If there was a “magic formula” for success, would this be it?
A three (or four) part formula that will work for all!
If you type “magic formula for success” into a Google search you will get over 9.7 million results in topics ranging from investing (of course!) dieting, marketing, romance, and on it goes. At the very least, you’ll be drawn into a debate as to whether such a formula actually exists across many spectrums to the many and ubiquitous Internet scams which try so ardently to hijack your wallet. According to these search results, just about everything humanly desirable has a “magic” formula. This inspired the idea of putting together an executable “magic” formula for success based on our own knowledge and experience– which if you’re really hungry and driven enough, you can complete, even including the “magic” part!
All formulae are made up of components and we have limited ourselves to a three part formula with an optional fourth; if you carefully adapt these first three absolutes to your personal needs, you will then be in possession of your very own “magic formula” for success. The fourth is a whimsy, a little wishful thinking, for us all.
“ Work is love made visible ” — Kahlil Gibran
“Real Hard” Work. If you honestly think you know what real hard work is, you’re an exception because average people certainly don’t engage with their work the way we’re discussing here. We’re not talking about an eight, ten or even a twelve hour work shift or anything even the color of it. We’re talking about a full and complete physical, mental and aesthetic commitment of yourself in your every waking moment to your purpose and then there’s more….. You must go beyond nurturing, beyond hands on, beyond getting yourself dirty, beyond exhaustion and way beyond any other place you thought you could ever go for a as little as a dime. Then you just don’t fall into bed, you fall into an exhausted stupor, lucky to get a few hours sleep before you jump back into it with great gusto and enthusiasm — like an excited puppy.
Veterans in the area of real hard work can be found and not limited to; Medical Doctors during internship and other A&E staff, single parents with young families and a job or two, many CPAs, a few Lawyers, Aid Volunteers (especially in the Third World), Serial Entrepreneurs, Farmers and especially Farm boys. You get the idea……
It should be noted this level of commitment is not sustainable even for workaholics and is just meant to be used to put your plan into its’ full and enduring effect. There is no magic here, just real hard work.
“ The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry ” — Robert Burns’ poem To a Mouse, 1786.
A Plan. Many people think a concept is a plan. They actually think some random idea they came up with on the way to work is so inspiring to others that new Investors are going to line up with low interest investment cash without any accountability for the recipient. Nothing could be further from the truth. A plan is something that comes down the road after the initial flash of brilliance; something which comes after you have proven your concept is financially sound and makes economic sense. A plan is a process created for the execution of your idea. You can’t have one without the other.
One person putting together such a plan alone is neither feasible nor sensible. The best and most accessible professional to critique and work with you on any plan, particularly for business purposes, is an experienced CPA. If you actually think you’re the only person qualified or able to put together your plan, you’re probably doomed to failure. Putting together a plan does not need any magic and therefore it must it be pragmatic and executable.
“ For the execution of the voyage (to the Indies), I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps ” — Christopher Columbus
Execution. For all your hard work and planning, it all means nothing without an ability to execute it. This is a skill in itself and probably is the most “magic” part of your formula. The highway of ambition and even the back roads to success are littered with the wreckage of great concepts with solid planning protocols that failed completely in the execution.
Execution is a skill, make no mistake about that. It comes with experience and after trial and error. Some people have it naturally and just need to develop it, while others spend their lives working on it before they realize their skills in this area are limited.
Execution is about focus and seeing the bigger picture, particularly with the task in hand, about doggedly sticking to the plan and then being flexible when you really need to be. Execution is about making it all look easy, but most of all it’s about getting the job done, preferably on time and within budget. People with good execution skills rarely win popularity contests and when they do, their skill becomes just … magical?
“ The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size. ” ― Albert Einstein
An open mind is open to new ideas or concepts and is gifted with an ability to see something from a variety of perspectives. It has an inherent inability to discriminate against any one person for any one reason or another; will not judge others because it will know what it is to be judged, right or wrong. Race, color, creed and even circumstances are just information which allows it to arrive at a conclusion based on the information made available at the time.
With an open mind, you can achieve anything; an open mind is the fulcrum of all human endeavors and is the magic ingredient required to meet all challenges and accomplish all things. It is and will always be a work in progress. Not everyone has an open mind, but then, what’s rare is beautiful!
Have a Mystical St Patricks’ Day!
This article was first posted on ‘‘The Affinity Group’’
By David Tracey
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