22 Sep Is There A Formula For Success?
“You Deserve To Live An Extraordinary Life!”
It is one thing to deserve to live an extraordinary life; it is another thing entirely to actually live such a life. I believe that while most people desire to go beyond surviving and to love the life they are living, this is not the experience they have. Instead, they muddle through, often in the weeds of life, worrying, fretting and lamenting how difficult things seem and complaining about why they can’t seem to catch a break. They strive to succeed but just cannot grab that brass ring. Once in a while, success comes their way but it is quickly followed by a disappointment, frustration or upset. Then the predictable period of regret or resentment sets in and they remain stuck until the next momentary touch of success.
There is a formula for failure, misery and despair, but you are probably not reading this post in search of such a formula. I think you are interested in finding formulas for success, and there are many available for you to use. You probably know people in your life who seem to glide by and enjoy their lives without sliding into misery and resentment. There are also hundreds of books and thousands of articles on “Success.” Some authors have made fortunes giving us their success formulas: Anthony Robbins, Jack Canfield, and Wayne Dyer are a few who come to my mind.
From my perspective as a Navigator, my formula is not particularly novel or brilliant, but I think it is very user friendly and workable. There are many people I have coached who use this formula everyday of their lives; they don’t take anything for granted and never sit around waiting for a miracle or a break to come their way. Instead, they use the Navigator’s formula for success as a guide to keep them focused on what they really care about in life. When disappointment or frustration occurs they meet it head on, they do not take it personally and they get immediately back on track. Yes, they experience pain and upset, but they do not suffer.
So, the question is, how do Life Navigators do it? How do they succeed? How do they stay on track? How do they rebound and recover from failure and upsets? What is their formula for success?
The Navigator’s Success Formula is this:
Passion + Goals + Action + Resiliency = Success
Navigators are passionate about something, and they use that passion to drive them forward. For Steve Jobs, his passion was making the best personal technology possible. For Dick Vermeil, it was winning the Super Bowl. For Serena Williams, it may be surpassing the best tennis wins in history. For Ted Turner, it was being the best and living his life as an adventure. For Eric Weihenmayer, it was climbing the world’s highest mountains, even though he was blind. For my friend Scott Elkins, it was to build the best company in his industry. For me, it is to continue learning and living an inspired life and coaching others to live the extraordinary lives they dream about.
Navigators set specific goals that guide their actions. They are not haphazard or casual about these goals. Their goals are direct expressions of their passions. For example, when Dick Vermeil took leadership of the worst team in football in 1990, his specific goal was to win the Super Bowl in three years. He did it… in three years!
Navigators take actions that move them in the direction of their goals. They say “No” to almost anything else that could get in the way of these goals. They know what they want, they set a plan to get there and they take the right actions. Marcus Buckingham, best-selling author, motivational speaker and business consultant, wrote about how successful people are like laser lights with a bright beam pointing at their desired goals, while most others just seem satisfied to light their way with ordinary incandescent bulbs. These laser lights keep one highly focused and on the right track.
Perhaps the most important part of the formula for success is resilience, the ability to bounce back from upset or failure and to never give up. Navigators work to not take failures personally. They strive to stare failure in the eye, learn from the experience, and get back on track as quickly as possible. Personally, I can relate to this ingredient. About 4-5 five years ago, I was hit with two life threatening medical situations. The first required major surgery and a supposed long recovery period. The second, one year later, resulted in a broken back, a punctured lung, several broken ribs, a torn aortic valve, and pneumonia. I was not really expected to live, much less go on to live a thriving life. I really worked my Navigator’s Formula for Success and brought in healing resources and people who kept me on a track toward recovery. Pain was and is still present. My body is not exactly as it was before in terms of strength, balance and flexibility, but I have my Passion, Goals and Actions to keep me going. Above all else, I have to say it was my Resilience that pulled me through the surgeries and trauma. I used an extra bright laser beam to keep me true to my designed destiny.
Well, there it is, the Navigator’s Success Formula with a few anecdotes thrown in to hopefully give it some life. I must add, though, that there are some specific skills required in order to live your life as a Navigator, in addition to the value of the success formula. For that, you will have to wait for future blogs. I hope you stay around and sign up below for more on Living An Extraordinary Life!