Success can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some, success is directly related to happiness. And why shouldn’t it be? I have personally never seen someone declare success over something with a frown on their face. For others, success is all about security. Whether it is financial security, security in a relationship, or simply feeling secure in the choices that we’ve made and the lives that we’ve led. That being the case, is it arrogant or presumptuous to actually expect success?

Before we answer that question, let’s talk about what the majority of us do when it comes to success…we hope for it. So why is hoping for success a bad thing? Hope is good, right? Well, unfortunately hope leaves the door open for uncertainty, questioning, and failure. By hoping for success, we are allowing ourselves an out. If we hope for success, but fail to achieve it, we can simply place it back onto our list of hopes and dreams, which eventually ends up reading more like a fictional novel than a to-do list. And that is exactly what success should be. A task list of outcomes that must be achieved…no matter what.

As humans, we tend to take the path of least resistance. And since success typically involves being uncomfortable and making sacrifices, it really doesn’t stand a chance of competing against the couch, the television, or your favorite game on Facebook. So the only logical way to overcome this is by refusing to allow success to be optional. So how do you do that? You stop hoping for it and start expecting it. When we expect a certain outcome, we don’t allow fear, doubt, and excuses to stand in the way. We already know what is going to happen, so any obstacles that we encounter are assumed to be overcomeable. That typically becomes  the key difference between those that succeed and those that fail. For successful people, there really is no other option.

Often times, I will listen to someone tell the story of how they overcame challenges in order to achieve their definition of success. A common phrase that I hear is, “I really didn’t have any other option.” This tells me that the person was forced to expect success, since there was nowhere to go but up.

So how do we go from a place of hope to a place of sincere expectation? First, we must change our interal beliefs by creating smaller, more targeted definitions. Think of these as check points along your journey for success. For example, if your definition of success is earning over $100,000 per year, but you’re currently only earning $30,000, expecting success would certainly seem presumptuous and rather unlikely to you. However, if you temporarily changed your definition of success to earning $40,000 per year, you are much more likely to change your mindset and truly start expecting that as a result. Not only does it appear to be much more attainable, but when you succeed at increasing your income by this smaller amount, you have created a point of reference that can be used to overcome future roadblocks. Our beliefs can only be changed through achievement and experience; both of which are accomplished by adopting this targeted check point methodology.

So is it arrogant to expect success…or is it the only sure fire way of achieving it?

Do you feel like you are missing a key piece of the puzzle to your financial success?

There have been several times in my past that I would get close to BIG success, but inevitably find that I was still missing something. So what did I do? I quit. I would get frustrated with my immediate lack of results and move on to something else. I learned several years ago, however, that my failures could all be tied back to a lack of three small, but extremely important ingredients that most people miss.  When I finally figured out what they were, my business took off like a rocket.

Are you so close to success that you can see it, smell it, and taste it, but your frustration with not being able to fully achieve it is causing you to consider quitting? If you are like me, there is a very good chance that you are simply missing one, two, or three small, but vital pieces of the puzzle needed to make your business take off. If you’re not making the kind of money you want to be making, then it’s time to give serious thought to stocking up on the following ingredients of success.

Vision
Soon after the completion of Disney World, someone said, "Isn’t it too bad that Walt Disney didn’t live to see this!" Mike Vance, creative director of Disney Studios replied, "He did see it – that’s why it’s here."

Without having a well developed vision of your future success, you will most likely be stopped by the inevitable roadblocks that come with building any business. Considering that visualization is a required component in the training regimen for almost every successful professional athlete, it’s sensible to believe that the same kind of technique can be extremely beneficial in a business setting.

Investment
If you are not willing to invest in yourself and in your business, how do expect to ever achieve success? The Bible tells us that we will all reap what we sow. In business, we are able to sow seeds of success by investing into the areas that will naturally multiply, and therefore grow our business. This includes areas such as marketing, goodwill projects, and continuing education.

We’ve all heard the expression, “You don’t know what you don’t know”. This is never truer than in a competitive business environment. If your competition is more knowledgeable, better prepared, and invests more into their business than you do, you will lose every time. Your success can be directly correlated to the amount of time, money, and energy that you invest into it.

Blueprint
Think of it this way. Why is the “franchise” one of the most popular and successful forms of starting a new business? The simple and predictable answer is because people know the value of investing in a proven business model. If you want success, follow success. Learn from successful people that have been there before you and can help you learn proven strategies, avoid roadblocks, and overcome challenges.

Expect Success Coaching and Training clients experience success because we provide them with these three vital ingredients in a sustainable and easy to learn format with real world application.

So what are you waiting for? Tomorrow will come with success or failure. Wouldn’t you rather face it with the recipe for success instead of continuing to take blind shots in the dark?

Lynn D Spencer
President
Expect Success Coaching and Training

www.ExpectSuccessCoaching.com

Expect Success Coaching & Training founders Steve Thornton and Lynn D Spencer have guided thousands of people to financial success and personal fulfillment for over 15 years. These video comments were recorded at a live seminar.
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This sample is from “Profitable Social Networking for Business” taught by Alex Spencer, COO of Expect Success Coaching & Training.
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