Sustained Success is a Mindset

Many people never attempt anything because of fear of failure.

Failure is not the thing that sinks the average person, it’s the fear of failure.

For me, I got to the point where I wouldn’t take any chances. Because what if it doesn’t work. What if I can’t recover.

Have you ever had a fear of success? That might be worse.

It looks like performing at a high level, then wondering if you can sustain it.

Can I keep it up? People are going to expect me to do it all the time.

Someone like Lebron James comes to mind; the most criticized player in basketball and, maybe, in all sports. James is easily a top 5 player of all time and may have his number retired in 2 different arenas.

Lebron has had sustained success, just not at the levels others set for him He’s won 4 championships; most never win one. He still gets flak.

That is the external criticism, and we can’t do much about that.

I think Lebron is the greatest of his generation. Yes, he had high expectations, but he exceeded them. Yes, he makes a lot of money, but he earns it.

He has mastered sustained success.

I don’t want to have a good year and then a bad one. Some would say that’s life, but is that true?

Thinking that you can’t elevate every year is a belief, and we can change that.

You don’t have to be exceptional every day, although it’s a worthy goal.

I think a better way forward is continually move toward growth. There is no finish line with this, just milestones.

Working toward sustained success looks like this to me:

1. Setting a new baseline — Once I hit a new standard of living, I decided I wasn’t ever going back. I was going to do everything I could to elevate from there. It was the same with my weight; I decided I would never be that heavy again.

Setting a baseline means you won’t ever get back there; you know what there is for your life.

Tony Robbins told a story about how Jewish Holocaust survivors said collectively, “Never again.” When you decide never to go back, you won’t.

2. Setting a new goal — I’m a big believer in goal setting, but I think growth is a better goal. What do I mean? Sustained success requires sustained growth. Perhaps you are familiar with the acronym NESS (Nothing Ever Stands Still); you are either growing or regressing. Let’s say you want to grow your business to a certain income amount, but it hasn’t happened yet. Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your content better than it was 90 days ago?
• Are you serving people at a higher level than before?
• Are you improving the quality of your products?
• Are you listening to customer concerns?
• If you don’t have any clients, are you improving your ask?
• Am I leading with service instead of an ask?
• If I improve all of these consistently for six months, I will get clients. It is virtually inevitable.

3. Setting a higher bar — This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have goals; you should but consider setting them differently

If I’m doing social media, maybe I aim to do a Instagram Reel a day or go live once a week. Instead of creating one product a year. I go for two a year.

I raise the bar; if I walk every day, I up my time or intensity. I incrementally and consistently elevate everything in my life.

If you aimed to get 1% better daily, you would be 365% better in just one year. What dividends would that pay in terms of health? Your career? Relationships? Business or finances?

I think we all want success. Not only can we have it, but it can be sustainable.