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Introduction: The Surprises of Success by Jeff Goins
Don’t Fake It Until You Make It by Allison Vesterfelt
A Word from Noah Kagan
Where Success Starts by Michael Hyatt
A Word from Sarah Mae
The Subjectivity of Success by Zach and Jody Gray
Success is Overrated (or Just Poorly Defined) by Tyler Ward
A Word from by Seth Godin
You Get to Define Your Own Success by Bob Goff
Taking the First Step Towards Success by Jon Gordon
Work as Infidelity by Wm. Paul Young
Success Starts with One by Pat Flynn
The Secret to Success? Fall In Love With Boredom by James Clear
A Word from Frank Viola
The Pursuit of Lasting Success by Joshua Becker
3 Things That Surprised Me About Finding My Calling by Emily Freeman
The Art of Work
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Introduction:
The Surprises of SuccessBy Jeff Goins
“I don’t have a dream.”
It was the fear that haunted my thoughts that day. I sank down deep in my seat, surrounded by a hundred pairs of hopeful eyes. We were all there, gathered in that multipurpose room (which was doubling as a conference center for the day), for the same reason: to pursue a dream. To find the thing our hearts had
been searching for.
Some of us wanted to be novelists; others aspired to start our own ad agencies or travel to South America to make a documentary. Each dreamer represented a unique and beautiful dream, some special skill that the world needed.
The passion in that room was infectious, which only reinforced the feeling that I did not deserve to be there.
“What’s your dream?” was the opening obligatory question, and we all did our best to respond in kind. It was even something we had to inscribe on our name tags. I think mine said something profound and nondescript like “creative catalyst.”
In other words, I didn’t know.
I had no idea what my dream was or what I was doing there, no idea how I ought to be spending my life. I just knew I didn’t want to succeed at the wrong thing.
When people asked what I wanted to do with my life, I used big, fancy words and phrases that meant little to me but caused people’s eyes to glaze over just enough to prevent them from asking any follow-up questions, which was precisely my intent.
“I want to be a storytelling sherpa,” I told a guy carrying an iPad. He nodded, the fear of following up obvious in his eyes. Mission accomplished.
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A few times during the conference, I talked about my day job, but that felt boring. I was sure my dream was something new and interesting, something “out there” that I’d never done before but would recognize as soon as it appeared.
Every time I answered another question, I felt like I was betraying myself, that people were slowly seeing through the facade and beginning to feel sorry for me. Me, the hapless wanderer who was at a dream conference and didn’t have a dream. The guy with no vision for the future, just a fancy name tag.
And then, just as I was getting ready to excuse myself from my table and sneak out the back exit, the opening speaker stepped up to the podium. With a few short words, he shattered my illusion.
“Some of you here don’t know what your dream is,” he said. “In fact, most of you don’t.”
I looked around to see dozens of heads nodding slowly in unison. Apprehensively, I did the same, a little worried who was watching but eventually letting go and feeling the freedom that came with admitting I didn’t know what I was doing.
“But the truth is,” he continued, “you do know what your dream is … You’re just afraid to admit it.”
My heart sank. As soon as he said those words, one word popped into my mind and immediately made its way onto my notebook: writer.
That surprised me. I didn’t know that urge was in there, in me. So when I wrote that word, when I admitted I already knew what my dream was, it scared me. Why? Because suddenly, I was without excuse. I was no longer afraid of failing. Instead, I was afraid of not trying.
Over the next two years, I made the transition from working a day job to eventually becoming a full-time writer. And it all began with that moment back at that conference, when I finally embraced who I was.
Most people waste the best years of their life waiting for their purpose to come to them. They succumb to the status quo and dream of life being different some day. They wait, unsure of the right path to follow, and as they wait, they miss an opportunity.
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We often think of success as something that happens to us. But I don’t think that’s true. When it came to discovering the work I was born to do, it was a process that surprised me. It wasn’t some grand epiphany. I already had some sense of what I was supposed to do with my life. I was just scared to do it. Maybe you can relate.
We all want to “just know” what we’re supposed to do with our lives, for our purpose to be spelled out for us. But that’s not how life works. We have to show up and do the work. We have to make ourselves available and face our deepest fears and biggest dreams. I used to think success was about doing something. Now I know it’s about becoming someone.
In this short eBook, you’re going to find more stories and wisdom from some of the smartest people I know, all surrounding this question: “What’s something about success that surprised you?”
For me, it wasn’t the money I made or the fact that I eventually got paid to do what I loved. It was that I already knew somewhere deep down inside what I was supposed to do. I just needed to pay attention to what my life was trying to tell me. Others have had similar experiences, which we’ve captured in this little book and aptly called, The Surprises of Success.
