What’s really the main reason you haven’t been able to attain the level of success you need. Is it down to lack of money, government systems, family background, lack of time, the economy or something someone else might not have done?
Most people are going to answer this question with a list of answers and I want to tell you that you’re not alone. Somehow we have come to believe in life that we should somehow be getting our way, that we should be getting what we want when we want.
Most people believe they are entitled to a good life and that someone out there should be giving it to them. Probably the government, their parents or whoever or whatever it is. They view Success as an entitlement and live their lives like the world owes it to them.
it is often said that the biggest mistake people make is looking outside themselves for an external source of success forgetting because 100% of own success or failures in life is your responsibility.
I was reading Jack canfields blog one day and found this so called formula though I would prefer to call it strategy for making sure you succeed in the things you plan on doing or are already doing. I will try to explain the concept how I understood it and used it to see results in my own life.
E + R = O
(Events + Responses = Outcome)
The whole concept rotates around the idea that everything happening to you now is as a result of what you did or didn’t do in the past. What you’re experiencing now in life be it sickness, joy, pain, poverty, intimacy, wealth or frustration is tied down to the way you reacted to earlier events in life. Which means that if you want to see a change in results then you have to change the way you are doing things, and do them very fast?
The problem with Most People is that when they are not getting the desired results they instead embark on blaming the event (E) for their lack of results (O).
You can go about blaming everyone and everything for your current situation. Which most people do? The weather, your tribe, your background, your level or lack of education, your parents, the government, gender bias, economy, skin color, nationality or if you’re a footballer your boots or the pitch on which you play can’t be to blame.
Yes, to some extent I will concur that these reasons are an underlying factor but are not the determining factor. If they were we would not have had successful people in this world. It’s not possible for every reason that there are thousands of people who have faced these same factors and gone ahead to be successful never the less.
Jack stresses it that the most determinant factor is not external. Its how you choose to respond (R). I will briefly quote some more of his writing.
“We think limiting thoughts and engage in self-defeating behaviors. We defend our self-destructive habits (such as drinking and smoking) with indefensible logic.”
“We ignore useful feedback, fail to continuously educate ourselves and learn new skills, waste time on the trivial aspects of our lives, engage in idle gossip, eat unhealthy food, fail to exercise, spend more than we make, fail to tell the truth, don’t ask for what we want, and then wonder why our lives aren’t working.”
I will tell you something about successful people. When they realize their approach to a situation is not offering the desired result they change their approach. They simply change their responses (R) to the events (E) until they get the outcomes (O) they want. So the trick is simple.
If you don’t like your outcomes, change your responses.
Put the formula in Action
Till next time
JHL
ABOUT AUTHOR:
Jahluum Herberts is the C.E.O of Flash Point an east African Information Technology Consultancy firm. He is also a co founder at YOUNG TREPS a global forum that focuses on helping the youth on their entrepreneurial voyage from brilliant ideas and start ups to financially profitable and prosperous companies.
