The Rule of Seven: Concentrating Your Efforts to Fuel Your Success.
The Rule of Seven: Concentrating Your Efforts Throughout history, no number has had more divine meaning attributed to it than the number 7. Christians believe in the seven days of Creation, God rested on the 7th day, the Seven Virtues, seven loaves equaled seven baskets full, the seven last sayings of Jesus on the cross, and more. Hindus believe in the seven universes, the seven seas, the seven gurus. Muslims believe in seven heavens and seven hells. Jews believe in Shiva (means 7) — or seven days of mourning, the seven blessings recited under the chuppah during a marriage ceremony and the seven days of festivity after the wedding. Japanese mythology has the Seven Lucky Gods, and Taoism the seven colors and the seventh element. Music (more or less my religion), in its entirety, is based on 7 primary notes comprising seven harmonic modes. Even the Great Pyramid — one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World — is comprised of a series of 7’s turned sideways. And so on. If you were to Google the divine meanings behind the number 7, you’d find hundreds more. Then, there’s MY Rule of Seven…to Fuel Your Success.
My Rule of Seven is simple. It’s what I teach my kids. It’s what I’ve taught myself, based on something I learned from one of my mentors, and it’s what I expect from myself and those I employ. It’s not seven rules, it’s one rule about seven things. See, I believe that in everything we do, to be successful at it, we have to learn and master up to 7 things; that being successful is not about learning and doing a million things at once, but learning and doing up to seven things, a million times. What are those seven things? That I can’t tell you, specifically. For everyone it’s different. The seven things are the seven behaviors or skills you’ve perfected — or need to perfect — to be the best at what you do; seven “masteries” or “seven competencies” that you must master; the seven things you do efficiently, or most effectively, and most successfully. Now, depending on what you do, there may only be four things, or five, but there should never be more than seven. When you get past seven, you’re trying to do too much, and it all begins to work against you. Psychologists and physicists both call it the “magical number seven” — the tendency of the brain’s working memory to limit itself to processing seven things at a time. Again, I can’t tell you exactly what those seven things are, you have to determine YOUR seven things yourself. For everyone, and for every profession, it’s different.
Ever notice how some actors seem to always play the same “part,” but in different movies, almost to the point of predictability? It’s not because they can only play that particular part, it’s because they’ve mastered a specific type of character or presence, backed by a specific set of competencies. You can’t imagine Chuck Norris doing a love story as much as you can’t imagine Audrey Hepburn doing an karate-action movie. That’s not to say an actor won’t accept the challenge of working outside their core competencies, it’s just that when they do, it’s usually not for the money, it’s for the challenge. It’s a gamble they take, knowing they can always fall back on their core competencies — that it won’t affect their current level of success — and that they can always go back to doing what they do best if they fail.
Challenges aside, the quickest path to success is to limit the challenges by identifying and maximizing the specific skills you’re good at, then honing those skills to be even better at them. If you’re trying to be good at too many things at once, you’ll be the best at none of them. Success requires concentration of effort. In math, we learn the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. In physics we learn that we can “shorten” that distance by projecting ourselves faster from that one point to the next. In order to do that though, we must streamline or concentrate the effort, adding energy and thrust. Consider a box of bricks sitting on a launch pad. It’s the same distance to the moon for that box of bricks as it is for that aerodynamic rocket on the launchpad next to it. One, however, will get to the moon, because it has the seven core competencies required to get there; the other, well, is a box of bricks — it’s seven core competencies are totally different.
For many of us, we’re somewhere in the middle, between the box of bricks and the rocket, yet still trying to get to the moon. And while our moons (goals) are all different, the physics to reach them is the same: it all comes down to concentration of effort.
Concentrating your effort means identifying your key intellectual and/or physical resources (competencies) and exploiting them and JUST them. Forget about everything else. The other competencies you need can easily be outsourced, or if you’re resourceful enough, or one of your key competencies is imagination, you’ll figure out a way. Chuck Norris is great at action movies because he has the physical ability. Audrey Hepburn was cute as button. Both however have/had the ability to deliver lines and act. If you wanted to add a love story to a Chuck Norris action movie, you added a cute Korean girl. If you wanted to add action to an Audrey Hepburn love story, you outsourced the action to Hugh Griffith. All of us have at least ONE core competency. Most have three or four. Seven is the ideal number. More than seven is too many. Not that it’s impossible, it’s just that when you get to that level, you begin running the risk of just being “good” at more than seven things and not being the “best” at them. Don’t fool yourself. Limit yourself to seven or less, and streamline your rocket.
Maybe you’re “just” a janitor or a server and not an actor or businessperson. You still have core competencies. What makes you a great janitor? Is it your attention to detail? THAT is a core competency. Competencies don’t have to be skills, per se, like sculpting or cooking. Are you a great server because you’re great with people? THAT is a core competency. What other core competencies can you identify? Are you a janitor who is also great with people? Are you a server who is also great at managing people? Add in a few other core competencies and maybe the janitor is now running their own successful janitorial service and the server is now running their own successful restaurant. Maybe the janitor is great at everything but sales. So they outsource sales to a talented salesperson whose core competencies include sales. Maybe the server is great with people and presentation, but can’t cook. So they outsource that part to a chef.