I think too many people in this world are trying to sell you the “secrets” to one thing or the other. But what I now know is that there are no secrets. There are only the facts we are willing to face, and those we are not. My hope is that as you read this little book, you will take away something away about what it means for you to find the work you were meant to do.
The process of finding my life’s work surprised me. Maybe the same will be true for you, too.
I used to think success was about doing something. Now I know it’s
about becoming someone.
Jeff Goins is an award-winning blogger, author of four books, and public speaker. He is also the founder of the popular online course, Tribe Writers. His most recent book, The Art of Work (March 2015), deals with finding your calling. You can follow his work at goinswriter.com.
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Don’t Fake It Until You Make Itby Allison Vesterfelt
I was driving to a Christmas party in LA when I decided I was going to call myself a “writer” for the first time. I had quit my job as a full-time teacher seven months prior, freelanced for a few months, traveled all the way around the country working on a book idea, and now I was one week away from
finishing my journey, spending time with friends before going home.
“When people ask you what you do for a living, what do you tell them?” my friend asked me on the way to the party.
I had been writing for awhile, but had yet to really make a “living” at it (unless you call gas station coffee, clothes hanging on a rack in the backseat of your Subaru and crashing on people’s couches a “living”) so the question made me feel a little uncomfortable.
Honestly, I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to call myself a writer, but I wasn’t sure that was totally honest. I could “fake it” I supposed, but I never was very good at faking like I felt something I didn’t feel, or like I was something I didn’t believe I was.
The car engine hummed while we stood still at a red light.
“What if you just started telling people that you were a writer?” my friend suggested. “What if you just did it for one night? In fact, I dare you,” she continued. “At the party tonight, when people ask you what you do for a living, just start saying it. “‘I’m a writer. I’m writing a book. I write for a living.’”
I thought about her suggestion as we drove the rest of the way to the party, as we parked and as we walked into the building and began mingling. Something inside of me resisted. And yet, at the same time, a little voice inside of me whispered: What
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do you have to lose?
As we pushed into the sea of people at the party, I made the executive decision to call myself a writer for the first time.
The whole night, my friend would introduce me to her friends. “Ally, I want you to meet my friend Jess,” she would say, and Jess and I would shake hands. Then she would explain to me who Jess was, how she knew him, what he did for a living—some interesting fact—then she would vanish. She did this a couple of times before I met Eve.
Eve worked for a nonprofit in the area as their director of marketing. She was originally from Austin but she had been living in LA for four years now. She was one of those people who make small talk easy—fill with genuine interest in what you were saying and her wide smile.
What do you do?” she asked, after a few minutes of chatting and I wondered for a minute if my friend had put her up to it. Even if she did, I decided to give it a try.
“I’m a writer.”
“Oh, really? Fascinating. What kind of writing do you do?”
“I have experience in several areas,” I said, for a moment feeling like I was reading off my resume. “I’ve done some copywriting, lots of academic writing, and I’m currently working on a book.”
“Oh, really? What’s the book about?”
“I’m just finishing a road trip across the whole country and now I’m writing a book about it. It’s called Packing Light.”
Almost immediately Eve said, “My company is looking to hire a writer. Do you have a resume?”
And just like that, we set up a time to meet the following morning and I told her I would bring my resume along with me. Eve thanked me and moved on to another conversation, and suddenly there I was—standing right in the middle of the bustling party, with nothing but the biggest, silliest smile on my face.
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When people ask me about faking it until you make it, I always think about this story.
At first glance, I think you could use it as an affirmation that faking it until you make it is a positive, successful plan to achieving your dreams. “See!” I can hear people saying, “All you needed to do was say you were a writer, even when you didn’t feel like it, and everyone believed you!”
I get what they mean, but I’m not a big fan of talking about it like that.
The problem is that it wasn’t saying I was a writer that made me a writer, any more than saying I’m an elephant makes me one of those. I am a writer because I am a writer, because that’s how I was designed and wired and it would be dishonest for me to pretend to be anything else.
I’ve discovered this truth through experience, and through people who see me for who I really am, and calling it out in me.
Calling myself a writer isn’t faking anything.
It’s actually being honest, for the first time, agreeing with myself and with a reality about how I am made.
Here’s the thing. Faking it till you make it doesn’t work. You can spot a faker from a mile away. Nobody likes fakers. They’re arrogant, hard to get along with, and they’re no fun. Their whole lives are ordered around protecting their fake identities. But there’s a difference between faking it till you make it and being realistic about the person you already are.
And being honest about who we are—that might just be the bravest, most brilliant, most compelling thing we’ve ever done.
That just might catapult us into our future.
