In every project, in every goal, in every challenge and in every opportunity, there is a critical element. The hook on which everything else hangs. The Action which will unlock the results needed to achieve the goal … everything else depends on this one element… THE KEY FACTOR.
The Key Factor unlocks everything and makes a goal happen or not.
It is identified as one thing where doing it / not doing it is the key to success or failure.
If you want to discover what your KEY FACTOR is look at what it is that those people who are successful DO, and see if those who are unsuccessful also do it. Chances are that you will immediately spot the difference.
And yes, we know that they will think in a different way, we know that they will be organised in a different way, we know that they will plan differently, we know that they will set goals in a different way. All of these things are important… but The KEY FACTOR is about a specific action… it’s the HARD thing which others just don’t do, but which if you can find a way of doing consistently well, will help you be world class.
To take some examples just to illustrate…
- > In the case of Marathon running… the KEY FACTOR is running
- > For Piano playing… yes, it’s er, playing the piano/ practising.
- > In novel writing, it’s the act of writing
In your own case, The KEY Factor may be less obvious… but it’s still there… and I imagine you probably know what it is already, for each and every goal you are working on. Whether it’s business, or sales, or dieting / fitness…
Looking at it from the outside, it is easy to identify a Key Factor…
And yet where many people fall down is in either not identifying their own key factors or, in ignoring the KEY FACTOR… normally because the key factor is that special ingredient which requires some harsh reality… and consistent massive action.
The Key Factor is where you get to show how mentally tough you can be… yes, mental toughness is required…
It is the Discipline of doing… Versus the regret of not doing.
To achieve many goals and certainly to become a world class success, you are faced with that stark choice:
Either go with the pain of doing, or accept the pain of regret. Either way, pain is involved.
But, the short term pain of doing, turns that discipline into a habit, and then eventually there is no more pain. So you become successful, and you can’t even see the pain in the same way others do. You just do the things others don’t. Whereas the avoidance of doing the KEY FACTOR creates long term pain… and also short term guilt…
And when our subconscious knows we should be doing things but we aren’t doing them, it prevents us allowing ourselves to be “successful”. Sometimes, because we are doing what we know we must do, we open doors and create coincidences which support us… often generating LUCK which we didn’t expect… things totally unrelated to the action, but which support us in the achievement of the goal…
Eg: making sales calls…which we know is the most difficult thing for many people in business, and yet it is the thing which sets apart those who are successful in this area.
I remember working with someone on this area alone, and they started to make the breakthrough and embrace the KEY Factor. They started to make more calls, with limited success at first. But then someone else called them (a long-lost client) and suddenly they wanted to do business. LUCK? Coincidence? You can be the judge… you and I both know that this always happens… we work on The KEY Factor, and suddenly people want to do business with us, or we get an enquiry out of the blue.
The golfer, Gary Player’s famous saying: “Funny how, the harder I practice, the luckier I get” is so true.
So doing what needs to be done, creates success in its own right, it also creates belief in yourself that you are doing the right things and therefore are deserving of the success… so for the rest of the day your subliminal actions and behaviours are upgraded to those of a successful person… thereby opening more doors and opportunities.
Take this opportunity to decide what the KEY FACTOR is for your own goals.