How to Achieve Success in Any Domain

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” -Winston Churchill

I remember being a kid in high school, there was this one kid, a buddy, who thought everything was great. He was somewhat of a delusional optimist. Nothing was bad, everything was amazing, happiness was a constant. 

A few years after high school he had a mental breakdown.

It turned out, everything was not alright, and optimism was his way of ignoring reality, ignoring the work that had to be done.

I write this to add some context to the quote above. Enthusiasm isn't ignorance of reality, and yet, reality is perspective.

In his book, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot, Jim Stockdale, a captive in a prisoner of war camp, notes that 'incurable vocal and persistent optimists' are the biggest threat to morale in an extreme situation. He notes that 'optimism relieves us of both responsibility and agency'. 

The thinking goes along the lines of, if everything's going to work out perfectly, anyway, why do we have to do anything or prepare in any way for the worst, or, why do we, ourselves, have to create the best situation if it exists in the future without our input or risk? 

And yet, we need optimism, but we need it to be combined with realism.

If a situation is dire, we have to recognize its direness so we can figure out a solution. 

So, how do we move through this onslaught of obstacles that is not only life, but any quest for achievement, while both not losing enthusiasm while at the same time not being delusional about reality?

How We See Problems

We don't learn from problems, we learn from stepping back and assessing problems. We also have to see the problems, to be ignorant of them or to pretend they don't exist will prevent us from being able to solve them.

With that in mind, if we can get in the habit of doing things, we'll change how we see obstacles. They'll become good, not bad. They'll be seen as opportunities, not barriers. 

If we can see problems in this light, which is a decision, and a realistic one because each problem does have a hidden opportunity or lesson, then they won't be the energy-sucking, stress-inducing vehicles of torment they so often are.

Read more on this topic: Logotherapy

Why We Do What We Do

I have to have multiple 'why's', and I have to constantly keep them top of mind. They have to be deep, meaningful, even painful if not realized.

We too often float through life without giving deep, powerful meaning to why we do what we do. We know we work to give our families a better life, to protect them, provide for them, but we don't think deeply about it.

We don't think about the downside, if we don't win, how things may look. Or, if we don't win soon enough, and it's too late to take care of our folks. Or if we don't take action on our health soon enough, and we've already done irreparable damage to our health so we're not even around to enjoy our grandkids or whatever it may be.

To maintain enthusiasm, we have to maintain energy and urgency, we have to know the clock is ticking, and we have to have powerful reasons behind the actions we take whether we're talking about health, wealth, or adventure and overall life. 

Internal Rewards Beat External Rewards

"I'm on the right path." 

Simply telling yourself that provides a powerful reward when you're struggling to achieve something. And internal rewards are far more powerful than external rewards, in fact, research shows that external rewards, like buying yourself something because you achieved something, may actually deter success long term by diminishing your deep love for what you're doing.

When I'm working on something, I've begun to say this. When I'm at the tail end of a long work session, I'll tell myself this. It helps. It works. 

A Worthy Goal

Envision something grand.

It can be great health, a grand adventure, a beautiful home and family. It can be anything that truly excites you, but also scares you. There's that hint of you that doesn't think it's possible, that questions whether you can actually do it, that makes you want to prove to yourself that you can.

That's exciting. 

All of these success gurus talk about self belief, and it's true, if it's humanly possible, you can do it, that's just a simple fact, but there's always that part of us that questions us until it's our reality, and that's good, too, because if that wasn't there it wouldn't really be a challenge. That's the delusional optimism that can crush our problem solving and work ethic.

We need that question. If it's not there it's likely that you're not quite asking enough of ourself, so, ask more.

Read: How to Set Better Goals

Wind in the Sails

I'm seeing the value of activities that bring us energy that are outside of the domain of focus.

That is, fun things. Literally, having some fun, joy, awe, adventure. It brings energy and enthusiasm to the domain we're trying to win. 

Hiking, hunting, playing sports with pals, travel, even simple things you enjoy but neglect because they don't really have anything to do with what you're trying to achieve in life, they're important. They bring energy and enthusiasm to life overall, and as such, bring excitement to the thing you're trying to achieve and energy so you can conquer greater obstacles.

Schedule these things. Head out mountain biking or hiking, go shooting, play a sport on a weekly basis. Make the time for these things in life. They have value.

Sleep

This may be the most impactful thing on the list, and it's the easiest to control. We can create energy and enthusiasm by getting a great sleep, as well as motivation.

Earn your sleep - spend time working out in the day, be focused and hard working while at work, go to bed without an ounce of energy left.

Set a schedule - go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time 7 days a week to set your circadian rhythm.

No booze or stimulants - don't have booze or stimulants within a few hours before bed if you want a great sleep.

Add Man Sleep to your before-bed routine to optimize your sleep and to fall asleep faster.

Giving Time to What Matters

From a business standpoint, we ought to spend the majority of our time on those things that excite us while also moving the needle in our business. We should hire for everything else.

The same with life. Spend as much time on the things that matter, that make life great, that move life forward, most, and less time on the things that really provide very little value.

You'll hear guys in productivity videos talk about hiring someone to mow your lawn because it doesn't move the needle in life. Meh. I like mowing my lawn. It's one of the few areas of life where you see a before and after of success, it makes you feel like you're doing something worthy, and it's therapeutic work.

Social media however, TV, the hours upon hours we spend on our phones and TV's in the run of a day, let alone a week and a year, really ought to be removed.

Be real with yourself. 

Right now I'm tracking every minute of my day so I can see what I ought to remove and what I ought to keep. The simple act of tracking time forces you to look at how your time is spent, but also question things in the moment. I won't touch my phone because I don't want to put down on that piece of paper that I actually spent time avoiding the good things in life by scrolling on my phone.

Win in Any Domain

How do we win in any domain?

We accept that failures, obstacles, and struggles are a part of life, and a good part of life. Without them we do not learn, we do not gain toughness and grit, we do not acquire wisdom.

We work hard with focus over a sustained amount of time.

We dream big, important dreams that are our dreams, not what society tells us to want. We dream not only for us, but for those who mean the most to us. It's easy to be excited when we're pursuing something important and we believe it's within reach.

We give ourselves persistent internal rewards, but only when we've actually done something worth rewarding or while we're doing something good.

We figure out the best habits, doing more of those, while removing the bad habits entirely from our lives.

We are grateful for the good and the bad and know that the bad is also, somehow, good, if we so choose to extract the value from it.

We never give up. We may alter course, we may change our goals, but every day we set out to continue climbing the mountain.

We go from obstacle to obstacle without losing enthusiasm.

Get after it.