Allison Vesterfelt is the author of Packing Light, a book about learning to live with less. Allison blogs regularly at allisonvesterfelt.com. She lives in Nashville, TN with her husband Darrell.
There’s a difference between faking it till
you make it and being realistic about the
person you already are.
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“The most surprising lesson about success is that it never ends and never gets easier. There’s always a grind with new challenges you face as you take on even bigger challenges. Sometimes I feel that when you reach a certain revenue or point in life it should just stop but it doesn’t. The same force that encouraged and motivated you to get there will inspire you to get to the next one. Hustle.”
Noah Kagan was #30 at Facebook, #4 at Mint and is the Chief Sumo at SumoMe.com, which are free tools to help grow your website traffic. He’s also a top-rated taco connoisseur.
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Where Success Starts by Michael Hyatt
Early in my career, I thought successful people had more ability, education, or resources than the rest of us. I even wondered if it was just luck. But now I believe those items have very little to do with it.
The longer I live, the more convinced I am that success boils down to one thing: responsiveness.
So many people I meet are unresponsive.
• They don’t return their phone calls promptly.
• They don’t answer their emails quickly.
• They don’t complete their assignments on time.
They promise to do something and never follow through. They have to be reminded, prodded, and nagged. This behavior creates work for everyone else and eats into their own productivity. Sadly, they seem oblivious to it.
When I was a kid, we used to play “Tag.” You probably did, too. The objective was simple: keep from becoming “It.”
If someone tagged you (touched you), you became “it” until you tagged someone else. Whoever was “it” when the game ended, lost.
Business is very similar. People “tag” us in countless ways every day.
• They place calls.
• They send emails.
• They mention something to us in a meeting.
Suddenly, we are “it.” And, just like the game, if you stay “it” too long, you lose.
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The only winning strategy is to respond quickly and make someone else “it.”
Reality is that we live in an “instant world.” People want instant results. They don’t want to wait. And if they have to wait on you, their frustration and resentment grows.
They begin to see you as an obstacle to getting their work done. If that happens, it will begin to impact your reputation.
Soon people start saying, “I can never get a timely response from him,” or “When I send her an email, I feel like it goes into a black hole,” or worse, your colleagues just roll their eyes and sigh at the mention of your name.
Yet, these are the very people who will push you up or pull you down. You cannot succeed without the support of your peers and subordinates. (Go back and re-read that sentence again.)
As I was making my way to the top, my former boss, Sam Moore, used to ask everyone I worked with, “What’s it like to work with Michael?” “How’s he really doing?” “Do you think he could take on more responsibility?”
In responding to him, all they had was their experience with me. If I hadn’t been responsive to them, how do you think they would have responded to his questions?
“More responsibility? Are you kidding me? He can’t handle what he has now!” It wouldn’t take too many candid responses like that to tank my career.
And yet this happens to people all the time. I can’t tell you how many meetings I have sat through where people are complaining about someone else’s work habits:
• “He always waits until the last minute.”
• “She never plans ahead.”
• “I can never get him to respond to my emails.”
You may think that the people who are making these comments are too far down the
People love doing business with responsive people. Nothing will
advance your career faster than this.
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food chain to matter. I can assure you they aren’t. They have a way of bubbling to the top where the decisions about your career or doing business with you are made.
The truth is, you are building your reputation—your brand—one response at a time. People are shaping their view of you by how you respond to them.
• If you are slow, they assume you are incompetent and over your head.
• If you respond quickly, they assume you are competent and on top of your work.
Their perception, whether you realize it or not, will determine how fast your career advances or how big your business grows. You can’t afford to be unresponsive. It is a business-killer.
My basic rule is this: respond immediately unless there is a good reason to wait. Obviously, this isn’t always possible, especially since I spend so much time in meetings. Nevertheless, I rarely let messages sit longer than a day. Twenty-four hours is the outside edge.
If you can’t respond now, then at least acknowledge that you have received the message:
“I received your message. I don’t have time to give it the attention it deserves right now, but you can expect to hear from me before the end of the day tomorrow.”
The great thing about being responsive is that it will quickly differentiate you from your peers. People love doing business with responsive people. Nothing will advance your career faster than this.
Michael Hyatt is a best selling author who desires to help leaders leverage their influence. He writes at MichaelHyatt.com on personal development, leadership, and productivity. Michael has been married to his wife, Gail, for thirty-five years and they live outside of Nashville, TN.
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“The most surprising (and thrilling) thing I’ve learned and experienced about success is that being who I am leads to integrity and freedom and joy in my work. Every time I’ve compared myself or tried to alter my voice or my words to sound smarter or prettier or what I think people want to hear, my joy is replaced with pressure, neuroticism, and writer’s block. Incidentally, the times I have had the most success are the times I’ve just let myself be fully me, flaws and all. ”
Sarah Mae is an author and influential Christian blogger. Sarah lives with her husband and three children in Pennsylvania. You can find her at her personal blog sarahmae.com.
