.

Sleep was again fleeting for me last night and while I love sleep more than just about anything else, being in that twilight state where thoughts come and go without filters can be quite useful too. The ideas that floated through in the 3am darkness were all about what the requirements are for a human to be successful (in whatever field they choose) and why most people seem to get stuck wanting success, but not getting there.

People Driven to Success Are Nuts

Firstly, the truly successful are single minded. They are completely focused on what they need to do, often to the exclusion of what the average person believes are necessary human requirements. Quality time with family and friends, holidays, extra spending money, sleep, can all be sacrificed by the person with a burning goal and an internal deadline to get there.

If you look at the definition of obsession you will see something like “the unhealthy preoccupation with a fixed idea”; unhealthy being a subjective term and so in the eye of the beholder. That fixed idea could be winning a gold medal, becoming an astronaut, making a million dollars. If the goal is worth the sacrifice, and if you make the goal, then society will wipe the slate clean and suddenly your obsession was healthy and something to admire, rather than shun.

Successful People Break The Norm

So there it is…if you want to be successful then you should be prepared to be thought of as being NOT NORMAL. That can be a dreadfully difficult hurdle for most people. Standing out from the herd is risk taking behaviour, and society looks on risk taking with a leery eye. Risk is dangerous, risk taking people are unpredictable and not to be completly trusted.

Having the strength of character to break society’s norms is all part of the package of success.

Happily, creating a microcosm of society where your kind of people and your kind of thinking is the norm, can be achieved. That is where mastermind groups, clubs, enclaves, and other words for people with a common goal, are invaluable. If you don’t feel like you are doing something strange, and everyone is doing it, then hell…it’s normal isn’t it?  A single person attempting the 30 Day Challenge will be intimidated just by thinking about success, but in a group of seventy thousand it doesn’t seem so strange.

It’s pretty much common advice that if you want to be successful you should hang out with successful people. I used to think that worked because you could see what they do that is different to you, but now I understand it to also be a way of beating your subconscious desire NOT to take risks , with an example of someone not dying from becoming successful.  Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Does Not Die.

What do you think?