Chapter 64 The Paradox in the Pursuit of Success.
I hope to bring you an overall balance with this chapter. It has messages of caution, lest your pursuits in life meet with disappointments. Beware of imbalance and pitfalls; examples of these are:
1. Dwelling or getting carried away on some determinants of success, at the expense of
others.
2. Narrow awareness and focus that ignore the whole picture.
3. Wrong priorities, putting first things last or jumping the gun..
Disequilibrium is often caused by many universal myths and misconceptions, some are listed here:
1. The harder you work the more successful you become. This is not always true. If you are the lumber jack who goes on and on, you will not go very far. Stop and sharpen the saw, and get a chain-saw as soon as possible! Later, with your experience, you can employ and train other lumberjacks, and steadily better and expand your business. As you work harder, you should work even smarter, continually improving the value of your time and performance. A labourer exerts 100% of his own effort, while an entrepreneur can harness 75% of 1,000 workers efforts, and still help them towards a better livelihood. Look at all the clever tools and machinery, they all use mechanical advantage. We should progressively use better leverage and advantage in life, instead of brute strength in sheer drudgery.
2. High education heightens success. Over the years, many people without formal education also became immensely successful. I named some of them in previous chapters. High education does not always have an edge, other than those in some high-income jobs, offering expertise and specialities. For many, education unfortunately became a handicap, bringing with it caution, dogmatism, meticulousness, endless consideration and debates. This is liken to a bird that scrutinises a caterpillar all day, instead of going out to catch more delicious worms. The world is not without intellectual and learned derelicts. Mark McCormick said, 'I do not have an innate prejudice against intellect, intelligence... graduate degrees, but they are not substitutes for common sense, people sense, or street smarts.
3. You need capital to launch great achievements. Some of the biggest multi-national companies in the world started with a few thousand dollars. Many millionaires began with practically nothing. Clever business ideas, creativity, excellent products and services usually flourish. Then the term OPM (other peoples minds and money) comes into play. Under ingenious management, other peoples talents and skills, and borrowed funds from the bank can build impressive enterprises that offer good products or services in a niche market, providing convenience, value and saving. You can start cheap and small, and carry on from there, using all the success techniques you are learning from me!
4. Extensive socialising and cultivation of contacts are powerful. You may think this is the prerequisite for success. This is certainly a good pathway, and is undeniably very good for a career in selling and network marketing; but you must still get results. Never-ending strings of dinners for shoulder-rubbing and the exchange of name cards can be tiring, costly and even unhealthy! Too much partying or parleying saps your energy. You are often better off meeting prospective clients quietly and discussing serious business instead. Believe me, many great and powerful people were loners, with colossal calmness, consistency, concentration and perseverance. They enjoyed the privacy of their family lives, yet they empowered their subordinates towards great productivity and accomplishments. Solitude brings better insight, foresight, creativity, solution for problems, and above all, revival and power.
5. Being glamorous makes you prosperous. You may be putting the cart before the horse here. Great success and the resultant glamour came from hard work; ask any movie star or tennis champion. Many sparkling and sophisticated celebrities did not start that way, they laboured first. Besides, if you immersed yourself in glamour you would miss all the unglamorous opportunities that could lead to the glamorous lifestyle you were seeking in the first place! If you were in modelling or show business, it would be a different story of course. There, you need to glitter. If Liberace, Elvis and the Beatles had paraded in tattered clothes, I doubt they would be that successful. On the contrary, a surprising number of successful people enjoy being plain, simple and frugal. It is certainly a lot less cumbersome and stressful. Over the years, Bill Gates and his team at Microsoft were often in jerseys and jeans as they built their gigantic, international computer empire.
6. Productivity, profit and money are not important. Money is not everything but it is the main thing for most people. If you are careless about money, you are likely to overlook the value of time, resources and efficiency. An entrepreneur with that kind of mentality has only one way to go - downhill; he may even end up in bankruptcy. As the world becomes more competitive, respect for productivity, quality, worth and wealth is the backbone for motivation and progress. Around the globe, money is the measure of value and performance and remains the best incentive for work.Rewards are the objects of peoples desires and dreams, and bring impetus for achievements.
7. Creativity is predominantly for the fine arts. Nothing is further from the truth. Most great business successes showed some forms of creativity. Starting and building a successful undertaking in this competitive world takes much imagination and skills. Look at all the clever enterprises around the world, all the great designs, inventions, products and methods; not forgetting the marvellous tools, cars, toys, books, movies, musicals and songs.
8. We have to please and empower everybody to be successful. Surprisingly, many great achievers dare to assert their unpopular position and opposing attitude. It is impossible to please everybody in this world; we do not have that kind of time either. Some people may even envy or upset our progress. That is okay, let us be vigilant and strong, yet humble, empathetic and forgiving. We need not imitate successful people either. Be ourselves and cultivate our unique style and strength.
9. You need inborn talents to gain wealth. There is some irony here, with double consolation for you: You do not need talents to be prosperous; nonetheless, everyone has some form of talents. Sadly, many people believe and accept that they lack what it takes to change their lives, to determine their destiny. How wrong can they be! Believe me, you have all you need to be happy and successful.