Five Essentials
Would you believe me if I told you there are 5 Essential Ingredients to creating a success story?
Our underlying foundation for the inspiration, insight and innovation we’re delivering at Dynamite Live is in these 5 Essential Ingredients- and not one of them has anything to do with luck!
If you have ever interviewed for a job, started a business, created a brand or courted the love of your life, you’ve learned the importance of being able to tell your story.
But what about the importance of being able to hear story? To learn from story? How does that contribute to building success?
Success is not an attribute – it’s an accumulation of achievement. A result of doing what we’ve learned.
I often say “people are my university of choice.” I don’t just mean I am an observer of people, what I mean is that I am a life-long student of story. I have learned to listen for those “universal truths” that lie at the heart of every experience. The core ingredients essential to making that story one of success.
These are the Essential Ingredients that point the way to uncovering our own personal power. As much or as little as we may have in common with the protagonist of the story, as much or as little as our challenge may resemble the challenge they have overcome, these truths still open pathways to power that we can travel to arrive at our own desired destinations.
As you read about these 5 Essential Ingredients ask yourself if you have ever heard, read or witnessed a success story that didn’t hinge on these same factors. I know I haven’t….
#1 – It begins with you
Before you put on foot on the path you have one resource that will be with you always. Your self.
You have to know yourself. That means you have to know what you really want, what will satisfy you. And you have to know what I call your “powerbase” – where you are the strongest. The character traits, natural talents, values and motivators that make you strong when you play with them and weak when you try to play without them.
You must know your value. Not just the value of what you can do, but the value of who you are. And you must be willing and able to express it, to manifest your unique presence in a way that showcases that value. You must also be willing to invest in continually increasing your value, seeking to live your highest purpose, improving your skills, moving your mindset.
And finally you take ownership of your thoughts, your choices, your actions and your outcomes. You, and you alone, are in control of your future success.
#2 – Your fellowship determines your level of success and the ease with which it comes to you
I used the word “fellowship” very intentionally here. Most of you are familiar with “The Fellowship of the Ring” (talk about stories that offered tremendous gifts if you were open to receiving them.) How many of you have ever experienced true fellowship?
People who support you, people who challenge you, people who believe in you, people who show you your greatest strengths and reflect your highest self. Not rah-rah friends who cheer you as you leap off the cliff, not people who have an agenda that they believe is in your best interests, but people whose only desire for you is that you attain what you most desire for yourself.
Who is with you on your quest? Whose purpose aligns with your purpose? Who wins when you win? These are the people in your “fellowship” – choose them with care.
#3 – You must fall in love
If you know yourself, you’re manifesting your value, and have accepted responsibility for your success and you’ve surrounded yourself with the right people, then you are in a position to pursue what you love most.
Love, passion, desire, these are words we usually use to describe the love of our life, and they apply just as strongly to your path to success. This is where the stories come to life, where the flames leap up in voices and our heartbeat can be heard through our words.
If you aren’t head over heels in love you won’t stay the course. If you aren’t aflame with passion you won’t attract others to your vision. If you aren’t consumed by desire you’ll wallow in fear.
Falling completely, passionately in love with your mission, your dream, your purpose… and having the clarity to know what about that mission, dream or purpose inspires that love in you – makes you darned near unstoppable. Falling in love and knowing what you’re in love with gives you energy to pursue what matters and let go of what doesn’t. Without love/passion desire you’re politely knocking on the brick wall hoping it’s a door. With love you have a battering ram.
#4 – You must take steps even when the path is unclear
We get stuck on the starting line because we cannot see every step we have to take to get to the finish line. You must have clarity around your why, you must fall in love, access the fire of the passion, be true to the core mission. But when it comes time to embark on what, you have to begin with step one, then focus on step two and then step three and so on.
#5 – You must KEEP taking steps even when you “know” it is impossible
Those first 4 Essential Elements are all important. But without this 5th Element the highest level of your personal power will still elude you and the success that could be yours will always be just out of reach.
What our rational mind “knows” is impossible, our inner dreamer, the part of us that knows our purpose, that accepts our mission, the part of us that has fallen completely and passionately in love – is just as sure it is not only possible, it is inevitable.
Think about every success story you’ve ever read, heard or lived. Wasn’t there a point when all seemed lost, the goals forever out of reach, the dream withering and dying in a desert sun and then, magically, something happened. A crack appeared in the wall, a bridge materialized over the raging river, the villain discovered got distracted and went away…
Call it magic or call it determination, it’s the “secret sauce” that takes dreamers and doers and turns them into heroes and legends!