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The Subjectivity of Successby Zach and Jody Gray
Success comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It’s ambiguous. It’s subjective. Success to one person may be making a 6-figure income, even if it demands 60 hours a week, and success to another may be making just enough so they can be home and available to their family.
When we first got married back in 2005, all we had between the two of us was a GED, a college degree, a few thousand dollars in debt, and an income of 24,000. Success to us at that point was finding jobs we loved, paying off our debt and saving up to eventually buy a home.
Fast forward nine years to present day and one could safely say that we achieved success beyond what we ever could have possibly dared to dream as newlyweds. We paid off our debt, started our own business, eventually quit our day jobs, and we not only excelled at our profession but began to teach others how to be great at their craft and thrive in business. We traveled across the globe speaking at conventions and teaching workshops. We saved up for a house, bought our first home.
It seemed like everything we set out to do and worked hard for, just worked.
Long gone was the GED high school graduate wondering if he could ever amount to anything. Long gone was the college graduate wondering what in the world she was going to do with her life.
We had purpose. We had success.
And then the crap hit the fan.
The one thing we wanted the most and worked the hardest for wasn’t happening. We were having extreme difficulty staying pregnant.
It was in the middle of that struggle and in those dark moments that the success
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we had strived for and achieved seemed trivial. So silly. So pointless. We would have traded in a heartbeat our incomes, our home, anything, for what was really important—a family. Someone to raise. Someone to love. Someone that’s half of each of us. Our legacy.
Now that we have been blessed with a child on this side of heaven, our lives have been richer than we ever could have thought possible. Having our lives become about something more important than us has been way more fulfilling than making a great income or living in a beautiful home.
Yes, it’s easy to get sucked back into the rat race – it will always be beckoning, but success to us now has transformed into things that are more long-lasting. Things that matter more. There is nothing wrong with hard work and enjoying the harvest from that work. However, when our whole purpose becomes striving after goals and achievements that will soon fade away, we soon are left more unfulfilled than we may have thought possible.
Success to us now looks a little different. Yes, having a profitable business is still a goal, but ultimately striving for our own achievements and making ourselves happy is not fulfilling. Giving of ourselves for someone else and for a greater purpose is what true success is for us.
Zach and Jody are acclaimed wedding photographers and are passionate about empowering others to build a business that succeeds. Their website can be found at zachandjody.com. They live with their son in Nashville, TN.
“Having our lives become about something more important than us has been way more fulfilling than making a great
income or living in a beautiful home.”
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Success is Overrated (or Just Poorly Defined)
by Tyler Ward
If we were all to close our eyes and think of the word “success,” it’s likely that many of us would come back with a tragically low amount of innovation in what we see.
Suits. Big houses. Stages. Nice cars. Bill Gates. Picket fences. Beach homes. Brad Pitt. Magazine covers.
And unfortunately, this lack of creativity comes from the fact that most of our definitions of success are not personal to our lives. They’re simply inherited from others.
These ideas may come from our parents, or Hollywood, or some slightly-overweight-middle-aged ad man who drives a red convertible and gets paid far too much to create TV commercials.
As Alain de Botton, author of The Architecture of Happiness, puts it: “The interesting thing about success is that our ideas about what it would mean to live successfully are not our own.”
And therein lies the predicament because most of these modern definitions of success we inherit are apparently quite overrated.
According to most common dictionaries, success can literally be defined as “the attainment of popularity or profit.” And though this obviously aligns with most of our associations, even the rich and famous seem to think that luxury and fame rarely amount to much of a life.
“Fame makes you feel permanently like a girl walking past construction workers.” —Brad Pitt
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“Don’t try to be a billionaire. It’s overrated.” —Bill Gates
“Fame is overrated and it frightens me when kids say ‘I want to be famous.’” —Keira Knightley
“Even when a person has an abundance, his life does not result from the things he possesses.” —Jesus
Of course, we all know that money and fame aren’t inherently bad. Most of us understand the meaningful role finances and influence can play in life. It’s just that this modern definition of success is overrated because it’s incomplete.
Money and fame have a way of informing our entire definition of success—leaving arguably far more important things like relationships, health or spirituality to be slotted in—and we’ve all heard the deathbed regrets that result.
Of course, refusing to simply inherit our definition of success is not as much about where these inherited definitions will eventually lead us as much as it is about what they’re doing to us today.
Many of you are being driven by another person’s version of success and missing the unique existence that only you were meant to live. The reason being as elementary as we simply haven’t considered an alternative definition.
