energy and time you are willing to put out to achieve the goal. It’s about taking responsibility to take action and keep your commitment to yourself and others. It involves building the muscle of self-discipline.

Here is an example. You can test it yourself with your own goal.
Let’s say your goal is to trim your weight by 20 lbs over the next 6 months.
We will use the formula from the recipe using a factor of 100 for each ingredient. The highest possible score is 300.

On a scale of 1-100 how motivated are you to lose 20lbs? How important is it? Can you live ok without losing it? Can you not? You need to ask these types of questions to properly score yourself.

On a scale of 1-100 how much do you believe that you have the ability and knowledge to do what is needed to lose the weight? How strongly do you believe that if you apply your ability and knowledge that the weight will come off?
On a scale of 1-100 how do you rate your willingness to do what is required to reach the goal? Are you willing to commit to changing your habits, in this case eating perhaps, or doing the right action, such as exercising for an hour 3 times a week?

(Motivation + belief ) x effort = less 20lbs

Example A
(Motivation 9+belief 5) x effort 2 = 28 (out of a possible 200), poor or no success (14%)

Example B
(Motivation 9+belief 9.5) x effort 9 = 166.5, great success (83%)

The above examples clearly indicate that you can predict your chances of success by simply applying this formula to anything you want to achieve in your life. You must be honest with yourself for this to work and this may well be the point. We often set ourselves and others up to fail by not being honest about what we want and what we are willing to do to achieve it.

Take one goal at a time and apply this recipe and let me know if it works for you and if not why. I have posted this article to a blog where you can leave your comments and see what others have to say.

Go for success!

Stephen Goldberg

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Article Tags: belief, coach, confidence, deliberate action, desires, instant success, journey, lottery, magic formula, material object, objective, peace and contentment, personal development, proof, recipe for success, success motivation, taking responsibility



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Re: Best way to start a business? - One can learn a very hard lesson by going into a business with no previous knowledge of how it operates in a particular field and you are leaving yourself wide open to getting your fingers badly burned. It is important to at least have a little bit of knowledge and then find a mentor or teacher who can lead you to success. Doing it all on your own is a recipe to failure. MichelleJ
Re: Franchising? Why pay franchise fees? - [quote:5ii0papt]Starting a franchise is like buying yourself a job and inheriting the "recipe for success". In addition, a good franchise in the proper location can translate into a license to print money... so why not?[/quote:5ii0papt] I tend to lean towards taking a more independent approach myself. This is because I like doing things my own way. There are plenty of success stories of small businesses that have dialed in there own concepts and marketed their business well... heck... that's how ALL franchisors are born. I see it as a toss-up really... relating to different personality types. Some investors don't want to think about building their own 'system', and would prefer to hit the ground running at whatever the expense - read franchise fees, royalties, etc.
Re: Best way to start a business? - [quote="MichelleJ":w48q2lxt]One can learn a very hard lesson by going into a business with no previous knowledge of how it operates in a particular field and you are leaving yourself wide open to getting your fingers badly burned. It is important to at least have a little bit of knowledge and then find a mentor or teacher who can lead you to success. Doing it all on your own is a recipe to failure. MichelleJ[/quote:w48q2lxt] I jumped in with no prior knowledge and made a success of it. The quickest way to learn is through action. The quickest way to find a mentor is to get involved in the industry and network. I did plenty of researching and learning along the way, but its hard to know what you need to learn until you get started.
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