Everyone has a different outlook on what success actually looks like. In many cases, success is actually gauged differently depending on the setting. For example, in my mind, I will hold a business coach client closing millions of dollars of revenue per year for their business in the same and equal regard that I would a mother who loves her child and successfully sacrifices herself daily for them, or even a mentor that I look to for guidance, or a successful athlete playing a sport I wish I could play better.
In my mind, all of these kinds of people are equally successful in my eyes despite their financial status. Since going into business coaching and learning from multimillion-dollar mentors, I finally understand the formula for a happy and successful person. Notice, I said happy and successful. The formula is simple: Passion + Knowledge + Diligence = Success.
I have personally always idolized Steve Jobs. As a small, fun fact for you, Steve Jobs actually had a business coach, a mentor, and friend named Bill Campbell, known as the Trillion Dollar Coach. However, When it comes to success in your job, Steve Jobs says this . . .
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” -Steve Jobs
(Co-founder of Apple, and Founder and former CEO of Pixar and NeXT)
I challenge you to think of anyone in the world that you determine to be both happy and successful. Don’t just think of financial or social status. Think of someone who you look up to. Someone who may or may not have millions of dollars, or three kids to your one, or anything specific. Think of a person happily doing something you wish you could do better. I will almost guarantee they display the arithmetical strategy to success using these three metrics.
1.Passion
Happiness is living the life you want. Fulfillment is being satisfied with the happiness you’ve created for yourself while constantly working toward a goal. I have learned that anyone actually winning at life is passionate. You have to know your ‘why’. When the going gets tough, your passion has to shine so brightly from within, that you can’t stand the thought of giving up. Anytime I have ever failed at anything in my life, it was because I truly didn’t care about it. The thought of losing out on your goals should make you absolutely sick.
2.Knowledge
If you want to be good at something, you have to know it better than anyone else. You must absorb absolutely every ounce of knowledge you possibly can to get where you want to be. Passion can only go so far without the knowledge and credibility to back it up.
For years, we are told the false reality that, “You must get straight A’s if you want to go to college.” Therefore, most success-driven children will make sure to get straight A’s. Then, we are told, “You must go to college if you want to be successful and make money.” So we develop this twisted mentality that in order for us to become happy, successful and relevant adults in society, we must school ourselves to death. We do this, even though Mark Twain says, “Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.”
During this business coach process, we never truly stop to learn. Am I saying that our entire twenty-two plus years of school was a waste of time? Not entirely. However, I am saying that during this entire process of learning theories, formulas, concepts, vocabulary and who knows what else we’ve stored way back in our cortex for reasons which I am still trying to determine; we missed the part about becoming diligent adults who are truly passionate in our trade.
Ultimately, when passion meets diligence and dances with knowledge, this creates success that can be measured by more than a financial metric.
3.Diligence
If you have passion, true passion, one would think that diligence comes right alongside that. This simply is not the case. There is something about committing to something hard and sticking to it that is hard to grasp. Walt Disney says, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” This requires diligence. This requires doing the things you don’t want to do. Passion is essential, knowledge is even more so necessary, but most of all, diligence is the true key to unlocking the success code.
Ultimately, when passion meets diligence and dances with knowledge, this creates success that can be measured by more than a financial metric. We will all determine success differently. I am learning that these are the most important metrics in order to develop a perfect combination of happiness and success. Every successful client I see, every happy mom I see, everyone in my life I look up to as leaders and mentors all share these three qualities. I truly believe, through my business coaching experience, this has helped me finally see the code to success with a clear vision.