What if success, today, looked more like your wife having life in her eyes than your savings account having more zeros?
What would your life feel like if success was more about the impact you had on your colleagues lives than it was about those bottom line numbers and that year end bonus?
Many of you are being driven by another person’s version of success and missing the unique existence that only you were meant to live.
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Perhaps it’s time we stop living someone else’s overrated life and re-engineer one that promises more than feeling like we’re never enough and a handful of deathbed regrets.
Tyler Ward is the author of Marriage Rebranded: Modern Misconceptions & the Unnatural Art of Loving Another Person. Tyler helps businesses and leaders cultivate their influence online via branding, web development, and content marketing services. His website is tylerwardis.com. He lives with his family in Nashville, TN.
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“The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics that never have enough to play with. Ignore your investors that want proven tactics and predictable instant results. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul. Because that’s how long it’s going to take, guys.”
Seth Godin is a writer and a speaker. He is the author of 17 bestselling books. He blogs regularly at sethgodin.typepad.com.
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You Get to Define Your Own Successby Bob Goff
Most of the people I’ve met who thought they were a success were confused; most of the people I’ve met who were humble were a success.
We all define success differently. To a high school freshman before the homecoming dance, it’s getting the girl to say “yes”. If he can’t get a yes out of her, then “hi” and a half smile in the hallway becomes a win. To the astronaut, it’s landing on the planet, but to the woman who designed the rocket; it’s getting the astronaut into space. What has surprised me most about success is not only how rapidly some people think it comes, but how quickly everyone knows it goes. It’s one of those concepts which constantly redefines it’s self. The lower and more temporal our view is of success is, the more rapidly it changes.
I’ve been trying to take a little longer view of success and to define it in a way that has more meaning to me in the hopes that it will have more meaning to others. It’s easy to throw financial success under the bus and for good reason. But what’s funny, is that people spend most of their time trying to achieve it. It’s also easier to define success by what it isn’t than what it is. It’s worth doing both. Here’s my best attempt. I don’t think success is what we’ve made of ourselves; I think it’s what we’ve made of others.
I wish it were different, but I’ve spent equal parts of my life accumulating stuff and loving people. If making money is success, then I’ve had some. But I don’t think it is. You don’t think so either. I like my house a lot. It’s got a killer view. It’s filled
The lower and more temporal our view is of success is, the more
rapidly it changes.
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with all of my other favorite stuff. It’s even filled with many of my favorite people. I could spend all day every day there. But I don’t. Here’s why. It’s the meaningful memories we make with people at places which will last. It was that way for Jesus of Nazareth did it. He made it about people and places.
Define holding your first child in your arms at the hospital as a success and you’ll never be disappointed. It’s about people and places. Comfort someone in their living room as they stain at their last moments of life and it will have shelf life. People and places. Call it owning the convertible or getting the condo on the beach success and it will vanish like a vapor. Most of us will be known for our opinions, houses and lifestyles, but we’ll be remembered for our love. What will make us a success will be the people we’ve loved and the places where we did it.
Show me someone who gives away their love extravagantly and goes to the places where they are and I’ll show you a success.
Bob Goff is the New York Times best-selling author of Love Does, as well as an attorney who founded Restore International, a nonprofit human rights organization operating in Uganda, India and Somalia. You can visit him online at bobgoff.com.
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Taking the First Step Towards Successby Jon Gordon
I use to think that belief was the first step to success. While belief is important, now I know that the first step is to take the first step. You have to act even when you don’t fully believe. You need to have the courage to move forward in spite of your self-doubt and fears.
When I started writing and speaking over ten years ago I had no confidence, no experience and lacked belief… yet I was willing to take the first step because I knew my purpose was bigger than my fear.
Did I fail? You bet.
Did I face ridicule and rejection? You bet.
Did I want to give up many times? You bet.
At some point along the way, something interesting happened. With every step I took I started to cultivate a belief that I could actually do this.
Belief may not be the first step to success, but it is an essential step to building success that lasts.
I’ve found the difference between success and failure is often belief. I’ve learned that you win in the mind first and then you win on the field, in the classroom, in the office, in the marketplace and in life. I’ve found that when you believe, the impossible becomes possible.
I’ve also learned that belief doesn’t happen by osmosis. It is something you develop through trials, challenges and experiences.
Belief may not be the first step to success, but it is an essential step to
building success that lasts.
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The more you do something, the more you believe you can do it.
You also cultivate belief by being intentional with your thoughts, words, perspective and expectations.
One of the best things I ever did was to recite certain phrases during my morning walks of gratitude and prayer. At the end of each walk I would say the following words that I have since weaved into a book called The Carpenter.
