So… How Do You Breakthrough To Success? A Rant Long Overdue
on March 10th, 2006I just hung up the phone after talking with one of my coaching students who signed up with me during my Butterfly Marketing promotion.
I didn’t ask him if I could publish his name, but it starts with Robert 
He’s at ground zero, he says, with his Internet adventure and I’ll make this prediction right now… he’s going places. He’ll do just fine… how do I know that after just a few hours of talking with him?
It has to do with something so important, I thought I’d share it with you before I close up my laptop for the weekend (after a very busy week).
Now, Robert is learning the basics about marketing online and so he’s got some things to learn and master on his journey to success… and lots of folks focus on those missing skills and say "THAT’S" what’s holding me back… I don’t know all the ’secrets’ that the ‘gurus’ know.
Fair enough… when you know how to do something, it’s definitely easier than trial and error… I preach that all the time.
But here’s the thing… I at several times in my life suffered from ‘analysis paralysis’ where I knew a boat load about a topic, but was not implementing for fear of failure, to be blunt.
So, the fact is, ’secrets’ alone will not make you successful in most cases (unless you find one that tips your confidence over the edge enough to take action… but I digress).
What I’m about to tell you has been on my mind recently and I’ve found myself talking about it with my friends.
And here’s what I mean by friends… these are the guys and gals who’ve gone from modest means or zippo to six figure or approaching 8 figures (10 mil) a year.
I say that not to name drop (notice I didn’t name anyone) but to credentialize the information I’m sharing… (you have to be careful who you take advice from, after all).
Every one of these folks had their breakthrough to success once they figured out a few things.
And the number one thing I’ve been talking about lately is being uncomfortable… and afraid of failure about breaking through to the next level.
Your current level success (or frankly, lack there of) is due to your level of comfort with where you are at… and your discomfort with the next level higher.
It’s all about that breakthrough point… how do you really do it? That is the key, really, to getting from where you are now to where you want to go next.
This is important because it suggests something that you may not have fully grasped before… you WILL have to be uncomfortable to break through to the next level. It won’t all be ‘easy’ or cushy.
Sorry, I know everyone wants to sell you on the idea that one can ‘get rich quick’ and achieve your goals for no effort or sacrifice.
But I’m here to tell you that ’sacrifice’ and ‘effort’ doesn’t have to be painful. It can feel like a transformation, an awakening, and a relief… but you will have to face the limitations of your current ‘comfort zone’.
This stuff matters… if you believe you are worth ‘$45,000 a year’ that you make at your job, you’re going to be unlikely to write a headline for an offer that pulls in $100,000.
Don’t ask me how, but your own sense of what success you deserve will come out in the writing and execution of that campaign, and it will affect your profits.
Similarly, if you only make decisions that are ‘comfortable’ then you can find that your life goes in circles.
Sometimes, the difference between a breakthrough and ’same old same old’ is fighting down the butterflies in your gut and taking a chance… and part of you will feel excited, and part will feel scared.
THAT’S the feeling I get before a major breakthrough.
You know… like when I called the beautiful woman for the first time who ultimately became my wife. What would the last ten years have been like if I had not called?
If I had stayed comforable, I would have turned on Seinfeld or scorched the roads of Vermont with my motorcycle (lol, maybe she even saved my life by going out with me).
I left a pretty lucrative consulting gig to go full time with Internet marketing… before I had any real proof my two new sites would make a dime. I banked on the reputation of the guys I was partnering with and on my years of making money with my sales and marketing skills in other areas (including direct marketing and B2B stuff).
But it was a leap.
The first time I did a live teleseminar there were like 2,500 people signed up to listen in… you can imagine that I was fighting back the urge to ‘call in sick’.
You can imagine how I felt the first time I was invited to speak at a seminar…
But here’s the thing… with each progressive chance that I took, I built up my confidence with one breakthrough after another… and the set backs along the way seemed like no big deal.
I’ve had what I consider to be the best mentors and had some real ‘right place right time’ breaks that I’d write off as luck if I didn’t know a crucial secret… I was in the game and I was prepared for opportunity when it presented itself.
