Last week in this series called, ‘Enduring The Road To Success’, we talked about ‘keeping your feet on the ground‘.  This week we are going to focus our attention on the obstacles that lie ahead as we encounter, what I like to call, ‘The dangers of being a quick study’.

If you’ve ever checked out my ‘About Me‘ page you know that I’ve done just about every J-O-B known to man.  OK, maybe not everyone, but A LOT!  One of the common threads that you’d find if you were to follow me back in time, would be that of ‘boredom after 6 months’.  I say six months because that’s about how long it takes to master most J-O-B’s.  (Please don’t take offense to my use of J-O-B here.  I’m just referring to many of the 9 to 5ers out there.  I’m fully aware of the great number of jobs that require huge skill sets and dedication to master.  I mean no disrespect.)  After you have elevated your skills to a point where you could man the register or the phone or the customers or whatever, in your sleep, with both hands tied behind your back and only using 2% of your brain power (hold on, I need to catch my breath…OK, I’m good!), you will start to get seriously bored.  And I’m not talking ‘looking at the clock every couple of hours, bored, but, “PLEASE, let me out of this place” (and it’s only 9:15am on a Monday) kind of bored.

Now these might sound a little extreme, but the fact is, if you are a quick learner and have any kind of initiative at work, you will quickly get to that place where you can choose to stop striving.  In my consulting business that time comes and goes.  It is certainly much more challenging than anything I had ever done in the past, and running a business keeps you on your toes with regularity, but even all of that can get quite boring as time goes on.

Just after tackling the unforeseen dangers of our previous summit, and right after coming out of our first valley, we are now feeling pretty confident.  But this is exactly the problem.  Our confidence, if handled improperly, will most certainly lead to boredom and then very quickly, complacency.  And it’s complacency that will always bring us mediocrity.  The problem is, we tend to seek comfort after all the previous struggles on this long road to success.  Like any human being, the first signs of peace make us feel like we’ve ‘finally made it!’  But nothing could be further from the truth!

We need to translate the positive energy that comes from our newly found confidence, into the push we need to make it up our next mountain.  But instead, our natural reaction is to start to strut our way along the road.  We think, “I could do this in my sleep!  I’m awesome!”  And you may be awesome (the jury’s still out ), but being awesome isn’t going to make you a success.  Passionate persistence with a side of personality and people skills should be what you’re after. And this only comes in time and with experience.  Because the passion and persistence I’m referring to will find it’s way as you get your battle scars and keep coming out stronger than before.  A rookie’s optimism is only a small portion of the personality I am speaking of.

How to avoid the wrong kind of confidence as we face boredom.

• View your current skill set as only the tip of the iceberg. If you look at all the successful people in our lifetime and compare their ‘time of striving to improve’, you would likely see this time as open ended.  It’s that drive to always look for a better way of doing things that reveals someone who is serious about maintaining momentum.  We live in a go-go-go society and it is one that never stops.  Those who stagnate in their skill set will most certainly be left behind.  And the fact is, boredom stinks!  If you want to continue to enjoy your work, it is essential that you keep moving forward in both your knowledge and appreciation for what you do.
• Keep your focus outward. One of the things that tends to occur as we become complacent is that of inward focus.  Whether we are over confident, frustrated or just plain bored, it is our obsession with ourselves that can magnify these emotions.  It is only when we keep our eyes outward and onward that we can maintain a healthy perspective on reaching the goals we strive for.  And it is when we maintain this perspective that we can more easily see the next motion in need of mastery.
• Question your current path. I truly believe that each and every one of those jobs were essential in forming the skills I needed to move forward.  But there came a time when that particular path had run out of road.  We need to make sure that our current heading is still right for the success we seek.  Because if our job has finished playing its part, we need to stop running in place and find the beginning of the next trail.
• Be the best at what you do! I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about saying to yourself, “Man, I really wish I weren’t so good at this!”  Striving for excellence for the sake of being the best is something that will always keep you sharp and safe from the blisters of burning boredom.  I’m not suggesting you waste your time trying to ‘one up’ everybody, but if you realize your great need to keep learning, keep your focus on the trail ahead, and are certain you are riding along the right road, you should feel confident in seeking your spot at the top of the list.  Technically, there will always be somebody better than you, but playing a healthy game of, “I bet I can do it better”, will always keep you on your toes and off the path of mediocrity.
• Diversify your growth. Kind of like multitasking, but without the newly negative notion of ‘system slowdown‘, diversifying your growth can be a great way to keep the boredom at bay.  If you are constantly focusing on one area of mental growth, you will find yourself quickly tiring of this tedious tyrant.  Our minds crave many tastes and it is essential that we feed them a ‘balanced’ diet.  Too much of any particular ‘food’ and we risk negative effects.  Not only will you gain a wider range of knowledge, but the single skill in question will benefit from getting a break now and again.

