Your 2-Part Success Formula

What do Lisa Nichols, Elon Musk and Sara Blakely have in common?

More to the point, what do they have in common with you?

All three of them are human beings, and I’m going to assume you are, too. There are really just two things that make these entrepreneurs wildly successful.

For almost 17 years I’ve worked with REALTORS®, insurance agencies, IT companies, sales professionals, artists, coaches, and business owners. The ones who have really grown have made a long use of these same two ingredients. The 2-part success formula works everywhere.

These two ingredients will bring you success influence in any career, business, work, or field you choose. Want to learn how to apply this 2-part success formula?

You already know about the first ingredient. The second one is more interesting.

The First Success Ingredient

“I’ve been slacking off lately,” one of my clients told me on a call. “I haven’t been putting in my 80 hours a week.”

I suggested that getting more sleep would boost his productivity so he wouldn’t need to work 80 hours.

“Yeah, but I’m old school, Jacob.”

I can’t afford to argue with someone who can afford to hire me. The first Success Ingredient is simply doing the hard work every day.

You show up, you make strategic decisions, and you grind away at the most important tasks. You apply your full talent and put in your best effort.

If you have a good product and a market that’s willing and able to pay for it, then hard work alone will bring you outlandish success.

But if you want to add jet fuel to your journey and race to the outer atmosphere of your industry, there’s a second piece to the success story.

The Second Success Ingredient

Eric Brewer of The Collective Genius has thousands of real estate deals under his belt. In 2021 he attributes $740,000 in profit to referrals he got from people who follow him on social media.

Eric is a classic example of why savvy entrepreneurs start their own podcasts, write books, and fill their YouTube channels with original content.

If you want to be outstanding, you have to stand out.

Every person who has ever made it to the top 1% of their field has had celebrity status. Maybe they were only celebrities in the narrow circle of their colleagues and clients, but within that circle they were rock stars.

After “sneaking” into the Boston Marathon when women weren’t allowed, Kathrine Switzer was almost physically beaten up in front of the reporters’ cameras. (1)

Her fellow athletes rallied to her cause, and Kathrine became the first woman to officially compete in the Marathon. The man who attacked her later became a friend.

From that point on, she was able to secure jobs as a sports announcer, raise funds for her nonprofit, publish and sell her books, and eventually release trading cards featuring female athletes.

Doors opened for her, because the right people knew who she was.

The most successful people in the world have always done something extraordinary that attracted attention. They broke a record or won a competition. They started or led a non-profit organization. They took a controversial stance. They overcame a difficult challenge. They wrote a book. They climbed a mountain.

Top companies like Tesla and Spanx were built on their founders’ passion and a willingness to apply a Sawzall to the status quo.

They did something exceptional in addition to working their ass off.

This is such an important part of radical success, that Dan Kennedy cited “Do Something” and “Be Someone” as essential elements in his list of “Wealth Attractors.” (2)

The best news about this second ingredient is that you can have a more fulfilling life by adding it to your repertoire.

The second-best news is most of your competition won’t do this, and it wouldn’t matter if they did.

How to add the second ingredient

Is there something that you’ve always wanted to do, but never got around to it?

Maybe you’ve even told yourself that you can’t or won’t do it? Is there something you’re already doing, but you haven’t been giving it the energy you feel it deserves?

Here’s a quick litmus test: Imagine yourself taking the time, making the effort, investing whatever resources you needed to do it right now. Starting today and committing to crossing the finish line.

How do you feel, physically and emotionally when you imagine carrying out your vision? If it makes you excited and a little bit nervous, you might be on to something.

Give yourself the gift of an adventure. Take the first tangible steps to pursue your dream.

This adventure can be just about anything, and it will have an impact on your success. Obviously if it involves a new product or an entirely new business, or it includes sharing a new idea with the world through a book or a webinar, it’s going to make an impact.

But even if it seems unrelated, your adventure still going to amplify your economic mojo. If you’re competing against the average, everyday REALTOR®, but you’re the REALTOR® who climbed Mt. Everest, who do you think is going to win?

When you commit to your passions, you create ripple effects inside and out. You become more vital as a person, and this affects your energy, your productivity, your confidence, your health, and all the people who interact with you.

When you follow a dream, you activate a whole cascade of neurological benefits. You bring more excitement into every aspect of your life.

You stay top-of-mind among potential clients and business partners, because you’ve given people a reason to talk about you.

Find your Audacious Advantage

When you commit to a personal adventure that’s fully aligned with your deepest values and desires, you find what I call your Audacious Advantage.

It takes audacity to become the best and most true version of you. You have to go against your internal status quo. But if you can do it, you will create positive growth in every aspect of your life, and nobody can copy or steal it.

The world needs your adventure

You know how much trouble we’re in. Just open your favorite news app, and within seconds you’ll find a dozen reasons to cry, worry, or feel outrage.

But if you pushed a little harder in the direction your heart tells you to go, you could bring about changes that help make the whole world better.

If everybody started doing this, I think we would begin seeing breakthroughs that could make a difference.

Follow the two-part success formula and your life will never be the same. That’s the minimum that will happen, and you could potentially achieve a whole lot more.

We are in desperate need of new heroes. You could be one of them.

Notes

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathrine_Switzer#Later_competition,_work,_and_honors

(2) Kennedy, Dan. No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs