The X-Factor Of Success: The 3 Must Have Traits You Need To Avoid Failure

Hey, it’s Connor from Instinct Education. We help business owners grow. And in today’s video, we’ll be talking about the intangibles of success, the X factor that makes the difference between achieving your goals and not. Why is it that two people can be exposed to the same information, one can take it and get awesome results, and the other doesn’t? What’s going on? Well, it is my observation that there are intangibles to success, things underlying, not just skill, not just knowledge, not just ability, but something underneath. If you watch this video, you’ll discover what the three intangibles of success are and how to develop them so that you can ensure when you set goals, you follow through and you actually achieve them. If you’d like to learn how, watch the video, and hopefully you enjoy it.

So, people can be exposed to the same information and get different results. So why is that? Well, what I found is that there’s an intangible to success. There’s intangible traits that make up success. And so, before I break down what they are, I’m going to give you an example. So, let’s say, that’s you are watching the news. You’re sitting at home and you check out the news and there’s a burning building on the other side of town. And you know this building, you’ve seen it before. And in the top level of this building, as you’re watching the news, there’s a baby and it’s your baby, it’s your son or daughter or maybe it’s your brother or sister or father or loved one. The person you love the most is in this burning building. And for whatever reason, you’re the only person that can go and save them. But the building’s on the other side of town and you’ve had a long day, you kind of tired, but you’re the only person that can save them. If you don’t, this person’s going to die in this burning building.

What do you do? Do you say, “I’m busy, I’m tired, I’ve got an appointment tomorrow, I need to get up early”? No, you get up and you get to the burning building. Right? Maybe you jump in the car. But as you get in the car, maybe you’re out of petrol, car doesn’t stop. Do you give up now? No, you say, “Okay, well there’s a bike. I’m going to jump on the bike.” So you get on the bike, you start pedaling. And the tires blow up. What do you do now? Things getting tough, things getting hard, things aren’t going your way. And you need to go a very long way and you’re not there yet. Do you keep going or do you give up? You keep going. Right?

Maybe you go get a taxi, but you don’t have any money, you don’t have any change. Taxi driver says, “No.” Okay. So you start running. You’re running to the other side of the city to save this baby from this burning building. But you trip, there’s a rock, you fall, you break your ankle. Can’t run, can’t walk, you crawl. Right? Basically, you do whatever it takes to get to this burning building and save this baby. Of course, you do, because this is the person you care most about in the whole world.

So, when you think about that example, the things you would do to get to that baby, then think about your goals right now, your current goals, and match the level of intensity or see the discrepancy there, if you look at saving that child from that burning building, and you know that you’ll do whatever it takes, no matter what, you’re going to get there and then you look at your goals and you don’t have that same level of intensity, then you won’t achieve your goals. And so, you need to get to the point where your goals are as important to you as that baby in the burning building. And it’s not like, “I want this. Maybe.” It’s that, “I’m going here no matter what. And I’m either going to achieve it or I’m going to die.” And that’s the level you need to get to in order to achieve your goals.

Let me give you a different example. Let’s say you’re watching the news. There’s a building on fire. And in the building, on the top level there’s like $500. Would you go across the city to get $500? Maybe. Let’s say you get in the car, it doesn’t start, do you give up? Probably. Right. You’re like, “Eh, $500 would be nice, but car’s out of petrol. Too hard, can’t be bothered.” And you quit. And that’s what happens. And so, understanding that and then applying that to your goals… Because most people have goals that they’re like, “Yeah, it’d be nice. I kind of want to do this. I want to do that.” But when times get tough and there’s obstacles that come up, there’s barriers, there’s hurdles, there’s roadblocks, they say, “You know what? It’s not worth it. It’s too hard.” So, getting to the point where you know, “No matter what happens, this is where I’m going. And if someone can help me, if something can help me, great. Either way, I’m going in this direction.”

And so, when you do that, you look at everything as an opportunity, as a tool, as a resource to get you there quicker. Right. Maybe you learn a new strategy to grow your business. You say, “Great. I’m going to try that because either way, I’m getting here, either way, this is where I’m going. But this might help me. Let me try it. It’s an opportunity.” You’re excited to try it.

On the other hand, when you look at goals and you’re like, “Yeah, maybe I want it, maybe I don’t.” When you find new things, maybe it’s all this new strategy, then you think, “Oh, I need to do this thing too and this other thing? That’s like four things, I don’t have time for that. You know what? Screw it, I’m out.” And that’s what happens when you have goals that are nice-to-have.

So, what you need to do is get to the point where you have goals that you know, “No matter what, this is where I’m going. I’m going to achieve this.” And when you get to that point, that’s when you will achieve them. So how do you do that? How do you develop that level of intensity? Well, it’s three things, three things that create this X factor of success. So, number one is the type of goal. And it’s the difference between an internal goal and an external goal. So most people have external goals, right, like, “I want to make a hundred thousand dollars.”

With external goals, the problem is that they’re nice-to-haves. Right. External things, they come and go. But to develop that level of intensity, that drive, it needs to be an internal goal, it needs to be, “I want to be the type of person who deserves this. I want to be the type of person who owns this. I want to be the best.” When you have those levels of goals, then you’re committed to it because of you. You’re not committed to it because of what other people think. You’re not committed because you want to show off to this person or you want that nice house to impress that other person over there. It’s important to you. And only with those types of goals can you succeed. And I notice this quite a lot when you talk to people who just want external and things like, “I want this. I want that.” They’re nice-to-haves. Right. They’re like, “I like it but, I mean, I’ll only want it if it’s easy to achieve.”

When you switch that and it becomes more important, it becomes more about you, like who you are and you’re like, “I’m going to do this because I want to be the best at this thing.” that’s when you have the drive to continue going down that path when times get tough. So, that’s the first thing is the type of goal. That leads into the second thing which is the character, which is the integrity, having the sense of self and character, knowing that when you say you want to do something or when you say you will do something, it means something to you. Your name’s attached to it. That needs to be the most important thing. Because your name, your character, that’s all there is.

So you want to develop that integrity where you know when you say something, it’s not just words, it’s not just sound, it’s not just [hollowy 00:06:54] noise. There’s meaning behind what you say, there’s passion. And you will follow through with the things you say. And it’s the most important thing to you. When the little things mean as much as the big things that’s when you know you’re on the right path. Because if you’re doing things, you should be proud of the things you do, even the little things, the big things, little things.

Let’s say you’re cleaning your kitchen. You’ve got all the spray out and you’re wiping things down. And you finish up. You pack it all out. And then you look back and you realize you missed a spot. Do you say, “Eh, it’s good enough. Someone else will get it”? Or do you get those things back out and you finish the job properly? If it’s the second thing, you’re on the right track because the small things mean something to you. If your name’s attached to it, you should be proud of the outcome that it achieves. Not saying, “I hope no one even sees this.” “I did this. I want to show everyone because I’m proud of it and I put enough into it. I put everything I can to make it the best.” When you look at the little things like that, you develop the character so that when you say “I want to achieve this goal,” it means something to you. You’re not just saying, “Oh, I want to achieve this goal. I want to lose weight.” but it doesn’t mean anything.

So, number one is the right type of goal. Number two is the character behind it. And then, number three is becoming growth minded. And so, what that means is people will stay in their comfort zone. This is true everywhere. So, if your comfort zone is like staying still, then when you try to grow and progress, it’s going to be uncomfortable. So, if you know you’re going to stay in your comfort zone, what we need to do is change your comfort zone, change your comfort zone to if you’re not growing, you’re dying. And so, you need to look at growth as comfort and not growing as uncomfortable. Most people it’s the opposite, they think of staying where they are as comfortable and they think of doing things and working hard as uncomfortable. And so, they’ll stay in their comfort zone. They won’t do anything.

But if you can flip it to the point that you need to be obsessed with improvement… If you didn’t go to bed tonight a little bit better than how you woke up, then that’s not been a good day. And that needs to be uncomfortable if you’re not improving each day. And just little improvements. Right. Maybe you read a page from a book, maybe you listen to a podcast that inspires you, maybe write down some goals. Little improvements. If you’re not doing that each day and it doesn’t bother you, then your default, your comfort is that of stagnation or of regression because you’re never really staying still, you’re only moving forward or back. So, you need to flip what you believe about yourself or what you believe about growth as growth is the most comfortable thing and not growing is uncomfortable. And when that happens, then you will avoid stagnation, you will avoid regression, you’ll avoid staying still because you’re committed to moving forward.

So, there are the three things. Number one is the type of goal, internal not external, becoming internally motivated not externally motivated so it stays. Number two is developing the character so that when you say you’re going to do something, you do it, you follow through and that is the most important thing to you. So when you set goals, you know you will achieve them. And then, number three is the comfort zone, changing that so that staying still is uncomfortable and growth is comfortable. That way, you can stay in your comfort zone but your comfort zone is what’s pushing you forward.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this clip. If you did, do me a favor, don’t like, don’t subscribe, go and execute on what you learned and let me know how you go. If you’d like guidance, follow the link below. And I’ll see you next time.