Think it - Success Formula

Everyone desires success in his endeavours. Yet few achieve it. Is there any formula that can bring success? If there is one then one must put it into use and achieve success. Let us start a journey to discover a “Success Formula”. 

First of all we need to define success so that we can pursue it and discover it. Literal meaning of “success” is 

1. the favourable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavours; the accomplishment of one's goals.

2. the attainment of wealth, position, honours, or the like.

According to Wikipedia, it is the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. 

We can settle on the definition that success is the achievement of desired outcome in any situation. Here, we are mostly concerned with business success but once the formula is discovered, it can be applied in any situation according to the definition of success - the achievement of desired outcome.

Many have tried to discover the success formula by studying the successful persons and businesses. Tom Peters & Robert H. Waterman in their famous book “In Search of Excellence” pointed to seven principles that can bring success. Three of these are time tested and these are:

1. A bias for Action -  actively making decisions whether right or wrong otherwise someone else is making decisions on your behalf to your detriment

2. Close to the Customer - talk to your customers and learn what they want

3. Stick to the Knitting -don’t start a business unless you know it's tricks of the trade

James C. Collins also tried to unmask the success formula. First in his book “Built to Last” with his co-author Jerry I. Porras and then in “Good to Great”. In “Built to Last” the key components of the formula are:

1. Big Hairy Audacious Goal - willingness to take big risks i-e think big, aim high

2. Experiment a Lot - try different ideas simultaneously and keep what works as many of the best moves come from experimentation, trial and error, opportunism and accident. 

3. Never Good Enough - Continuous improvement is a way of life, don’t settle for good enough.

In “Good to Great”, he argues that the key to greatness is leadership.He defines the different levels of leadership and concludes that Level 5 leadership is what is needed for greatness. Level 5 leaders display a powerful mixture of 

1. Humility - They are humble and have indomitable will. 

2. Ambition - They're incredibly ambitious, but their ambition is first and foremost for the cause, for the organisation and its purpose, not themselves. 

3. Shyness -They are often self-effacing, quiet, reserved, and even shy.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers” also laid down his discovery of the success formula. He says that "the biggest misconception about success is that it is solely on our smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work. There are a lot more variables involved in an individual's success. He lays out that family, culture, and friendship each play a role in an individual's success. He also says that the key to achieving world-class expertise in any skill, is, to a large extent, a matter of practising the correct way, for a total of around 10,000 hours. So, in his formula the key components are:

1. Practising the correct way - 10,000 hours rule

2. Family background - opportunities coming from family relationships

3. Cultural Background - opportunities coming from environment to which individual belongs

4. Network of Friends - Opportunities coming from friends

According to Daniel Goleman “Focus” is a hidden driver of excellence. He says that 

high achievers master three types of focus:

1. Inner - Self-awareness

2. Other - Empathy

3. Outer - Awareness of our environment

In a world of unstoppable distractions, now more than ever we need to sharpen our focus. It is  “Focus” that distinguishes experts from amateurs and stars from average performers. 

Let us turn to the successful personalities and listen to what they say about success formula.  

Thomas Edison - the most prolific inventor says 

1. Intellect - “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration” meaning success is 99 percent hard work and one percent all other variables. 

2. Favourable Circumstances -  “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Warren Buffet - the famous investor says there are three rules of success in life:

1. Time

2. Discipline

3. Patience

Jeff Bezos - the founder of Amazon Inc. - success formula is:

1. Customer obsession

2. Extreme innovation

3. Long-term management

He says “If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you're going to double your inventiveness.”

Jack Ma - the founder of Ali Baba - says 

1. Never give up

2. The very important thing you should have is patience. 

All of the above can be summed up is a simple maths formula:

Success = Hard Work + Focus + Patience