Success Has Three Moveable Parts
Extensive research on beliefs has consistently shown that our perception of a situation or beliefs about a problem significantly influences our success in achieving our goals. This means that our views and opinions about writing, editing, publishing, art, the publishing industry, and everything else have a more direct impact on our success than the facts about these subjects. While I won’t delve into specific studies here, a quick Google search will reveal a wealth of scientific studies and reports on this topic.
The critical thing to see here is that motivation, while a factor, is not the determining factor for success. That falls under the belief that you can do something. So, there are three factors at work concurrently: goals (we must have them), motivation (we must have it), and a positive belief system that we will achieve the goal (we must have it). We flounder as though sunk without these three (plus a few other meta points we’ll get into later).
Here’s where we need to start our examination.
What are our goals? Nothing is going to happen unless we have them. Nothing. Write those goals down. For this exercise, don’t list all your lifetime goals, but only the goals that you have related to the work that you are doing. It is your work and success at work that we want to focus on here.
Secondly, define your motivation. That usually falls under why you want to achieve each of the abovementioned goals. Again, write these down so you can go back, amend, edit, and refresh yourself when you lose that all-important passion.
And now, whatever your industry or task is, I’d like you to write down what you believe your chances of success are related to each task above. Be honest with yourself because only honesty will help you in this exercise. This self-reflection, a potent tool in your hands, can guide you towards your goals. Writing down and then going back to read what you wrote will show you where your thinking is off. It’s super important in all the above that you write down your thoughts, opinions, and expectations.
What you’ll see in this exercise are three aspects of each of the above. Your goals are too low, just right, or too high. Your motivation is too low, just right, or too high. And lastly, your belief system is either too low, just right, or too high and unrealistic.
Your task today is to see if you can’t get these three all in the sweet spot.
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