The Most Vital Part of Success That Nobody Ever Talks About

Clarice Lin
Aug 9, 2017 · 4 min read

On August 13, 2016, Michael Phelps set a new record. He topped the table of Olympian medalists with a grand total of 28 medals, out of which 23 were gold medals. Larisa Latynina, who ranks second in the table is 10 medals behind.

What does the greatest champion of all times possess that sets him apart from the rest?

What lies behind his success in four consecutive Olympic Games?

Is there something I can learn from him that I can apply into my life to create my own version of success?

At a young age of eight, he was already setting his swim goals.

Goal Setting.

During his teens, he even had a five-year streak where he trained every single day, 365 days a year — Sundays, Christmas and Thanksgiving included.

Consistency.

The rationale — by summing up all the Sundays in a year, Phelps would be about 50 training days ahead of his competitors.

Consistency adds up to big impact.

I wrote about how having a purpose can bring meaning to our life and the first step to that is to take action.

This time, I’m going to talk about the most vital part of success that nobody ever talks about.

The boring bits.

I’m not going to lie. It is mundane. And that’s why we seldom hear it being mentioned.

We only hear of the glorified version of entrepreneurship.

Apple was founded in 1976 but it only became a household name in the last 20 years.

Google” became an official English word in 2006 but Google’s history goes back to 1996.

So what events took place between the point of inception to the point of success?

I call it — “Making-It-Happen” work, MIH for short.

Challenge Behind MIH Work

In MIH work, one wants to move towards the point of success. However, the path is not straight. Undefined and perhaps even curvy. And nope, it’s not signposted.

The rules of MIH is simple — to keep moving forward. That’s it.

However, there’s one huge obstacle.

Newton’s third law can be used to describe this:

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I have come up with a list of nicknames for this reaction force that’s acting against the forward motion.

Seriously. Yeah.

My List of Nicknames

  1. It’s-not-the-right-time-yet
  2. There’s-always-tomorrow
  3. Fear-of-failure
  4. I’m-not-ready
  5. I-don’t-know-about-this…

I’ve found that the best way to counter this reaction force is to set up a daily routine — the boring crap — that doesn’t exactly pop up in our daily conversations.

Imagine how the dialogue will flow.

Monday

You: “How was your day yesterday?”

Me: “Great, I woke up at 6am, had my breakfast at 6.30am and left my flat. I was behind my computer from 9am to 6pm. I reached home at 7pm, cooked my dinner, watched “Games of Thrones” and went to bed.”

Tuesday

You: “How’s your day going?”

Me: “Awesome, I got up at 6am, had my breakfast and left for work. I only left at 6pm. I reached home at 7pm, had my dinner, read a book and was knocked out by 10pm.”

Friday

You: “How’s your week been?”

Me: “Fantastic! I’ve been up at 6am everyday and I crack on by 9am. That’s when I’m most productive. Between 9am-6pm. I was mostly back home before 8pm, grab my dinner, watched a film to relax and typically I would be asleep by 10pm.”

I think you’ve got my point. Nobody likes to hear repeated stories. It’s monotonous. Dull. Uninteresting.

Everyone believes there’s something special about the hero’s journey. Something extraordinary that’s beyond the average man.

The Real Story

Sorry to burst the bubble.

Daily grind is the real story behind the route to success.

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you keep working on it to create an awesome product. If you want to be a successful marathoner, you clock up the daily miles. If you want to be a successful best-selling author, you write a couple of chapters everyday.

The focus here is dedication —setting up a routine and pouring in time and effort to execute those actions.

To get you from Point Inception to Point Success.

My point is, setting up a daily process — something as simple as waking up at the same time every day. To spend an hour or two on the activities that will make you more skilled, more knowledgeable and move you towards your personal success.

That’s what creates a success story.

Since April, I’ve spent an average of 3 hours per week on creating Instagram posts. Creating visuals, writing posts, researching on hashtags. As someone who has zero design background, I took about five hours to craft out three posts.

Now, I’ve cut it down to under three.

So what if I find it a little mundane sometimes? I’m making progress.

I’m edging towards Point S.

Someway. Somehow. Consistently.

And that’s all that matters: MIH Work.

Quote from American self help author, Robert Collier says it best.

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

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Clarice Lin

Written by

ROI Doctor, Content & Analytics Strategist, Founder of BaselineLabs, Speaker, Youtuber

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