Just because someone found success in one way last week doesn’t mean his formula will work exactly like that for you today.
You see, people told you there is no formula to success. But the reality is that there is. And not only one but millions of formulas, because there are millions of successful people.
But the thing is, there is no formula specifically designed for you. You have to make it yourself, and this article will show you how.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel like reading, you can enjoy the video below or watch it on YouTube:
There are many definitions of success, but our favorite one, and the one we relate to the most is this: Success is when reality meets expectations.
It’s when you live the life you imagined as a kid. When you can sit back and smile at your life.
And this definition can mean different things to different people, and nobody can guilt shame you because your definition of success does not include having a Bugatti.
Now, since your definition of success is different, your success formula will be different too. And here’s the exciting thing about it:
Let’s imagine for a second that you start a business, you put in the work, you do great things, the company’s value skyrockets, and you sell it for millions of dollars. You can now safely retire wherever in the world you’d like, doing whatever you want.
Now, if you were to do it all over again, what do you think would happen?
You see, it’s extremely unlikely that you will be able to replicate that another time under the exact same circumstances. Each moment in your life will be different. The market will be different. You’ll have other responsibilities.
Not even your very own success formula can’t work a second time in the exact same way. Something has to change.
This is where the whole “there is no formula for success” thing comes from. You cannot drag and drop someone’s decisions into your own life and expect the same results.
This brings us to the topic of this article: How to craft your own success formula.
For most people, it all starts or should start, with reading about other people’s success and wisdom. Yes, we told you you couldn’t drag and drop other people’s decisions.
But you see, you are not looking for the whole solution, you’re looking for nuggets of gold. Many people read business books and self-help books the wrong way.
When you read about other people’s success stories, you get inspired and motivated, and you picture yourself as the main character in the book.
And then everything falls flat because:
- You don’t do anything about it
- Your circumstances don’t apply.
When you read a good book, around 80% might be completely useless for you. It’s the other 20% you’re interested in. Think of it like a buffet of knowledge.
This is one of the reasons why we enjoy how Tim Ferriss writes his books. They’re not meant to be read cover to cover but are designed to be easy to skim around, looking for things that appeal to you.
When you do this long enough, you’ll end up with a series of pieces of information that are true to you. But what do we mean by “true to you.”?
You see, there are multiple ways of doing the same thing. Let’s say you sell a product. There are companies whose sole purpose is to build other products.
They look at the market. find areas where there is a slot to be filled, and leverage their big-budget resources to create a product that fits in.
Think of skincare, makeup, and everything in between. That’s why there’s a brand new toothpaste every 12 hours.
Others create the product first and are really good at selling it to other businesses.
Generally speaking, it’s easier to sell a product to a business than to individuals because you can trade in bulk.
Even so, others spend years creating an audience, and they make a product specifically designed for that audience. That’s what we did.
We made free content on YouTube for 5 years before we had any products. The point is, all these things work, but they won’t all work for you in the same way.
Moreover, some you don’t have the resources for, and others you simply don’t like doing. So not all of these are true for you.
This is why it’s important to keep yourself educated on how others have managed to find success. It will give you a broader horizon of what’s possible, and it will make it easier to pick what feels right for you.
And now we get to the good part, on how to actually design your own success formula.
It’s actually pretty straightforward.
You take all those nuggets of gold you found in your self-education journey and split them into the following categories.
1
Develop a workflow for success
The purpose of this category is to figure out what style of workflow fits you best. Some people wake up at 6 AM, some wake up at 12.
Some work at night and some do the hardest work first thing in the morning.
As a matter of fact, we made a video about why this works for many people.
Check it out and see if there are any nuggets of gold you’d like to add to your bucket.
Some have different ways of staying organized and others have different ways of prioritizing tasks.
Some are digital nomads, others have their own offices.
The point is, you need to figure out what the optimum environment is where you can do your best work. Is it at home listening to Lofi Girl or at a buzzing coffee shop?
You see, it’s extremely important to figure this stuff out because there is no reason to have friction between you and the work that you need to do.
Artists, for example, go to extreme lengths to get this thing right, because the environment has a great impact on creativity.
A while ago, we read a great book on leadership and one of the gold nuggets that really caught our attention was this:
If you want someone to do great work, you must allow them to do so.
We’re paraphrasing a bit, but the point is that having the right environment and the right tools will greatly impact the quality of what you can do.
And it’s your job to figure out what that looks like. And lucky you, there’s a resource to help you do just that: The Alux app.
Think of it as your GPS navigating through life, showing the shortest path to reaching your milestones and goals. Your very own guide through life, helping you navigate through the traps of modern society and ensuring you reach your destination safely.
And the good amazing part is: it only requires 15 minutes of your time, every day. So don’t postpone it any longer, download the Alux app and start building your future!
2
Your favorite sh*t sandwich
We learned this term from Mark Manson. You might have heard of his best-seller “The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck”
At some point, you’ll have to do things you don’t like to do. Not everything is rainbows and sunshine all the time.
The question here is: What kind of sh*t sandwich are you willing to tolerate? Because you will have to tolerate something eventually.
Everything worth having has a cost attached to it. And the answer to this question will give you a competitive advantage.
In our case, our sh*t sandwich is a hectic schedule with a lot of things happening at the same time. That’s just how it is in our context.
Next in your success equation is:
3
What you are good at or can become good at in order to achieve success
This is all about proactive learning and execution.
There is no person in the world who is bad at absolutely everything. In the worst case, they haven’t yet figured out what they can become good at.
If you really think about it, there are some things you can do that others find difficult, if not impossible.
If you struggle to think of anything, you haven’t really given it your best at too many things.
You really need to figure out what your strengths are, and a great tip for this is to look at what seems easy to do. In most cases, it’s easy for you because it comes naturally.
This part of the formula will give you a general direction.
4
Life requirements
You won’t last long if you don’t like it or if you don’t supplement your life with things that keep you excited.
Something must excite you, to make you want to dive deep and get lost in the unknown abyss.
We call these things life requirements. You see, at the end of the day, you are a human being, not a machine.
And there are certain things you need to cover first, so they don’t weigh on you. Things like a roof with your name over it or healthy friendships If you ignore these things, you’ll eventually end up failing miserably.
And the final ingredient for your success formula is
5
A good reason to do it and belief in yourself are key to success
You see when you truly believe you can make it, you unlock the closest thing to mind time travel.
Imagine that you are already living the best life you ever imagined. It took years to build, but you’ve made it. You’re living it, and everything is great.
Now, imagine you time-traveled back in time for 5-10 years and forgot exactly how you did it, but you knew you did.
This is the present day. You know you’ll make it you saw it happening. You just need to act.
This mental exercise puts things into perspective. It gives you confidence and belief in yourself.
If you don’t actually believe this idyllic life is achievable, you’ll just half-ass it. You’ll hide behind the idea of “well, I tried’ and call it a day.
So to recap, your own success formula looks like this.
- First, you need to figure out a workflow that puts you in the most optimal position to do great work.
- Secondly, leverage the things you are willing to do that others don’t, because it will increase your value.
- Thirdly, find out what you are good at and get better at it.
- Fourth, keep life requirements in check or you’ll burn out.
- And lastly, find a good reason to do it.
We promise you that if you get all these 5 things right, your chances of finding your own success formula will multiply. See you next time!