Even the 7 years that I struggled before I had my first business success in my early twenties (wow that is too long ago now) I was always in the game, taking my shot… I just kept getting knocked down because I didn’t know what I was doing.
So back to Robert…
Here’s a guy who’s doing ONE thing that I want you to understand that makes the whole process of succeeding and breaking through much, much easier: he’s willing to do whatever it takes and he’s not afraid to fail.
Let me clarify… he’s probably afraid to fail… but he’s made peace with that and he’s in the game anyway.
It all has to do with how you feel about yourself when you ‘fail’.
Did you have very critical parents or teachers? If so, you’re probably a perfectionist, like me, and the well meaning or mean spirited in some cases, criticism that you got now is what you dish out to yourself.
Perfectionism is cruel. Life is not 100% perfect and neither is any human… so holding yourself up to that standard is the surest way to give up and fail. Nothing wrong with wanting to produce good quality… but zero defects is not really possible so don’t hold yourself back waiting to achieve it.
Let me close by telling you how I feel is the best way to get on a path that leads to breakthroughs… that will help you find the right tools, the right information, the right mentors, the right steps, and get you on the road to success:
Find your mission.
When you are doing what you are meant to be doing in this life, doors open for you. If you’re involved in a business or a project just to make money and perhaps even ‘holding your nose’ trying to overlook stuff that you aren’t proud of… then listen up because nothing good will come from chasing short term solutions like that.
Get rich quick is total BS… though you can actually make a lot of money fast… but it’s not by doing nothing or doing things that have no value.
The fastest way to achieve personal and material success is to determine what you are here to do… and I bet that you won’t have found that one thing unless it involves helping others.
As a teacher and a coach and a father, I see my mission to be the BRIDGE for those who I help to get from where they are NOW to where they want to GO.
My mission is not to be the #1 most successful marketer that walked the earth, my goal is to help as many people as possible get what they want… so they are successful. Only by doing that have I found my success grows.
The ONE thing that tied all the failed business ventures I have together is they were just about me making money and didn’t really have a clear vision for how they helped the customer.
So, when Robert asked me what he should do… a project that promised a quick hit of cash… or find something that really meant something to him… I said, build a business you’ll be willing to put your shoulder into… something you care about.
Fact is, you will face obstacles, you will have to stretch and overcome moments of doubt… and it’s just impossible in my experience to do that for a project that is missing that ‘heart’ and value.
Lives have been changed, wars have been one, causes have been achieved with heart and belief… and nothing has really ever been done worth doing for just a quick buck.
Robert’s going places because he found something… almost immediately after our last call… that fit the bill. He’s excited, called me on the phone today to tell me all about it… and I bet you he’ll go the distance with this one. With his permission, some day I’ll tell you all about it.
I get excited when I can help someone break through… and I bet you will too. Try it… and no matter what niche you are in, what your dreams are… help someone else and you’ll find you learn more and succeed more.
My wife just discovered this in a totally different field… she began teaching a friend’s daughters how to paint… and another friend how to scrapbook… two things she is widely acknowledged to be a master of… that she loves more than any other activity.
You know what? She was afraid she would not be able to teach what she just ‘knows’ but she tried it, and not only did her ’students’ really get it and create beauty… but Aimee got a satisfaction out of teaching that was priceless. She even learned a few new things while she was teaching.
Ok, it’s dinner time and I’ve got family time starting… but let me leave you with something that I said at a seminar last year that got a lot of ‘breakthroughs’ started…
You know how they say, "Do what you love and the money will follow?" I agree… but I also say, "Do what you FEAR and the money (or whatever success) will follow."
Think about it… what do you fear that’s holding you back from doing something great, something worthy, something that will help people?
Just do it (to quote Nike).
Craig
P.S. If I never did anything that made me uncomfortable… I would have dropped out of High School, skipped College, not met Aimee (in college), never had my kids, and drank myself silly watching HBO… and died broke and unhappy far too early for sure. So much for being comfortable