The 4 Universal Factors of Success
Confusion about the path to success obscures the obvious.
There are four factors of success. Not three. Not five. Four and only four.
Your definition of success is basically irrelevant. The exception is thinking success is achievement without effort.
The path is the same for everyone.
The 4 universal factors of success:
#1. Drive and work:
Grit, motivation, determination, practice, and discipline fit in the drive and work bucket.
#2. Talent:
Successful people are born with talent. So are you. Successful people use natural born inclinations, aptitudes, and abilities every day.
Top level athletes are born with talents the rest of us don’t have. You can acquire skills, but talent came with you at birth.
#3. Support from others:
No one achieves success alone. You aren’t self-made. Parents, friends, mentors, colleagues, coaches, and communities contribute to your success. Great athletes are surrounded by strong teammates.
Successful leaders stand on the shoulders of strong teams.
#4. Opportunity:
Education, exposure, resources, networks, and problems that need solutions enable individuals to showcase their talents and abilities. Family roots are often a factor in opportunity.
Winston Churchill was the right person at the right time to defeat Hitler. Brock Purdy, quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers was dead last in the 2022 NFL draft. He is the right person at the right time.
Conclusion:
You control three of the four universal factors of success.
You can’t control good fortune. Although, Colman Cox said, “I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.”
If you hope to succeed, work hard, maximize your talents, and seek lots of help.
What factors of success don’t fit within the four categories I mention in this post?
Which factor of success do you believe to be the most important?
Still curious:
The 3 Ascending Levels of Leadership Success
These are four legs on a ladder. You need them all and they all are equally important. Otherwise, your ladder is unsteady, and you can’t safely climb up. Ignore any of these (or give one short shift) at your own peril.
Love the ladder metaphor, thanks, Jennifer.
Not in every aspect
I once read about a formula for success. It was basically this:
Talent + Motivation – Interference = success.
The big idea was eliminated the things that are getting in the way of your success- (negative self-talk, associating with doom and gloom people, being spread too thin, etc.)
I think I like this formula.
Talent + Motivation + Support – Interference = Success
Thanks, Paul. Good point on removing interference. “Not doing” is important to success.
Dan to me Opportunity is the real wild card. Choices to move ahead or change come at often random and unexpected times. It can be a narrow window or gate to go through. You just have to always be prepared to make a crucial move whether in your life or career. Brad
I hear you, Brad. You never know who or what will become an unseen opportunity. Kinda scary and kinda exciting. Be on the lookout, as you say.
This is great! Where does learning knowledge and leadership skills fit?
Great question, Kelly. Perhaps in the support bucket? What do you think?
I think that they would fall into both the support and work catagories. Once you have received them from the support you have to work at the implementation of it in your life and work environment.
I appreciate the message, but there are socially constructed elements of success which shouldn’t be overlooked. Harvard’s Opportunity Insights says 2 things create inventors: Strong STEM skills and wealthy parents. Tall people, beautiful people (by society standards), white men, and wealth are factors that have a lot of research behind them showing these create success. Obviously, many people achieve success without these, but like talent they are given not earned – and they create lots of opportunity.
Thanks, Bonnie. Love where your mind went. There probably are more than four factors to success. I just couldn’t think of them. I put the things you mention in the bucket of good fortune (Opportunity). But I’m not going to quibble. Thanks again for jumping in.
BTW your comment reminded me that if I define the four factors broadly enough they will include everything.
I love it. When I looked at it very closely, I saw SWOT, the strategy acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In our case here, it’s Support + Work + Opportunities + Talents. Easy way to remember, I guess. Now that I think about it again, the purpose of SWOT in the business sense is to find solutions to problems = finding success. Finally, I would add CONSISTENCY as a force multiplier. Thanks Dan for the wisdom. PK
Wow, an acronym!! Love it, Phil. Going to the gym once won’t make a difference. Going consistently will, assuming you exercise when you get there.
Great article. I agree with Jennifer Paperman’s comment about a ladder with 4 legs. You will struggle to succeed if you are not balanced in your approach. All 4 buckets are dependent on doing your part. Talent will only get you so far if you don’t put in the work. Wise leaders will always seek support and recognize both the need for and giver of the support. I believe that opportunities come to us all based on work, talent, and the supprot that we have received. As you mentioned it is seeing/recognizing the opprotunity and responding to it. Many times opportunity has knocked and we may not have recognized it for what it was, or we turned away because we didn’t fell that we were talented enough. What qualifies you for that opportunity is how you choose to respond to it.