Bill Gates was an awesome programmer, one of the best ever. He wasn’t much of a businessman though, and kind of an introvert — not exactly a social butterfly — so he outsourced that to Steve Ballmer. Steve knew little of programming but everything about business and sales and loved to be the center of attention. Together they built Microsoft into one of the biggest businesses in the world. Today we think of Bill as the kick-ass businessman, we forget that he’s “just” a programmer who identified his core competencies early on and was wise enough to outsource the rest. He is the perfect example. Steve Jobs on the other hand was a great businessperson, but not the greatest programmer. His attention span was far too short to spend hours programming. He outsourced his programming to Steve Wozniak. Together they built another one of the biggest businesses in the world, Apple. Jobs was aware of his core competencies, which also made him able to identify where he was lacking. He made up for that lack, with Woz. In both instances, Bill and Steve grew their businesses — and their levels of success — by bringing in the right people to offset the things they couldn’t do.
So how do you apply this to whatever it is YOU do? “I mean, seriously, Phil, I do _________, it’s hardly Microsoft or Apple.” Great question!
First you need to identify your core competencies. I can tell you mine. First and foremost, I’m a great creative writer. I have been since I learned to write. I’m long-winded, I’m able to create and carry a story, build anticipation, deliver a climax (hee hee), inject humor (like I just did) and realism, and ultimately satisfy a reader in whatever way I set out to satisfy them, whether it be to entertain them or sell them. THAT is my number one core competency. That competency alone has served as the basis for everything I’ve done, for everything I’ve accomplished (and a lot of things I failed at, too.) One could argue I could easily make a living with that alone, right? But then again, you’ll find a lot of “writers” in the unemployment line. Without my other six core competencies, I’d be one of them. I won’t go into my other six, because I don’t want to influence your own ideas of what yours might be.
I will tell you this, however, that “sales” and “computer programming,” while they make up the bulk of what I do for a living are NOT my core competencies. At one time programming was, but it’s since been replaced by other competencies. I’m still good at it, I’m just better at other things now. And so far as sales go, I’ve relied heavily on my other core competencies to make sales in the past, but I’ve since discovered it’s better to outsource that as well; thus keeping my core competencies at seven. In doing so, my company is now growing faster than it ever did before and I find myself trying hard to keep up. Ultimately, this will lead to me having to develop a new core competency, or even a new SET of core competencies, in which case, previous ones will need to be replaced. Again, keeping with my rule of seven.
Those other competencies won’t disappear, per se, but they will eventually be outsourced and replaced by more important competencies that I will need to be the best at, in order to continue growing my business, and in growing myself professionally, and my overall success.
Competencies are the things you do efficiently and successfully. They’re the things you are the best at. Whether it’s throwing a javelin, writing code, playing a guitar or serving beer with a smile — the best smile, ever. Take a step back from yourself for a moment and make a list of what YOU think your own core competencies are, then maybe ask a friend or two. You may be surprised by what they say. And that’s not to say you’re “stuck” with whatever core competencies you have now. You may discover you want to DEVELOP new ones. In fact, in most cases, you WILL discover you want to develop new ones; your success may DEPEND on you developing new ones to compliment the ones you have. Next to each competency, write a short sentence as to why you are the best at that. Try to list seven. If you don’t have seven competencies, or can’t think of seven, complete the list with competencies you’d LIKE to have. If you have more than seven, you’ll need to cross off all but the seven BEST. Be honest with yourself, no one else has to see it.
Once you’ve identified your seven core competencies, you have created a Resume for Success. The next step in my Rule of Seven is to apply those seven competencies to the real world. Spend the next seven days focusing on each of those seven competencies. Don’t neglect the other six, just simply be more conscious of one competency, over the others, per day for seven days. And if you added competencies you WANT but don’t have, when you get to those, focus that day on LEARNING that competency. Just one day each. For instance, if you’re “good with people,” for one day, pay close attention to the HOW and WHY you are good with people. Try to identify the key factors that MAKE you “good with people.” If you’re a great cook, what makes you a great cook? Is it your ability to follow the directions to the letter? Maybe your core competency is not actually in cooking, but in attention to detail, in following directions, in seeing a project through to the end. A great chef, for instance, is a great project manager. A great server can be a great salesperson. And so on.
At the end of each day, reflect on that day, and analyze that competency in greater detail. Try to think of other opportunities, either within your organization or profession, or outside of it, where that one core competency can be applied. By the end of the week, you will notice a pattern begins to emerge. You will discover things about yourself that you didn’t know before. You will realize opportunities that you didn’t see before. You will have taken the next step towards success.
Do it all again, for seven weeks, and I promise that by the end of them, you will quickly discover success — either more success in what you already do, or in something totally new — or at least find yourself on the path to imminent success. But regardless of whether you ACTUALLY do the seven days and seven weeks part, you WILL notice that simply identifying your seven core competencies, alone, will expand your way of thinking and open up new and exciting doors for you. Try it!
Take-away:
Phil’s Rule of Seven: Being successful is not about learning and doing a million things at once, but learning and doing seven things, a million times.
Great Article Thanks Phil Autelitano, Article Originally Published Here: The Rule of Seven: Concentrating Your Efforts to Fuel Your Success
