I remember, as a child, my father giving me the first couple of secrets to success when he was teaching me to float in a pool, “Lie on your back. Relax with your legs extended. Trust me. You can do it. It is almost unbelievable, but you will float; you will not sink.” I trusted, and I floated.
Trusting ourselves and our ability to accomplish what we propose to ourselves is the beginning or the first secret to achieving success in any plan, project, or activity. This secret comes with a key warning: always maintain the nobility and the mindset of an apprentice; otherwise, pride and arrogance can lead to failure.
Following the advice of someone who knows or is an expert in a specific field is the second secret to success. This is hard to do because, in today’s world, we do not trust anyone, not even ourselves. I have seen companies and people hire experts only to ignore them later or ask for advice and then do the opposite because they disagree with that person and want to follow their own will.
When we fail, we often seek to blame the system, the environment, the market, the weather, or a third party not to recognize that we are responsible for our own deafness and poor decisions. Success is always accompanied by a good team that surrounds and supports us. It is extremely difficult to succeed without this kind of support. Another way to phrase these two secrets is “Believe what the expert says, do it, and trust your ability to execute it”—two secrets in one.
The third secret to success, derived from the previous one, is to Observe and execute through the eyes of those ahead of the curve in any subject or discipline. It is like traveling to the future or going to a new country and observing what they do and how they do it and then copying their best practices. Do you remember what you did in school or college to learn faster? It is the same thing. Abandon your peasant self to move faster and make progress quickly. Adopt the thinking and best practices of those clearly ahead of you. Learn from them. Always reserve time in your day to learn from others and stop believing you know it all. You will see that you will advance much faster either because they have given you an idea or a concept that you did not have or because they have made you think about and helped you confirm that you are on the right path.
Relationships play an important part in success. The rest is composed of knowledge, experience, intelligence, astuteness, discipline, perseverance, quality execution, and even a dash of good luck. This is a topic that does not warrant much discussion.
The fourth secret and the key to success is in the definition that an excellent boss had taught me by example early in my life, and I now encapsulate in my own phrase: Treat everyone as if they were your clients. Thus, you will ensure permanent success in whatever you do. This lesson is a 180-degree turn in thought and daily actions. One always seeks the satisfaction and even the delight of their clients. We are willing to perform many tasks and go to significant lengths to keep them happy, enjoy their patronage indefinitely, and gain their loyalty, which is considerably challenging these days.
I will pose some questions for reflection to advance in the understanding of this powerful secret. What if you treat your siblings, partner, children, parents, neighbor, or any relative like your client? Would you treat them the way a client, your best client, deserves to be treated?
What would happen in the company if you treat your boss, co-workers, or employees like your clients? How are you going to treat them? What are you going to do for them? How are you going to satisfy them to the best of your ability?
Has your perspective changed?
I treat everyone as if they were a client (even my detractors or enemies), and I do my best to ensure that the client feels taken care of—this has been my great secret to success in business and personal relationships. Remember, if your client is your priority and you treat them as such, you will always be successful. Notably, anyone can be your client.
The fifth secret to success is to use your sense of smell to follow the right path, like a hunting or a tracking dog. It is a perception or intuition exercise or both. You have to exercise this vital quality. We can develop this characteristic similar to how we tone our muscles. Remember, do exercises that allow you to improve your intuition or antenna or perceptive intelligence. This will help you follow the trail like the dog who locates objects with their olfactory ability. I have developed my intuition, which is ten times more powerful than a woman’s natural intuition. Interestingly, I managed to achieve this quality through my own will and relentless practice. The person who manages to deepen their intuition will surely be successful. Think about doctors and their famous “clinical eye,” and you will understand how crucial it is to have this quality.
The sixth secret is an insistence in considering a traveling companion for the journey that leads to success. Find a tree that gives you good shade, as they say, and do not cut it down for firewood. It is tough to achieve success alone. We always need someone to hold our hand and support or help us, even if it is only to give us confidence or moral support. Unlike the expert who is useful and necessary for success, we need people who believe in us—those who recommend, guide, give feedback, accompany, question, and motivate us. We need people who make us reflect or stop us when we run amok and show us what we do not see or do not want to see. If you have not found that tree, go out and look for it because having one or several is crucial.
Finally, whatever you do, be yourself. Focus and learn to love who you are, what you have, and what you do. Perform your tasks with passion. Work hard without wavering, keep it simple or easy, and always maintain a sense of humor despite the challenges, which are usually numerous and frequent on the way to success. Further, try to do something different, unique, and unconventional any time you can.