*** Don't Aim at Success

Victor Frankl’s best-selling book, Man’s Search for Meaning, has been listed as one of the ten most influential books in the United States.

Frankl chronicles his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

In the opening of his book he writes:

“Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.

For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued: it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.

Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success. You have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscious commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge.

Then you live to see that in the long run… success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it”.

I reflect back on the many times when I created an income goal in my business.

I was determined to achieve my money goals by sheer force and willpower – eagerly willing to do whatever it took to make it happen.

And yet, it seemed that the more intense I became on achieving a specific end result, the more difficult it was to actually succeed in achieving it.

I found myself thinking thoughts like, “How can I present this idea in a way so that clients would want to buy this product?”

“What would a prospect want to hear to hire me?” I didn’t realize that I was abandoning my commitment to my higher purpose in hopes of analytically figuring out how to say the right thing to motivate (or manipulate) others.

Most leaders in organizations and businesses make this mistake.

We learn the right sales techniques; we get coached on how to handle customer’s objections and concerns.

While it’s certainly helpful to learn sales skills, it’s a commitment to a powerful purpose or a cause that we are deeply moved by – something bigger than ourselves that makes a difference.

When I created my commitment to a cause far greater than myself, I was able to easily detach about whether or not clients hired me.

I realized that as a business and leadership coach I was genuinely committed to transforming businesses worldwide.

To me, it is about empowering business owners and leaders to create powerful teams that make an extraordinary difference in their communities and ultimately the world. An increase in sales and income are simply a natural by-product.

Because I knew that I was involved in a cause far greater then myself that I believed in, I knew it didn’t matter whether or not one person hired me. I so deeply believed in what I was doing, that I would dedicate my life doing it.

It was about expressing my conviction through taking action. And, it was about the journey not the end result.