The Bottom line is, human beings are active creatures with highly reactive minds.  We constantly need things to react TO as we go about our days.  If our ‘day jobs’ aren’t bringing us the stimulation we need to keep a positive pursuit of success, than we need to rethink our path.  And if we know we’re on the right road, it’s time we take a good look at the method to our movement.

Please don’t miss next week as we go into the final leg of our race to success and talk about innovation and our constant need to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Note: ‘Dealing With A Catch-22‘ found its way into the next slot in the series and THEN the one mentioned above.

Last week was the first installment of this ‘Enduring The Road To Success’ series.  I am going through the common stages that we encounter as we seek to reach new heights of success in our lives.  As a guide to the process, I am pulling from my experience as a self employed computer consultant.  Through the ups and downs of my journey to build my business I’ve encountered many situations that I will share with you as we walk this road together.

If anyone needs to see numbers to backup the notion that our society has a tendency to ‘over shoot’, all they have to do is check out the daily headlines.  Sure, our economy’s woes are incredibly complex and created by multiple factors, but the overwhelming number of businesses and individuals who went overboard while the bubble was inflating is staggering.  A few years ago, things were moving so quickly that if you were a real estate agent you would have thought retirement at 40 was nothing less than a certainty.  As a result, many got a little too aggressive and much too confident.

This brings me to the next obstacle on our journey.  We’ve just pushed past the first valley and have started to increase in elevation as we make our way back to the peaks of progress.  Only this time, it’s not just adrenaline, but informed optimism that is fanning our flames.  Now we grow confident as we feel the first true sensations of success.  But just as the valleys threaten our voyage, so too does this exciting new hill bring danger to our designated destination.

The confidently climbing computer consultant.

About 4 and a half years ago I was climbing with just this kind of confidence.  I’d learned much from my ‘first valley’ experience and was excited to continue moving forward with a more educated engagement.  The money was just starting to flow with more consistency as my name began to establish itself among the local community.  The more clients I encountered, the more efficient and effective I became.  I was really starting to get the hang of the whole thing.

But fairly quickly I started making my first ‘post valley’ mistakes.  For one, I was spending money with the perspective that things were always going to flow with ferocity.  This not only kept my financial buffer quite thin, but it began building bad habits.  Secondly, my imagination started taking over my goal setting as my immature success made me feel amazingly invincible.  Just like a good run can boost your endorphins, so too can a mountain ascent bring on floods of feel good hormones.  As we start to see the world once again, perched on our high mountain peak, loss of perspective finds its way back.

And if that weren’t already a plate of potential mishaps, I went one step further as I found myself lightning my load of self taught technical training.  As a computer consultant it is absolutely crucial that you stay ahead of the curve with the latest technology trends.  The last thing you want to do is fail your client by falling short.  So constant intellectual updates are a must.  But with everything going so well, I started to become complacent in my computer curiosity.

The danger of the self induced valley.

It’s one thing to find yourself in the lowlands because of uncontrollable circumstances, but all too often it is the result of confident complacency that gets us into trouble.  As I just mentioned, over confidence in my misdiagnosed maturity was weakening the very wheels I had ridden to win the first race. I had done what many tend to do, as I disregarded the very same growth that had helped gain my positive progress.  I had found a formula that worked and then depleted the dose as if my recent increase in elevation would take it from there.  I joined the ranks of so many who frequent the valley as if it were their second home, as I started to see my ascent turn downward.

One unique characteristic about this particular path is that it moves with momentum.  Once you start your decent, just like a train slamming on it’s breaks, you can only sit and watch as you skid down the surface of the mountain.  As I started to run into those unforeseen slow times, I wasn’t prepared to properly proceed with the pursuit.  My finances were depleted, my daily habits, set for a sustained success that wasn’t currently accessible and my technical skills were starting to rust.  This wasn’t an on/off switch situation.  It was in those moments that I not only realized my mistakes, but had to accept a foreseeable future of a valley voyage.  I knew it would now take some time to repair the damage, learn from my recent over reaction and start the upward climb I so desired.  It was in this second valley that I was once again faced with a split in the path.  There were two arrows pointing opposite of the other, one promoting progress while the other pointed perilously to a path that provided a quick and easy escape from the pains of my previous elevation.

5 Tips to help you keep your feet on the ground as your progress continues to push upward.

So I’ve presented you with some images of over extension and under estimation that help reveal my inability to stay grounded when things were looking up.  It was this lack of personal gravity that pulled me up and then pulled the rug right out from under my shaky foundation.   But it wasn’t all for not, as I came away with a few notions of new knowledge that would help me not only regain my footing, but maintain longevity in the higher altitudes ahead.  So here are some tips that I would like to share with any who find their ability to maintain a positive momentum to be minuscule at best.