I started saying these phrases around 2007 and it was amazing how my belief began to change.
My purpose became clearer and clearer with every step of belief that I took.
If you are looking for success, let me just encourage you to focus on what you believe. If your belief is lacking, take the first step by taking the first step and cultivate your belief along the way.
Jon Gordon is a sought-after speaker and best-selling author of The Carpenter. You can find him online at JonGordon.com.
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Work as Infidelityby Wm. Paul Young
The seduction of an adulterous affair, and I don’t speak as one who is innocent but as a perpetrator, is in its offer of “more” or “other.”’ It is the betrayal of relationship and faith for an imagination of something “better.”
As such, it meets the criteria for idolatry—a form or idea or image which becomes the center point of our life’s motion and around which everything else moves and has its being. You can identify an idol as that which you look to for identity and meaning or the promise of salvation from loneliness, or toil, or drudgery or anything else you fear.
Work, which historically and truly belongs to the realm of necessity (if we don’t work we don’t eat), has now been deified—especially in consumerist cultures where human toil and creativity is essential to grease the wheels of commerce.
Once deified, it has the power to impose a scale of value and a set of expectations and demands along with definitions of success and failure. Even if unstated, such perceptions of success make not only failure a possibility but perhaps inevitable.
Don’t forget, hard work also goes into what many eventually will judge as failure. In the least, all achievement will be transient and momentary until the gathering at the graveside will include an implicit acknowledgement that it was meaningless and vanity, a striving after the wind.
This god (work) we thought would love us drove us to greater performance, needing to be constantly and more completely appeased, until our usefulness is finished and another—more suitable and capable—comes along.
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Once we de-mythologize work, relegating it properly to the order of necessity, we find no need to either malign it or require of it more than it is able to give. Now we can introduce the idea of ‘vocation,’ which comes from the word in Latin and Old French, ‘to call’.
Vocation is a conversation that takes place within the world of brute necessity and always inside a community of relationships. It is an invitation to be faithful and trustworthy and yet to be radical and free agents—able to introduce creative possibilities by presence, compassionate ideas and unique expressions that will challenge the systems and powers of necessity.
It never was the work that mattered. What matters is you.
Fidelity has, at its roots, issues of faith, faithfulness and therefore relationship.
We then add our words of worship, such as self-actualization, or rhetoric about the common good and then somehow act surprised that such language gives birth to pseudo-religious orders perpetuating its core commandments and techniques.
Wm. Paul Young is the bestselling author of The Shack. He was born a Canadian and now lives with his family in the Pacific Northwest. His website is wmpaulyoung.com.
It never was the work that mattered. What matters is you.
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Success Starts with Oneby Pat Flynn
One thing I’ve learned is that success always leads to more success, but it always starts with one.
You may have seen or been around people who “have it” — that Midas touch that seems to make everything they do work out for them. While
I can assure you that successful people have struggled, made mistakes and have failed before (myself included), many experience this “wave of success” — that is, when one thing goes right, everything else seems to fall into place.
I used to dislike these kinds of people because they always made me jealous. I’d say things like, “That person is so lucky,” and “I wish I could do that,” which always came with an underlying tone of “I’ll never be able to do that.”
I kept thinking that way until I was laid off from my job in the field of architecture and started my own business. As scared as I was getting into this world that was completely unknown to me, small wins kept pushing me forward. The first comment on my blog. My first thank you email. The first $1.18. Those small wins kept piling up and motivated me to keep pushing forward for bigger and better things. Small wins became medium wins. My first advertising deal. My first customer. My first $1000 in sales. Medium wins became big wins, and within a year I had a business that was making over $30,000 per month
And I didn’t stop there.
As my confidence grew I took even bigger risks — stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things I’ve never done before. I got behind a video camera and started recording videos for YouTube. I bought a microphone and started my own podcast. I started speaking on stage. Now, my YouTube Channel and Podcast combine for over
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15 million sessions, I’m a sought after keynote speaker and publishers have been asking me to work with them on my next book.
In Gary Kellar and Jay Panasan’s book, The One Thing, they talk about “the domino effect”. A domino has the ability to knock over another that is 1.5 times it’s height. If you start with a two-inch domino, and line them up with dominos 1.5x bigger than the last, the 73rd domino would reach from the Earth to the moon! And with a small push on that two-inch domino, you’d be able to knock all of them down.
Success comes in waves but it always starts with one, and it doesn’t always have to be the biggest one either—just the right one.
Pat Flynn makes a living on the internet. And he shares his experiences at smartpassiveincome.com. Pat enjoys spending time with his family. He lives in Southern California with his wife and children
Small wins become big wins.
