The Recipe For Success

It is indeed seductive to explore the recipe for success. As the logic goes, if you want to be successful in a certain field, then it makes sense to study those who have succeeded before you and follow their example. This is certainly a logical concept and one that has spawned much research and numerous book titles.

As always, we must examine the nature of the question/concept that we are exploring. In examining the concept of walking in the footsteps of successful people, the concept assumes that the primary contributors of success are the visible and imitable behaviors of successful people.

There was once a man named Govind who worked long hours yet earned little money. His wife was constantly upset that despite committing years of hard work, he could barely support his family. So one day, she told Govind, “You are so stupid.”

“What did I do?” Govind said.

“You have spent all these years at your job and you have nothing to show for it. There are others who work far less than you but they have so much more.”

“Who are you talking about?” Govind said.

“Look at the Swami from the nearby village. All he does is sit on the side of the road wearing a saffron robe. And every single day people give him money and food and even jewelry. If you were smart you would do the same thing.”

Govind was intrigued. His wife bought him a saffron robe and for the next two weeks he too sat on the side of the road. Thousands of people crossed his path and no one offered him anything.

His wife said, “Maybe if you were more smart, you would go to the Swami and ask him what his secret is.”

The next day Govind went to the swami and asked him if he could have a word with him.

“Certainly,” the swami said.

“Swamiji, I am confused. We see you here every day sitting on the side of the road. Many people come to speak to you and provide offerings of money and food and jewelry. I tried this myself. Yet nobody offered me anything. Can you please tell me your secret?”

The swami could not contain his laughter.

“Why are you laughing?” Govind said.

“My dear boy, when I was young I too longed for such things. I longed for money, jewelry, cars, and clothes. But they never came. As I sit on the side of the road, I offer only my blessings with no thought of receiving. And yet the gifts come in bunches. Please see, my boy. Fortune is fickle. If you chase her she will run the other way. If you turn your back on her, she will chase after you.”

 

If Govind remain convinced that following in the Swami’s footsteps was the way to success he would have gone back to the road the next day and tried to manufacture blessings for those he saw and attempted to deny thoughts of receiving. Had he done this he would have likely gone home empty-handed yet again.

Why is this?

Because the behavior of successful people is not their secret to success. Behaviors are only a manifestation of something far more fundamental: A man’s unflinching commitment to his cause. This is his secret. The behaviors that stem from this commitment may have the residue of this secret. But they are not the secret itself.

Imagine a business that has thrived through difficult market conditions. The headline or the book chapter will read: The Business thrived because they refused to downsize. Therefore, the take home message is that when you face difficult times be certain not to downsize. This was a behavior which resulted from a more fundamental belief of purpose that the company had. In order to stay true to their purpose, this was the path they chose. It may have happened to be the right choice in this circumstance. But in other circumstances this very same company had made decisions which did not turn out well. But whether a certain behavior worked or didn’t work, the allegiance was not to mimicry or behavior, it was to their purpose, their cause.

While there certainly are some methodologies that can be learned from others, the bulk of the journey will always be your very own.

To retrospectively assign causality to a certain set of behaviors is to fail to see the nucleus which controls the organism.

To the man who is ensnared by a cause, the way will be revealed.

(Eddi van W via flickr)