1. Continue with the formula that works. If I could give you only one piece of advice concerning sustained success it would be this very point.  It may be a simple step, but easy it is not.  The low points on the journey make it hard to maintain motion, while it is the peaks that leave us light headed and overly optimistic.  So it is absolutely crucial that you not only find this righteous routine, but that you run with it regardless of your current elevation.
2. Be frugal whenever possible. With anything in life, money is often the ultimate voice of progress.  It speaks to us in reward as well as recourse.  But it is what we do with these multidirectional decibels that determines our destination.  The saying may be true that it takes money to make money, but I would suggest with certainty that much of our spending does not come in the form of progress.  It is especially crucial during these high points in the journey that we take advantage of this successful surge.  Because the buffer we are building will become our life raft when inevitability finds its way back once more.
3. When viewing from a peak, take your vision and dial it back. (Translation: Don’t let yourself get overly confident.)  I made the mistake of riding my new found success right back down the mountain.  As my elevation started to increase, the view seemed to become more beautiful with every upward turn.  But it wasn’t just the situation that was changing.  My ability to see the fine details of my journey were becoming obscured as well.  And with this diluted determination, I was much more prone to make mistakes as I calculated my course.  This is why it’s absolutely imperative that you base your decisions on the previous steps of success instead of the hypnotic hype that the hills tend to harbor.
4. Avoid complacency at all costs! As I mentioned, it was during this particular ascent that I began to let off the throttle of sustaining my skill set.  But I would urge you to avoid this immature act and always be at your best.  The fact is, there are many who are competing to maintain footing on this very path that you pursue, and it will be those who keep their focus fixed on their foundation that will make the most headway.  So always stay sharp while maneuvering your way up and down these monumental mountains.
5. Plan for the next valley. As I stated in a previous paragraph, some of the valleys we face are an inevitability.  So it’s just as as important that we plan for the next descent as it is to pursue our upward progress.  Following the steps I just laid out will benefit this future battle plan, but we also need to prepare our minds as the adrenaline will certainly stop pushing our forward potential.  The best example I can think of when describing this process is with the cycles of blogging.  Monday starts off strong with emails and comments and traffic, OH MY!  Then continues the motion of this joyous momentum as the week goes on.  But as the weekend starts finding its way closer to the current moment, we see a significant lull in the action.  It is during these times that, if unexpected, may be perceived as a negative reflection of our Internet offerings.  But for those who are aware of the cycle and therefore prepared for the minuscule motion of the two days before Monday, it is just another weekend, a ‘mini valley’ so to speak.  So whether or not you blog, and therefore grasp this grossly simplified concept, it is absolutely crucial for your perspectives to be prepared for all that lies ahead.

Please join us next week as we continue down this road of excitement and uncertainty.  Now that we have covered the two points of extreme positions, we will move onto the dangerous ‘middle ground’ as we touch on the temptations of distraction while facing boredom.

This is the first post in a series called ‘Enduring The Road To Success‘.  Each week I will add to the series until it naturally finishes.  In other words, I have no idea how many posts it will take to go through the content.  The basic premise will be to walk through the road I’ve taken in my past and present ventures as I touch on key points in the journey.  Since my consulting business is the largest ‘project’ I’ve taken on thus far, it will be my main point of reference.  I hope you enjoy these posts as we go through the struggles and triumphs of seeking success in our lives.

The exact numbers may vary depending on the source you take them from and the goals in question, but the general consensus is that 1 out of every 2 people who attempt to obtain success, will fail. Here are some examples:

• 30% of college students leave after the first year and almost 50% will never graduate.
• 50% of businesses fail within the first year and 80% will never make it to year 5.
• 95% of all blogs will fail.

Now these are just a few areas where people attempt to succeed and I’m sure you will find other ventures that have higher or lower rates of failure, but the point is clear; people fail just as much as they succeed.

The road to success.

The path between the starting line and the final destination of your pursuits can be a long and winding road.  Hills and valleys are up ahead and the weather is never certain.  You stock up for the mission, but uncertainty is at the forefront of your mind as you embark on this very important journey.

When I started my consulting business 5 years ago, I had no idea what to expect. I had heard the statistics, but wasn’t too concerned.  I figured I was one of the few who would succeed.  Looking back, I’m not sure if this was arrogance or ignorance, but somehow I seemed to pull it off.

Coming out of the gate, I was driven by the momentum of my enthusiasm.  You could say that I started on a ‘hill’ and could see all the great potential ahead.  I was sprinting with all my mite as I couldn’t wait to make up some ground.  But it didn’t take long for me to find myself in the first valley, unable to see beyond the next bend.

Enduring the first valley.

So here I was, experiencing the first real stumbling block of any journey for success.  It’s in the first valley that many will fail. Not only are you in a low point on the trail, but considering it’s your first encounter, you literally have no idea what to expect.  It can be petrifying to say the least, and has a tendency to take every last molecule of wind out of your sails.

