Noah St. John asked:
I’m about to save you thousands of dollars, years of your life, and tons of frustration. How? I’m going to show you the 4 basic steps of traditional success programs. There are really only 4 steps that traditional “how to succeed’ programs show you. They are:
1. Set your goals (know what you want)
2. Do something (take action toward your goals)
3. Evaluate/Assess (am I getting closer to my goals or not?)
4. Try again (adjust your approach until you reach your goals)
If you’ve ever experienced a self-help book, speech, or seminar, you know that these are the same 4 basic steps that every traditional success program tells you to do: Set your goals, Do something, Evaluate, and Try again.
In the first step, you’re supposed to know what you want.
In the second step, you’re supposed to do something to get what you want.
In the third step, you’re supposed to see how you’re doing based upon your progress toward what you want.
And in the fourth step, you’re supposed to adjust your approach until you get what you want.
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
And you know this, don’t you?
So you have everything you want, right?
(sound of crickets chirping)
What was that?
No, you don’t have everything you want?
Well, what’s the matter with you? I’ve just shown you how to get everything you want.
Oh, I see what the problem is. You must not be motivated enough, that’s it.
Or you just don’t work hard enough.
Or you’re not intelligent enough.
Or maybe you’re just incapable of succeeding.
Wait a minute! Hold it right there! Are you kidding me?! Erase the preceding paragraph. We can’t all be that stupid.
There must be something missing.
You’re darn right there’s something missing. What’s missing is an accurate examination of what I like to call the real world.