Like many teenagers, I longed for success. To achieve that success, I began to study the personal qualities and behavior that separates high achievers from ordinary performers. Later, in my business life, I was fortunate to meet and interview many highly successful individuals, and I would always ask what they saw as “their secret.” From my studies and interviews I concluded that the key ingredients to exceptional personal performance were vision, commitment, and responsibility.
Over time, I added a fourth component to this model which all high achievers also have: context/perspective. This in an instinctive, proactive attitude towards success that most successful leaders take for granted. It is imperative that you have the right belief system, the right context and perspective for your brain to create the messages, (or “impulses”), that support your vision.
Even if all other factors are in place, if you do not “think” like a successful person, you will not act like one. This attitudinal difference can sabotage one’s success, and most people are not even aware they are doing it. Awareness is the first step. Step two is the creation of new, positive beliefs that, combined, form a successful context from which to operate. Given some time, the right thinking and behavioral habits will build a stronger self-image, (can do attitude), which is what successful people have naturally. That is why it seems so easy for them to build one success upon another. In their minds, the right perspective or context is taken for granted.
Can you relate to this message? If so, the question then becomes how to use it to support yourself and/or your team/company to create the success and satisfaction you want in life. Research tells us, (and my 30 years of hands-on experience support it 100%), that most people need structured programs to produce lasting change. We suggest, and use, culture-based continuous improvement and leadership programs. These types of best practice programs and models are essential to grow yourself, your team/company.
It is important to understand that people are naturally self-motivated when they see their personal and professional goals are alive and well. And when, as leaders, we create this type of support, a whole new level of self-empowerment can be achieved.
If you are interested in discussing these ideas, please call or email me at 773-775-6636 or john@johnruh.com and we can discuss the power of the right Vision, Context, Commitment and Responsibility.
Written by John Ruh
John M. Ruh and Associates are mission based business advisors who partner with growth oriented leaders to create the right P.S.T. support: the right People, the right Structure and the right Tools.