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The Secret to Success? Fall In Love With Boredom
by James Clear
“Work to the point your idols become your peers.” —Unknown
I was training at the gym one day when there was a coach visiting who had worked with thousands of athletes over his long career, including some nationally-ranked lifters and Olympians.
I had just finished my workout when I asked him, “What’s the difference between the best athletes and everyone else. What do the really successful people do that most people don’t?”
He briefly mentioned the things that you might expect. Genetics. Luck. Talent.
But then he said something I wasn’t expecting.
“At some point,” he said, “it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day and doing the same lifts over and over and over again.”
That piece of advice surprised me because it’s a different way of thinking about work ethic. Most of the time people talk about getting motivated and “amped up” to work on their goals. Whether it’s business or sports or art, you will commonly hear people say things like, “it all comes down to having enough passion.”
As a result, I think many people get depressed when they lose focus or motivation because they think that successful people have some unstoppable passion and willpower that they seem to be missing. But that’s exactly the opposite of what this coach was saying.
Instead, he was saying that really successful people feel the same boredom and the same lack of motivation that everyone else feels. They don’t have some magic
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pill that makes them feel ready and inspired every day. But the difference is that the people who stick with their goals don’t let their emotions determine their actions. Top performers still find a way to show up, to work through the boredom, and to embrace the daily practice that is required to achieve their goals.
According to him, it’s this ability to do the work when it’s not easy that separates the top performers from everyone else. That’s the difference between professionals and amateurs.
Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. When I was an athlete, I loved going to practice the week after a big win. Who wouldn’t? Your coach is happy, your teammates are pumped up, and you feel like you can beat anyone. As an entrepreneur, I love working when customers are rolling in and things are going well. Getting results has a way of propelling you forward.
But what about when you’re bored? What about when the work isn’t easy? What about when it feels like nobody is paying attention or you’re not getting the results you want? Are you willing to work when there is no recognition and little to show for your effort?
It’s the ability to work when work isn’t easy that makes the difference.
James Clear writes about mastering your habits and living a better life. His work can be found at jamesclear.com.
“It comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day and doing the same lifts over and
over and over again.”
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“I believe every vocation will meet a real need in the world in a unique way. What surprised me about my calling is that even though I know what it is, I experience times of discouragement, frustration, and exhaustion while fulfilling it. Calling and ”work“ go hand in hand. My calling makes me come alive. But the work part of it sometimes brings discouragement and tiredness. Thus one must find periods of rest (and even a pastime hobby) to recharge themselves to better fulfill their calling.”
Frank Viola is the author of God’s Favorite Place on Earth and From Eternity to Here. His blog, Beyond Evangelical, is rated as one of the most popular in Christian circles today: frankviola.org.
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The Pursuit of Lasting Successby Joshua Becker
We live in a complicated world—one that has too often confused and misunderstood the entire notion of success. Along the way, we have championed, promoted, and dedicated ourselves to some unhealthy pursuits.
We have measured success in terms of financial gain. Money is a powerful motivator that controls the lives of many. It chooses occupations. It dictates how time, energy, and resources are spent. It influences relationships, schedules, and families. To some, it even becomes an all-consuming passion that leaves broken people and morality in its wake.
But financial gain is actually a poor measurement of success. Some are born into it with little personal involvement, while others are born into poverty or environments that provide little opportunity to ever achieve it. Financial gain ebbs and flows at the mercy of a global economy. And the payback from financial gain is relatively short-lived—it never satisfies our greatest desires. No matter the amount of financial success earned, it always leaves us wanting more.
Others measure and pursue success in the form of accolades or praise from others. They desire to be known, recognized, and respected. The glory of their name and how many people remember it become their greatest desire.
But the praise of men is a shockingly fickle thing upon which to measure our success. It is a foolish, ever-changing target. It often negatively impacts the decisions we make and the life we choose to live. But it never fully satisfies our hearts or our souls. Even those who have reached the pinnacle of fame and prestige in our society long for more. As Eric Hoffer once wrote, “You can never get enough of what you
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don’t need to make you happy.”
One growing trend in our culture is to measure success on the basis of removing ourselves from work altogether. The 4-Hour Workweek remains one of the most successful business books of our decade. And CNN recently defined retiring before 65 as the “ultimate dream.” It seems the goal of work has become to simply earn enough reserve or residual income to remove ourselves from it entirely.
But this measure of success results in an unhealthy view of work altogether. Somewhere along the way, we lost our focus. We no longer work to benefit others, but ourselves. Work becomes selfish. Work becomes that thing through which we make enough money so that we can do the other things we really want to do instead. Work has become a four-letter word to be avoided. No wonder 70% of Americans either hate their jobs or are completely disengaged from them.
