What does it really take to succeed?
It takes far more than determination to get what we want.
It’s a nearly universal wish we all share to succeed at the things most important to us. Of course the definition of success is highly subjective not only to the individual but to the thing at which we wish to succeed.
It’s easy to understand why some think that determination is all one needs to succeed at practically anything. There are endless self-help books you can read and expensive lectures you can attend that try to convince you that “You’ve got this!” and “You can do it!” They make these claims with a level of confidence so high that I wonder if it’s the result of the air being so thin up there.
We have all heard stories of people overcoming what seem like impossible odds as if they are the main character is some action movie who just barely escapes death while saving the world and defeating the villain. The reality is very different. We tend to focus on these rare cases because they make us feel good. If that person can beat the odds, so can we. In fact, here in the real world the more odds-beating the situation is, the more rare it is. We tend to have an exaggerated idea of just how often these unusual success stories actually occur. It’s because it’s nearly universal that we remember the successes and ignore the failures. The media doesn’t make this any better. Failure is generally not appealing and thus it is unreported in the extreme. The exception of course is the fall from grace of someone who is not expected to fail but whose behavior makes others wish they could be taken down a notch or two.
Nevertheless, we are still highly motivated to succeed even if the odds are against us. So what exactly does it take? From my analysis there appear to be four factors required for success. I’ll address them in order from those of which you have the least control to those of which you have the most.
Luck
The universe dishes out luck in both its forms (good and bad) disproportionately and seemingly at random. Regardless it’s an indisputable factor in success. In order to succeed, you and the universe must be in alignment for you to be able to apply those factors that are within your control. For example, I can think of several elements of luck without which I would have not met my wife. My mom sent me an article that resulted in me ending my then long term relationship. Some stranger messaged my wife on the dating website where we ultimately met causing her to renew her account for another month just in time for her to show up in my search results. One day I accidentally chose a 60 mile radius instead of my usual 50. She was 51 miles away. Lucky indeed. There’s just no getting around the larger than we’d like to admit role that luck plays in our successes. Still, Thomas Jefferson famously said, “The harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” This is absolutely true. Hard work isn’t a guarantee but it definitely improves your odds. It is also true that luck favors the prepared. Thus there are at least some things you can do to increase the chances that good luck will find you at just the right moment.
Opportunity
The seemingly luckiest person on the planet cannot succeed without opportunity. Luck itself depends on this fertile soil. There were no doubt people who dreamed of space travel before the first person ever went into space. They might have been excellent astronaut candidates except for the fact that they were born at a time and/or in a place where there were not yet any opportunities for them to go into space. Sir Issac Newton likely wondered what it would be like to travel to the Moon but he was hundreds of years too early. You could even have all the other factors strongly in your favor but without the opportunity none of that will matter.
Ability
Having the skills necessary to succeed at the goal you have set for yourself is mandatory of course and fortunately almost always within your control. Natural talent is a wonderful gift but it’s not a requirement. Hard work can go a long way towards offsetting any talent deficit. I, for example, am a decent drummer. I feel that I’m on firm ground when I say while I do seem to have a natural sense of rhythm, the rest of my drumming skill is the result of endless hours of practice. The same is true of my computer programming ability. The more work you are willing to put in to build the skills needed for success, the more likely you are to achieve it.
Desire
Luck, opportunity and ability are irrelevant without the desire to go after your goals. Desire is often the first signal that we even have a particular goal and it usually comes before we have discovered how lucky we are, that the opportunity exists, or that we have developed the ability to even attempt to succeed at something.
There are arguably other factors in success. One that comes to mind is tenacity. To me, tenacity, while certainly important, is a virtually guaranteed byproduct of ability and desire. A high degree of tenacity means you will likely stay focused on achieving your goal even if it’s harder and takes longer than you expected. Still, as I said, tenacity is almost mathematically the result of multiplying ability by desire.
And speaking of math, it is likely that you could calculate your odds of succeeding at a goal before you pour your heart and soul into it. What I’m going to provide you with is a rough framework. It will be a starting point which you can adjust based upon your situation.
First, let’s assume that opportunity, ability and desire are known quantities. You can make an educated guess at them. Let’s also assume they are all of about equal importance. Use a 0 to 10 point scale for each. Next you will want to consider how big a factor luck will be. If you can’t decide, I would go with 50% which means its scale is 0 to 30 given that the other three attributes are 10 points each. Assign points for opportunity, ability and desire. Then decide how lucky you are likely to be in this particular situation. If you wouldn’t need much luck, give it a high number. If you’d need a lot, give it a low number. Add up the numbers and divide by 60 (the maximum score) to get the percentage of likelihood of success. If you’re surprised that the result of your calculation is not a very high number, don’t let it get you down. Remember that on average 50% of success is luck.
The long, hard road to success
If success now feels far more out of reach than ever before, take some comfort in the fact that you are not alone in coming to the realization that success appears to be a greater effort than you had previously considered. Still, while life provides for no guarantees (aside from death and taxes) knowledge, as the saying goes, is power. Being more cognizant of what factors contribute significantly to one’s success will make success more likely. It also helps us put into perspective the success (or lack thereof) others experience. It can be easy to feel envious of those who have succeeded at something we have worked hard to achieve and still failed. However, understanding for example that success requires some things mostly outside of our control (such as luck) can help take some of the sting out of our failures and the envy out of the successes of others.
I by no means wish to discourage you. As the former professional hockey player Wayne Gretzky once said, “I miss 100% of the shots I don’t take.” Success cannot occur unless it is attempted. We aren’t going to achieve every goal we set out to achieve. That would be an unrealistic expectation. But part of what makes life worth living is achievement. We have all known someone whose seems to be living the unenviable life consisting of a never ending stream of failures. We each have also known others that don’t seem to have any desire to at least attempt to have a better life. For most of us, the desire to achieve is built-in. And of course when we do succeed at something, especially a top goal in our lives, well, there’s really nothing like the feeling of that. At the same time, having realistic expectations and a healthy level of life acceptance is also important.
In the end our longing for success is ultimately linked to a general need for life satisfaction. The trouble so many have is that their personal criteria for life satisfaction is obtaining things they do not currently have. This can lead to never truly achieving it. Again, striving for goals is important but just as important, perhaps even more important, is to appreciate what you already have. Being grateful for where you are at now is what I meant by a healthy level of life acceptance. This can lead to a strong sense of satisfaction right now. After all, a life spent feeling perpetually unsatisfied is not a life worth living. So go for it but be grateful for what you already have.
Don’t forget how lucky you have already been to even be here. You’ve been given the opportunity to enjoy what the author Bill Bryson referred to as, “the generally under-appreciated state known as existence.” Lucky indeed.