The Spiral of Success (or Failure)

To be successful in anything in life you need to address a few key factors. First up you need to have a clear goal. I have produced a mini guide on how to do this, if you would like a copy, just e-mail me with the subject heading ‘Achievement Guide’, and I’ll ping it into your inbox.

No matter how clear that goal, it absolutely needs to be a ‘must’, not a ‘should’. You can learn more about this pivotal mindset here http://humanperformanceconsulting-uk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/stop-lying.html. Simply put, set your benchmark to a higher standard.

Here’s a quick fact, less than 50% of people with chronic disease actually comply with their treatment protocol. So even what is considered a ‘must’ is actually a ‘should’ in the majority of the population. I do not doubt this statistic at all, on many occasions I’ve seen people being treated for cancer, outside the Oncology department building still hooked up to I.V. drips…smoking…

If you want to succeed, you need to make a proper decision, not a preference. A preference results in a ‘should’, which then leaves the doors open for the option of taking action, or not. A decision though, is vastly different. A real decision leaves no room for ambiguity, it essentially burns all other bridges on your journey, so that you have to use the only bridge left, no matter how decrepit and rickety. There are reasons why a preference is often made over a decision, but that’s not the focus of this article.

It’s not enough just to have a clear goal, and for it to be a ‘must’. You have to embody ‘why’ it’s a must. It has to be compelling for you, not repelling. So your goal must be generated by passion, and also generate passion within you, so that you are pulled, not pushed towards your goal.

However, this is often still not enough for people to succeed. Why? Because it doesn’t account for probably the most important feature in success: Belief.

‘Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.’ ~ Henry Ford

I created HPC-UK to help people realise their potential. However what people don’t understand, and it is way beyond the scope of this piece to cover, is how much potential they have. When you look into what Humans, all of us, are capable of, it’s phenomenal.

And this potential phenomenal ability is really absolutely governed by your belief.

Trouble is the word ‘belief’ is usually attached to the wrong meaning. The way belief is usually used, actually means to ‘wish’ or ‘hope’ something is a certain way; ambiguity again, right? True belief, on the other hand, even if it’s based on faulty knowledge, means absolute certainty that something is a certain way.

The usual meaning is actually a limiting or conflicting belief, and this has fundamental implications on how much potential you can realise.

Let’s see how this works.

Take a look at the DNA double helix image alongside this article, and consider the four words that are present: Potential, Action, Results and Belief (or Attitude). Now considering the amazing ability that all Humans possess, does the usual person’s result’s reflect their potential? No, otherwise we’d all have a name similar to ‘Jordan Mozart Einstein-Ghandi’.

So why is this? Well, we’re all probably not taking enough action to make this a reality. No Action = No Results (or at least not the results we wanted).

But sometimes you can take loads of action, but still not get the results you want. And this is because the actions you’re taking are not aligned with your goal, for instance would you go on an African safari to see a Penguin? You can, and invest a lot into it, but I’m not sure you’d get much return on your effort.

However, let’s say you’re taking action and they’re the right actions, do people’s results now reflect their potential. Nope.

So we’ve got immense potential, we’re taking action and it’s the right action, and we’re still not getting results. If this is the case there’s only one place left to look, your belief.

Whenever you try to achieve a goal, if you believe it’s not going to work, or you don’t think you’re capable of doing it, then you’ll find ways to meet your own belief. In this mindset, how much do you think you’ll draw on your potential, a little, or a lot? A little, right? Why would you invest (time, effort etc) in something you didn’t truly believe was going to work. So you invest little (weak action), and get little results. Now you’ve validated your initial belief, which means you’ll draw even less on your potential, invest even less action, and get even less results. Now you’ll further reinforce your limiting belief, and so the cycle continues.

This is called a Vicious Spiral and it’s a slippery slope.

It’s not that there wasn’t potential there, it just wasn’t tapped into due to the conflicting belief.

But people who are successful generally do things a little differently. People who are successful often have unbounded beliefs. Potential can’t be changed, it is what it is, but how much you can express, as we’ve seen above is down to your actions. And the quality of your actions is determined by your belief.

We have already seen that true belief really means absolute certainty. So let’s look at the four words again in this mindset. We’ve set a goal which we are passionate about achieving and that we are absolutely certain we can nail. In this situation, how much (action) would you invest? A lot, after-all you’re certain you can achieve it. If you invest a lot in the (right) action, you’re going to get better results than had you invested little. So now you’ve smashed your goal, and cemented your initial belief. You’ve now proven to yourself that you can achieve goals that you set for yourself, so now you believe in your ability even more. With this improved state of mind do you think you’ll draw upon your potential more or less? More of course, so you take even more action which leads to better results and so on through the cycle.

This process is called the Virtuous Spiral and it’s the foundation of success. Make sure your beliefs aren’t holding you back.

Conceive. Believe. Achieve.