Is there a better way to measure success in our lives? I think so.
While possessing wealth does not lead to happiness, giving it away does.
Study after study confirms this. Generous people consistently rank as happier, healthier, with higher levels of life satisfaction. When people are given a sum of money, they immediately gain more well-being if they spend it on others, rather than themselves. Generosity promotes social connection and improved relationships. When we give, we make others feel closer to us, but even more, we feel closer to them. We begin to discover significance, fulfillment, and increased passion for life.
Science and experience remind us over and over again: Success is not found in material accumulation, personal accolades, or removal from work altogether. Happiness, fulfillment, and true success is found in our commitment to generosity—in viewing that our role in the world is to make it better for someone else.
There is no shortage of people in this world who need our help. The problem is we are often too busy to notice because we have defined success in all the wrong places.
Success is not found in material accumulation, personal accolades, or
removal from work altogether.
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But once we stop chasing bigger houses, faster cars, and cooler toys, we begin to notice the needs around us.
Generous people dream big dreams for their money, time, talents, and experience. They realize that once our most basic needs are met, increased accumulation offers very little happiness. Instead, our resources can be used to make our communities safer, smarter, and more responsible. They can be used to make this world a little more pleasant for everyone.
And in this pursuit, they find true, lasting, immeasurable success.
Joshua Becker blogs atBecomingMinimalist.com and is the bestselling author of Simplify and Clutter free with Kids. He lives with his family in Peoria, AZ.
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3 Things That Surprised Me About Finding My Calling
by Emily Freeman
When my husband and I first brought our twins home from the hospital, I was secretly horrified that the doctors let us take home these tiny baby girls born seven weeks too early. Shouldn’t a responsible grown up be in charge?
We didn’t feel capable but we didn’t have time to wait for our feelings to catch up with our reality. There was too much work to do.
When it comes to finding my calling as a writer, I have made several surprising discoveries similar to how I felt as a new parent.
1. A feeling of competency and arrival may never come.At first I waited for it, then I thought maybe I got this whole calling thing wrong
since I still felt so inadequate. Now, I see this can be a gift if I want it to be. I refuse to wait to feel qualified, certified, or professional.
Instead, I’ve given myself permission to work from a small, curious, and willing place. From here, I watch countless brave strugglers doing the work of art around me and I’m happy to be among them.
2. Embracing my limitations is better than fighting them.There is a temptation to think if I only had more time, energy, money, or talent then
I could finally reach my potential. But I’m learning the importance of listening to my limits to see what they might have to teach me.
Instead of holding me back from what I think I should be doing, perhaps they can lead me forward into the work meant just for me.
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3. The work I love and choose is still work.I can say with a fair amount of confidence that I’m living in step with my calling.
Still, as much as I love what I do, it helps to remember that it’s still work. The great writers I admire don’t wake up feeling inspired or breathing out sparkly dust of wisdom and talent.
They wake up needing coffee and a shower just like I do. And then they get to work. Often their process looks like a lot of hair twirling, window staring, and procrastinating. But they don’t give up. They persevere through the boredom, the discouragement, and the distractions to create work that matters.
I may admire and learn from others, but I don’t disrespect their work by romanticizing their process. Work we love is still hard work.
Emily Freeman is a writer and a speaker. Emily blogs at chattingatthesky.com and her fourth book will be released later this year. Emily lives with her husband, John, and their three children in North Carolina.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully, you were encouraged to think differently about the way we tend to view success.
If you want to learn more, including what it takes to find the work you were born to do, please check out my book, The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do.
Jeff Goins
© 2015 Jeff Goins
Abandon the status quo and live a life that matters.
The path to your life’s work is both difficult and mysterious, which is why few finish the journey. The Art of Work is about discovering your true calling - that thing you were born to do.
As Jeff Goins explains, the search begins with passion but does not end there. Only when our interests connect with the needs of the world do we begin living for a larger purpose. Those who experience this intersection experience something exceptional and enviable.
Though it is rare, such a life is attainable by anyone brave enough to try.
Through personal experience, compelling stories, and current research on the mysteries of motivation and talent, Jeff shows readers how to find their vocation and what to expect along the way.
The Art of WorkA PROVEN PATH to DISCOVERING WHAT YOU WERE MEANT TO DO
“The Art of Work will make you think differently about what you do and how you do it. Jeff Goins is a fresh young voice in a field full of copycats. He challenges us to approach our work the way we would a canvas—both delicately and with furious discipline. People will be reading this book, and profiting from it, for a long time.”
Steven Pressfield,best-selling author of The War of Art
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Seth Godin,best-selling author of What to Do When It’s Your Turn
