Chasing vs attracting success

[Roly]

It seems to me there are two kinds of people that are successful.

One - the person who is blue collared, hardworking, has that real burning desire to do something. These are the people who are really goal driven and determined and it seems like they'll chase that current goal they have no matter what. These are the people who lives off calendars, planners and somewhat obssessed at what they do. Some good examples of these people are: Michael Jordan and other famous athletes, business men, lawyers etc.

Then theres number two- the people that just seems to attract success and it seems like they're not really trying at all. These people are usually laid back, relax and peaceful. They are just at peace with themselves and there is an aura about them that's so irresistable that success just happens naturally. In other words, these people are just going with the flow and not letting things happen. Some good example of these people are: Jack Johnson - his music says it all, Robert Horry- this dude is just one laid back guy, he plays for the San Antonio Spurs got six rings and always calm under pressure, known for making clutch shots, Then there's people that you know- " The slackers" in your class that doesn't take any notes or pays little attention, but pulls off A's anyways. It seems like these people are just effortless in having success in their lives, they don't chase things, it comes to them.

I'm not saying there's a wrong way to achieve success, I just noticed there are two kinds of achievers and it gives me a different perspective on how to approach certain things. What do you guys think?

 

[snobby]

About the guys who are fairly laid back and relax, success doesn't always come to them, that isn't the case as far as I'm concerned. My belief is that in order to achieve something you must set certain goals on your life, unless you depend on luck.

It's just like school. A "laid back and relaxed" guy who doesn't give a care in the world won't pass his tests or his exams, he has to set a certain GOAL and STUDY. The students who have education as one of their goals do study, and therefore THEY are the ones with the good grades...not the laid back guys.

Or in college. If someone decides to learn about computers...he won't learn about them and he will fail at computers if they don't interest him. he picked 'computers' randomly for no reason. A guy who chose computers because they interest him and he does want to learn about them and has a GOAL to make his living out of them, WILL most likely succeed.

I see where you're coming from about the relaxed chaps, but to me that is more luck than effort.

 

[Visceral]

Men who don't have to work their asses off to be successful have a lot more going for them than you give them credit for. They either know how to work the system or they know how to work the people in it (usually both), and this not only puts them on a par with hard workers, but usually gives them a competitive advantage.

They may have been born into wealthy families, and so had a major head start. They're usually very well-connected; people know them and what they can do, and will come to them. They don't have to prove anything, either because people know or because people assume by reputation or impression. They are the men who can see opportunities that most men can't, and so don't have to go looking or make their own. They can also be the men that can charm their way into something or charm someone out of something - the master manipulators who can get more out of their superiors, inferiors, and equals than most men can. They're the men who always manage to take credit, even when it's for something they didn't do. They can do all this and never look bad for doing it, and can even have you love them for it.

 

[Roly]

Exactly

Men who don't have to work their asses off to be successful have a lot more going for them than you give them credit for. They either know how to work the system or they know how to work the people in it (usually both), and this not only puts them on a par with hard workers, but usually gives them a competitive advantage.

They may have been born into wealthy families, and so had a major head start. They're usually very well-connected; people know them and what they can do, and will come to them. They don't have to prove anything, either because people know or because people assume by reputation or impression. They are the men who can see opportunities that most men can't, and so don't have to go looking or make their own. They can also be the men that can charm their way into something or charm someone out of something - the master manipulators who can get more out of their superiors, inferiors, and equals than most men can. They're the men who always manage to take credit, even when it's for something they didn't do. They can do all this and never look bad for doing it, and can even have you love them for it.

Working hard, being dedicated and busting your ass off on something is great, but you gotta have knowledge and work smart as well.

 

[STR8UP]

REAL money isn't made by working hard, it's made by doing the right things.

This means LEVERAGING your resources, whether it be time (a very important resource) money, credit, knowledge, you name it.

Working hard might get you the "thumbs up" from people who are higher than you are in the food chain and family and friends, but you have to be careful about becoming the the goose that lays the golden egg for SOMEONE ELSE.

If you truly want to be successful you have to learn how to make your efforts work for YOUR maximum benefit.

 

[backbreaker]

in the hight of my business.. I was at work from 8am until about 3ish.. no later than 4.

On Fridays I was out the door before 1pm

Be organized and work smart.. and when it's called for, don't be afraid to roll up your sleeves.

I think some guys work 16 hour days, just to say they work 16 hour days.. I did when I had to, but as time went on, I got smarter and more efficent, and delagated alot of the less important things I did to other people


Same thing with say.. lifting weights.. the best workouts are right at 45 mintues. You see guys in the gym for hours upon hours, day after day. The only time I am in there that long is if I want to hit the cardio machines after I am done

 

[diplomatic_lies]

Most "laid-back" guys are actually spending their evenings working their butt off. They just don't show it.

Work smart is a good philosophy, but name 1 person who became successful at ANYTHING with 1 hour of work a week.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

One works harder the other works smarter.

 

[STR8UP]

Work smart is a good philosophy, but name 1 person who became successful at ANYTHING with 1 hour of work a week.

If you do the right things and do them well, you can be successful working less than an hour per week.

I'm not saying that hard work isn't usually an ingredient in most people's recipe for financial success. Most of us have to go through the learning process to figure out HOW to work smarter.

What I am trying to say is that hard work IS NOT the cause of success. It might be a necessary step in the learning process, but the people who make it big while they are young are the ones who wise up and utilize their resources to make more in a week working 1 hour than most people make all year working their asses off.

Make sense?

 

[diplomatic_lies]

I'm not saying hard work is the only solution, but too often I find people expecting miracles without doing any of the work.

Think about issues like health (people take diet pills instead of exercising), dating (using canned lines), finance (get rich quick scams). Most people think if they have a magical formula, they only need to work 5 minutes a day and they'll become rich & successful. I don't think Bill Gates or Bill Clinton worked 5 minutes a day.

 

[AB500]

I make success look easy. People look at me and ask me how I can be so laid back and pay so little attention yet still pull all As while maintaining a healthy social life, being one of the three presidents of a social club I helped start, and tinkering around with businesses and computers on the side. It's all about working smart, not hard. backbreaker has the right idea.

Last summer I was working for my neighbors, they wanted me to do some computer work that involved maintaining and generating reports from a few hundred excel files with some order information in them. The common person would have took the job and wasted half their summer trying to make the reports they needed while updating the order info. I instead decided to create a database in Access and streamline and stardardize the whole data entry and retrival process. Now I can enter data and generate reports in mere minutes instead of the hours it would have taken me before and they pay me 4 times as much due to the speed I can do it.

Don't waste your time with tasks that involve repeditive labor or ones that could be done a better way. Free up your time to solve problems and think up innovative solutions and you'll be successful. Think big and break your vision down into small achievable goals.

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

My observations on the subject:

The educated hard worker: busts his ass in school, then at work, is a great follower, and student of process.

The hard working Vocationist: guy who is blue collared, starts a business, slowly expands it, 10,15,20 years later he is a major player in his vocation. (my plumber who has 50 workers under him in diff states)

The big idea, master networker: This type lacks the detail orientation of the first type, but has "soft skills": He's a great conversationalist, ppl like him, hes charismatic, is always coming up with new ideas.


My new goal is to implement all the crazy half-baked ideas that I come up with. I'm personable, ppl like me, and everyday I am getting closer to unstoppable- something good has to be manifested from all of this; I am the real deal.