“The results we achieve in life are governed by the image we hold of ourselves in our subconscious mind” – Maxwell Maltz

Have you ever wondered why one person is more successful than someone else?  Is there a superior amount of skill and knowledge which bestows the magic touch that creates a situation where one person seems to shine and attract success?

A number of years ago, the Carnegie Foundation conducted a study to determine the answer to the question: ‘what are the key ingredients necessary for success in any endeavour?’. What they ultimately concluded was that there are three key ingredients for success… 

The first ingredient and foundation of success is Knowledge.  A successful individual in your industry, department, etc. clearly requires a certain amount of knowledge.  

The second key ingredient for success is Skill. Skill, of course, is the application of that knowledge. Surprisingly these two attributes only account for 15% of someone’s success quotient.

What the study concluded is that Knowledge & Skills only accounted for approximately 15% of our success… 85% of our success is based on ‘Attitude’.

While knowledge and skills are essential, they are not the only prerequisite for success. In addition to the Carnegie Foundation study, a Harvard University study found that people are employed 85 per cent of the time because of their attitude, and only 15 per cent of the time because of their knowledge and skills.

Attitude includes key aspects like honesty, integrity, self-confidence, cooperative attitude, expectations, energy levels, optimism and so on, which are critical for success.

In the book, ‘The Art of Doing’, Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield interviewed super achievers and noted the following attitude skills that distinguish why success continues to be a mind game more than one of skill and knowledge.  They identified the top 10 skills to include:

• Honesty
• Ability to delegate
• Communication
• Sense of humour
• Confidence
• Commitment
• Positive attitude
• Creativity
• Intuition, and
• Ability to inspire.

In Brian Tracy’s work and research, there is a key distinction that is very important in all this mind work. It has to do with the thinking that causes us to do what we do, to get the results that we get.  The problem is when thinking … we normally focus our thinking on the results that we are currently getting.

Think    →   Do → Results

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This generally means that we perpetuate more of the same results because our present results are dictating our thinking, which in turn causes us to do what we do to get the results that we get. 

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↓                               │

Think    →   Do → Results

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For successful people to make a quantum leap forward in regards to their results, they know they need to break out of this negative cycle of our current results being in control of our future. Achievers know that the future clearly doesn’t have to equal the past… achievers usually have coaching support and the tools to program themselves with far greater success in all areas of life. In doing so, they remove the artificial boundaries that hold so many of us back from achieving more of our real potential. This thinking style and attitude applies equally to our health, our prosperity, our relationships, and our careers.

To understand and obtain the resources you need to maximize your success consider the FocalPoint Business Coaching Model. It will deliver progressive action by taking a proactive “one step at a time approach”, unique to you, and build on your incremental successes.   

By: Tricia Ryan – Certified Focal Point Business Coach         

TRyan@FocalPointCoaching.com