Last week a friend sent me this email.
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Lance,
(Obligatory personal greeting)……
One of the things I am bad about is asking for help, so I wanted to take a leap and reach out for some. You seem to be very successful and I wanted to know how you got to where you are?
I expect more than what I am doing vocationally. I want to take care of my family in way that we don’t have to worry about paying bills. God provides and will continue but I think I would be kicking myself not asking how you became successful at an early age? Maybe there is some wisdom you can shed on how to get where I want to be? I am open! Thanks for your time and look forward to hearing from you!
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Here is my response.
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Friend,
(Obligatory personal greeting)……
Here is what I have found to be the three most important characteristics of a young successful person. These are not only the characteristics I attempt to model but also the common thread I have seen in countless other successful people, regardless of age.
1. Strong Work Ethic. Emphasis on strong. Most people fall into three categories when it comes to hard work. They either don’t know how to work hard, they’re not willing to or they are just satisfied doing what everyone else is doing. You’ve got to make yourself stand out and for a guy like me who was never really that smart (22 on my ACT) or gifted (never in the gifted classes, but my son is (smiley face)), I’ve always attempted to stand out by my work ethic. I am willing to work harder than anyone I know, because I known I have to and I’ve know that from an early age. When I started working full time at 18, I’d take the tough shifts, work the holidays, work overnight, do whatever I had to do to stand out until I got my opportunity. Then when I did get my opportunity, I started working even harder to keep it. Work ethic is often over-looked as the key ingredient to success. Nowadays everyone just expects success to be given to them. But it doesn’t work that way. To get ahead today it takes working when everyone else is playing. It takes late nights, early morning and sacrifice. Trust me I have fun and really enjoy life, but most nights you will find me with a computer on my lap chipping away, trying to get ahead, trying to plan my next move, writing, strategizing….working hard. This is my motto, I work when others won’t so later I can rest when others can’t.
2. Seeks out others who will take them higher. This is a principle you obviously have thought about or you wouldn’t have emailed me. Again, for guys like me who aren’t brilliant or well educated, we need to find people who will believe in us and help us take our lives to another level. We always hear the phrase “it’s all about who you know”, well that is true in some cases, but I believe its more about who the people are that your people know… if that makes sense. Typically our realm of influence and connections are limited, but we begin to see exponential growth when we find people who are willing to connect us to their networks, to their tribes, to their people. I believe God often allows for life changing growth through the influence and opportunities given to us by others. We weren’t created to live alone nor are we able to grow alone either. So sit down and jot down the 5 people you really need to know to get to where you want to go.
3. Always has a Strategy. The bible says where there is no vision the people perish. That means we need a plan and plans start with strategy. To formulate a strategy around our personal development we need to know what we are good it, what we like to do, what we are passionate about, where we really want to go. So do that. Make your lists, spend some time dreaming, vision casting, and really dig deep. What would you do if money wasn’t an option? Dream a little, nothing stopping your dreams from coming true but you. Once that is done, begin reviewing what you are good at, what you like to do, what you would dream of doing for a living and look to see if there are any overlaps. Do you notice any synergies that lie in these areas? Maybe you already know what you want to do; if that’s the case maybe these identified strengths will help you understand how you can be unique in this field. How you can stand out in the crowd. The point is you need to have a strategy at all times. One that is specific and intentional. Once you figure out where you want to go you can start working on the details of how to get there.
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For some, these tips may look like they are in reverse order, however reading the last one first is a great place to start initiating your game plan. Find out what you want to do, cast the vision, and then work on identifying who can help you get there. Get Bold and go ask them to help. What’s the worst thing they can say? No? But what if they say YES and that relationship changes your life forever, seems to me that’s a risk worth taking. Lastly, the core trait among all the successful people I have been privileged to work under, be mentored by or just know personally is work ethic. Successful people are not afraid to work hard and typically they have something inside of them that vows never to be out-worked. So no matter what you set off to do, the first principle is always the most important, because it’s one of the only things you have complete control over.