So what brought me to my first valley?

It was probably a combination of my first bad experience with a client as well as the realization of the work involved in building a successful business.  In other words, reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Starting at such a high point and then finding myself tumbling down the mountain, I was experiencing, for the first time, the roller coaster ride to success.

Cameron Herold wrote a brilliant guest post on Tim Ferriss’s blog that tackled this particular subject.  He broke the experience down into 4 steps, with the last one being a juncture that had two possible outcomes.  It’s called the ‘Transition Curve’ and it looks something like this:

1. Uninformed Optimism (At a high point…)
2. Informed Pessimism (Starting to crash…)
3. Crisis of Meaning (Stuck in a valley…)
4. And then either ‘Crash & Burn‘ or ‘Informed Optimism‘ (Do I give into failure or take what I’ve learned and move in a positive direction?)

The basic idea is that most of us start this journey with an optimism that is not completely founded in reality.  So when reality does finally hit, your drive can take a serious nose dive.  Then you find yourself wondering if this really IS what you want to do or if it is even something that you CAN do.  It is at this point that the road splits and you are left to make a potentially life changing decision; “Do I give into failure or do I push through this?”  If you choose the latter, you will begin the final step of ‘informed optimism’ where you will have a positive outlook that is based on facts and not adrenaline.  Not only will you continue on your journey, but you will have just gained a very important skill that will be crucial in the many ‘miles’ ahead.

The breakthrough of moving beyond your first valley.

Honestly, I think the fear of being broke was what helped me make the decision to push ahead.  But the ‘skill’ was still learned and the next valley, not as much of a threat.

Many things in life are setup this way.  Whether it be the breaking of a bad habit or the pursuit of a dream, making it past the first ‘bump in the road’ is one of the hardest and most crucial parts of the process.  It’s the moment the road forks for the first time that you will find out if you want it badly enough.

Your motivators will have their first real test as their ability to drive you is called into question.  As I just stated, fear was a big motivator for me in the early stages.  This may not be the most ‘attractive’ drive to admit to, but it served its purpose none the less.  So as you start to ascend into this dark, unfamiliar land, know that it is up to you to make it through.  Nobody will force you to ‘push through the pain’.

6 tips to help you get past this crucial point.

So you’re stuck in this valley and are having trouble finding which ways up, let alone knowing how you’re going to keep moving forward.  I’ve been there many times and have thus far made it to the next step, so I not only feel your pain, but have some insight that might be helpful.

1. Don’t freak out when you realize it’s not as easy as you thought it would be. When the initial crash begins to take place, panic is often the first reaction.  You start asking yourself, “What am I doing here?  I can’t do this!  This is too hard and just not working out like I thought it would.”  I can tell you from experience, THIS IS NORMAL!  Relax and know that this was to be expected.  Not because you can’t do it, but because your expectations were off to begin with.  With a little bit of time and some adjustment to your perspective, you’ll be on your way before you know it.
2. Take a weekend and forget all about it. One of the best things you can do to prevent unnecessary panic, is to get away from the situation.  Clear your head of the whole matter by taking a weekend and just having some fun.  Get some exercise, get some good sleep and relax.  Try not to think about what you’re going to do, but instead, focus on getting that mind fresh for the week to come.
3. Make sure you’re on the right road. After some R&R it’s time to ask yourself a very important question, “Is this really the right thing for me to do?”  The fact is, often times the reason we fail is because we are attempting something that just isn’t for us.  You must be careful, though, because this is also an easy time to make excuses and talk yourself out of the RIGHT path.  But be sure this is something your REALLY want/need to do.  Once you’ve decided it is, you need to…
4. Remind yourself why you started this journey in the first place. Sure, you were pumped with optimistic adrenaline in the beginning, but that doesn’t mean the reasons for your pursuit were any less important.  Think back to the starting line and re-feed on the ideas for your future.  Only this time, do so with your new found appreciation for the challenges that lie ahead.
5. Get advice from a veteran in your field. After you’ve refreshed your memory, it’s time to seek the advice of someone who’s been there before.  Find that person who’s been through many valleys before and keeps rising to the top.  Ask for their insight as you…
6. Prepare a counter attack. Now that you have the help of a veteran and you are completely convinced that you’re on the right path, it’s time to layout a game plan to push through this and start your ascension to a successful future.  Figure out what things ‘pulled the rug out from under you’ and learn from the mistakes you had made.  Accept the reality of your current obstacles and figure out the best ways around them.  Look at this whole thing as a learning experience, a necessary ‘lesson’ of life, and make things happen!

Next week we will be touching on the other end of the spectrum as we talk about the ‘hills’ and the importance of ‘keeping your feet on the ground‘.