“Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers.”

I believe that many of us, myself included, spend more time wishing for change than planning change. Achieving our goals and moving toward our definition of success requires focus and action, and wishing is the antithesis of those things. In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says: “Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches.”

Napoleon Hill gives us three clear steps to success

1. Obsession: Notice he doesn’t say think about, but obsess. Thinking is nice, but obsession is driven by enthusiasm and passion, the very things that are required to achieve success. If we aren’t obsessed with our success, we won’t have the drive necessary to overcome obstacles and work through the many learning experiences we will encounter on our path.
2. Planning: As we obsess over our goals, we will inevitably start building and shaping plans for reaching them. We may try multiple paths, and fail and end up back at the drawing board, but we will plan. Our plan is the core of our success. It is a road map that helps us make decisions, and it is a flashlight that points the way when the road ahead is murky.
3. Persistence: Putting our plan into action without allowing failure to be part of our vocabulary is the root of success. Without this step, the preceding steps are a waste of time. Acting on our vision for the future is the only way we will move forward. We have to develop an attitude of persistent action to achieve success.

Simple But Not Easy

These three steps are clear, simple and concise. No mystery, no deep metaphysical insights, just common sense, but that doesn’t mean it is easy to implement. What are the things that keep us in wish mode, and hold us back from implementing Hill’s process?

1. Fear: This is probably the most powerful human emotion, and it has turned from a survival tool into a huge roadblock for most of us. Fear of failure leads to “paralysis of analysis”. We talk and think and plan, but never really set things in motion. Fear of success leads to self-sabotage because we don’t deserve to be successful, or we are afraid of the commitment and overwhelmed by the possibilities.
2. Lack of Clarity: While it may be hard to admit, many of us don’t really know what we want out of life. We build castles in the clouds and entertain all sorts of fantasies about the future, but never really discover what we desire. Here’s the rub - we have to go out and take action to discover our passion, it isn’t going to come and track us down in the living room in front of the television.
3. Lack of Decisiveness: It is the opportunity cost of choice - every time we make up our minds to follow one path, we leave dozens of others unexplored. What if one of those other paths is “better”? What if this path fails? What if I am wrong? At some point we have to stop floundering in the what if and move into the what is and what could be.
4. Lack of Confidence: When we have spent a long time listening to the tapes play that tell us how bad and undeserving we are, we may not have the confidence to move forward. Low self-esteem never even lets us get to the fear, but stop us in our tracks as we begin to think about success. It tells us that we should not even bother since failure will be the outcome anyway.

Breaking Through

All of these obstacles to achieving success can be overcome. Some of them, like lack of confidence, may require counseling. Others, like lack of clarity, may require a quiet place, paper and a pencil. Fear is the root of so much inaction that I think it deserves an article all by itself. Whatever you do, don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t let the difficulties deter you from pursuing your passion. You haven’t failed yet, although you may not have accomplished all you wish. You don’t fail unless you quit, so just don’t quit.

Do you struggle with turning wishes into passion and action? How have you moved beyond wishing to building success? Share your ideas in the comments below!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 5:02 am and is filed under motivation, fear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, bookmark the Permalink in your Browser, leave a response, or trackback from your own site.