So here’s the thing… when you are writing about something like success the way to sell books is to focus on the specific moment of success.  It’s easy to communicate a moment in time, to dramatize a moment of glory to sell a product.  It’s the worst thing about the “Self Help” industry, they’re all about the moment, they focus on the part that looks easy… and to be honest people are lazy so if you’re going to sell them a solution a good starting point is “easy”.

The truth is, success has very little to do with a moment.  Most people you would call successful probably don’t really care much for the “moment of glory”.  Don’t get me wrong, they enjoy it and celebrate, but they don’t dwell on.  The successful process has very little to do with the actual success and a lot to do with a laying things out brick by brick.  So here’s my attempt at summing up success  in a blog post so you don’t have to go waste your money on a bunch of books that don’t offer much real info.

Success is a process:

When you see it as a process you realize that it’s ability to work is all about efficiencies.  As an individual, a company, or whatever gather knowledge on a specific area to find efficiencies.  They find momentum.  You’ll never find new efficiencies without looking forward.

Winners are future focused, live in the moment, and learn from the past.  At none of these points in time do they become obsessed.

The efficiencies of a process are what drive the value of the process.  When you get stuck in a point where you can’t find new efficiencies you run into a problem, your process stops evolving.  This is often where most people get lost.  Its the point where you need disruptive innovation… I know sounds dumb but think about in terms of you.  When you get stuck in a role, in an industry, in a company where there isn’t a way to build on your efficiencies against the process you’ve built you have to look to make changes to the inputs, not just the process.  It might be taking on new responsibilities to create efficiencies in your output, it might be moving into a new industry where your previous process can provide added value.  Something has to disrupt repetition otherwise repetition becomes the only thing driving your efficiencies, which may sound like a good thing but think of it this why… the success is a process, but efficiencies and growth of a process aren’t only defined by how easy doing a task can become, its how that ease of process connects to your performance.  Whether a product, a personality, a company, or a career… the process is the core concept… but how you use it is something very special.

Winners are a product of the process of Success, momentum drives them to the moment.

I might have over done it with the process stuff, but its all to make the basic point.  Your accomplishment, what ever it is, will be achieved because the momentum of your process will take you they’re.  It’s never been about adding hours, and working harder… it’s about developing efficiencies that enable you to do more with the same amount of time.  That’s what momentum feels like.  The best part of momentum… it’s a gift that actually keeps on giving.  (It turns out those do exist.)

So that’s my theory… take it as you will.  I’m not in position to speak about success from any sort of experience, but I’ve been lucky enough to watch a lot of other people succeed up close, and this has been the constant among all of them.

Thanks for Listening,

Zach West