Have you ever looked at someone who is highly successful in something and think how did they become successful?
You know exactly what I mean don’t you? They exist in every single field of endeavor. The person you would never think would succeed based on some set of visual or perceived reference points. Sort of like the unattractive looking guy who ends up with the stunning beauty. You know what the problem in your judgement scale is?
You Can’t See the Heart
One of the biggest errors in talent evaluation is missing the heart. You see it ALL the time in sports. The scout picks player A because he has all the natural gifts and the guy with the heart who is working his tail off is passed over, even though his teams always seem to win. Then five or six years later, all the sudden the guy who was passed over is hoisting a trophy as a champion and no one even knows who player A is? And everyone says “Man, I didn’t see that one coming.’ of course they didn’t see it coming….they didn’t know what to look for!
Regardless of what your field of endeavor is. It doesn’t matter if you have the most talent or your the smartest or the most studied. Not of that means squat! What matters is how bad do you want to succeed and how hard will you work, and how long will you work at to reach the top. You don’t need all the “how-to’s” if you’ve got a big enough “want-to’ you will get there.
Pressfield’s Test
Steven Pressfield’s awesome little book “Do the Work!’ which I highly recommend has this cool little “How Bad do you Want it?” test…here it is:
The scale of how bad consists of these words:
1. Dabbling
2. Interested
3. Intrigued but uncertain
4. Passionate
5. Totally Committed
If you want a shot at reaching the top, the ONLY correct answer is number 5. Every other answer will lead you to frustration and disappointment. It’s just a choice. Choose number five and go. To buy a copy of this awesome little book go here:
