Four Ingredients To Success

We live in a microwave society where most expect to get what they want instantly, or at least in less than a minute. We're tricked into believing that fame and success can be achieved overnight if we'll only work harder, longer and faster. We've adopted an "all or nothing" attitude that says we must either succeed or fail, there is no in-between.

But there is an in-between, the period between success and failure that for some, lasts for years. Long ago, there was a six-year-old boy who, having lost his father, was left to take on the brunt of the household responsibilities while his mother returned to full-time work. He helped raise his younger siblings-including cooking and cleaning.

Colonel Sanders

This boy would hold several jobs over the course of his adulthood, from insurance salesman to service station operator. He would experience devastating setbacks, financially and personally, throughout his life. But there was one constant-he loved to cook.    

Even more, he loved sharing his good cooking with others and eventually this giving attitude turned into a thriving business. The boy was Harland Sanders, the man behind a company that today sells more than a billion "finger-lickin' good" chicken dinners around the world each year.

The most striking part of Sanders' story is how long his "in between" lasted. It wasn't until he was well into his 60s that the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand (which later became simply KFC) began to truly be recognized as a success. Prior to this, Sanders was an ordinary man trying to make a good living. Sanders' successful restaurant business is based on the secret recipe for his "11 herbs and spices" fried chicken, but the ingredients to his success are not a secret:    

Success Ingredient No. 1: Passion  

Despite holding down a variety of jobs, Sanders was passionate about one thing: cooking. He spent a lifetime perfecting his fried chicken recipe and this passion eventually turned into a thriving business.  

Do you have a passion? What is it and how can you express it more fully in your life? If you consider yourself to be passion-less, then I suggest spending time looking back on your life to see what excited you in the past. Your passion may be lying in wait, hoping you'll see it. Take time to clarify your passion. Only then can you begin to produce the behavior that will turn your vision into reality.  

Success Ingredient No. 2: Positive Perspective

At one point in his career, Sanders worked as a service station operator, a profession that couldn't be any further from his passion for cooking. But he didn't let that stop him from sharing his passion. He began serving his homemade meals to travelers who stopped for gas, which sparked a business idea that eventually led to KFC.   

What is your perspective? If circumstances are not exactly as you had hoped, are you tapping into your passion to turn it around, or wallowing in negativity? Although external factors may not be ideal, your internal perspective can be just what you need to make it better. You just have to choose to think differently.   

The journey to success is not always easy. There may be roadblocks along the way. But remember, in life everyone has choices. You can choose to use your mind as a powerful tool that can work for or against you. No one else is responsible for how you choose to react to your circumstances. Regardless of the challenges you face, you can live a happy, fulfilled and successful life if you learn to use wisely the resources within you.  

You are the person with the most power to affect your life. You are the one who decides how to feel about what you are experiencing. You are the one who gets to choose differently.

Do you choose success?    

To read this article in it's entirety click here. 

Source:  

Danita Johnson Hughes, Ph.D.  

Promotional Consultant Magazine - March 2011