Success Is Easier Done Than Said

SUCCESS IS EASIER DONE THAN SAID
By
William Cottringer, Ph.D.

“People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results.” ~Albert Einstein.

All the libraries of current success clues are making success harder said than done. We are all buried in the success overload and need to unload the overload and simplify. Let’s chop some wood and get results right now. There are really only five questions you need to think about to become more successful.

1. What does the world need from me?

We are all born with unique talents to chop wood with. What are yours? The quicker you find out what these are special skills are and get busy developing and using them to help others, the more wood you will have. Ask others, figure out what you do most and enjoy doing most, and study the positive purpose of past situations that were uncomfortable. If all else fails go on-line and take a bunch of free tests to get these answers.

2. How can I do this better than anyone else?

The competition will never ever lighten up to give you an easy entry point into the game. The game has been going on a long time before you got here and will go on a lot longer after you leave. Everyone wants more wood and every minute someone is creating a new and better way to chop it quicker. You have to work harder, be more creative, trust your instincts, learn more, pay your dues in an apprenticeship, become compulsive, survive failures or all of these things plus something else not yet known. The best advice is to be under-confident and over-prepared.

3. Are there any legitimate shortcuts?

Translate this question into the ethical question it really is—Is it okay to use any means to justify the ends I want? No, because if you are successful by chance, you won’t be authentically content, only partially satisfied and it won’t last very long. Are three negative consequences enough to answer this question adequately? Success is what you get from what you do to get it. In this sense you have to become your own means to your own end—you have to be successful as a noun, adjective and verb all in one. There is no shortcut answer to this question about wood-chopping.

4. What is the best perspective I can have?

This is where you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There is enough compelling research that tells us what the best perspective to have is, leaving no doubts. People who are positive and optimistic in trusting that there is plenty of wood for everybody as well as plenty of ways to get it, usually get the most wood. And if you don’t like the stack of wood you have, what do you think you need to do to repair that reality?

5. How will I know if I am successful?

I guess this depends upon how you personally define success and how well you answer these four other questions. Of course, it also depends on why you want to be successful—to impress others and have the most wood for others to envy or to satisfy a deep inner drive to get a stack that feels right for you and once you have it you’ll know it. The first motive is extrinsic and usually short-lived and changeable; the second is intrinsic and can last a life time. Which is more preferable?