Have you ever wondered why some people become successful while others don’t? Or, perhaps you’re wondering how to become successful and more accomplished in your own life.
If so, you are not alone as most of us would like to elevate ourselves beyond where we currently are.
That said, time will pass as it always does. And with its passing we will see who actually did the things necessary to become successful and who didn’t.
It is easy to tell those who are looking for guidance on how to be successful to simply work harder. Of course hard work is necessary, but this advice doesn’t give direction on steps to take toward success.
Fortunately, this article does just that as I introduce a framework that will teach you how to be successful. I call it success stacking and it is how I’ve achieved practically all of my life’s accomplishments.
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From Rock Bottom To Successful In Five Years
This article came about through recent reflections on how my life has unfolded over the last several years.
After hitting rock bottom in 2018, I was determined to change my life for the better. Practically everything was going wrong in my life in those days.
Financially speaking, I was dead broke and unable to pay my bills each month. I was also grappling with a miserable career where I was underpaid and overworked.
Fortunately, things are quite different today. I’m now in control of my money and I managed to escape the miserable career for greener pastures which include a six figure income. In addition to paying off $242,000 worth of debt and a career change, I’ve had a few other major accomplishments such as:
- Launching Breaking Broke in October 2022
- Achieving a top 15% income for 2023
- Earning an MBA in 2021
- Being promoted at 2 fortune 500 companies
Sure, I’m still a pretty ordinary guy but these are decent accomplishments for a kid who grew up in poverty and graduated college with a 2.4 gpa. Looking back, I attribute these accomplishments to my success stacking approach.
So how does success stacking actually work? Let’s dive into that now.
Stacking Small Wins To Become Successful
In short, success stacking is all about systematically and consistently stacking small wins over time. Rather than focusing on the larger goal, success stacking comes down to intense focus on the next best action that inches you forward.
For example, a person hoping to earn a promotion would focus on the daily/weekly tasks that will please their boss. If done consistently, they should reasonably expect that promotion in time.
Sounds simple doesn’t it? That would be because the approach is quite simple at a very high level.
Nonetheless, the difficulty is in the details which we will cover next. Afterall, everyone would do it if becoming successful was easy.
The Dos and Don’ts Of Becoming Successful
I’ve seen all manner of people attempting to become successful over the years. On the positive side, I’ve had the pleasure of watching a few people reach their goal of becoming successful. At the same time, many others have stalled, outright quit, or completely crashed and burned in their pursuit of success.
What was the difference between the successes and the failures? It seems to all come down to their approach.
That is, those who achieved great things approached the process of becoming successful the right way. On the flip side, the people who failed mostly did so because they set out with faulty principles.
Let’s explore these principles to establish a basis for the success stacking framework.
Set A Realistic Vision For Success
I’ve had several conversations with acquaintances in recent months that centered upon their goals and ambitions. Interestingly, one thing I noticed in these conversations is that people often lacked a solid vision for what they actually wanted to accomplish.
For example, one pal mentioned that he wanted to partner with me on something, but could not say exactly what that something was.
At the most basic level, becoming successful starts with having a clear vision for what realistic success looks like. This is important because a clear vision enables us to make plans and direct our efforts. Without a clear vision that is realistic, most people never start because they don’t truly know where they want to go or they know they can’t actually achieve an unrealistic goal.
Think Long Term To Become Successful
Time is your friend when it comes to achieving success. As an input toward achievement, time is critical because most successes must be built over an extended period. Listening to any moderately successful person speak about how they did it will confirm this.
That said, many fail to recognize this as they seek to rush the process or circumvent it altogether. This is exactly why get rich quick schemes are so effective. Individuals peddling those tactics know that humans are impatient and will gladly take advantage of that weakness.
Extending your time horizon for achieving success is a prudent strategy as it will give you time to learn, grow, and build toward your goal. Much can be achieved in this manner as long as you are consistent.
Accept That Hard Work Is Required For Success
No worthy accomplishment is achieved easily. If things were easy, everyone would do them which is why we marvel at those who achieve great things. We know that the highest achievers put in a lot of time, effort, and energy toward their goal.
Instinctively, we know that hard work is required, but we are not always willing to do what it takes. We often don’t achieve things due to challenges with our attention, energy, and motivation.
That said, it is important that you embrace hard work before you embark on your journey toward success. This is because your level of effort will likely be the single biggest determinant in your success or failure.
Don’t Gamble Or Take Unnecessary Risk When Trying For Success
The no risk, no reward mantra is true when it comes to achieving success. Simply put, you must take some risks to achieve major things.
Taking risk could mean sacrificing a significant amount of time toward an endeavor with an unknown payout. It could also mean putting yourself out there in scary new ways in hopes of creating new opportunities.
That said, it is important to properly distinguish between calculated risks and gambling.
The difference between the two is that calculated risk involves measuring probability of success, accepting uncertainty, and still expecting positive results. Gambling, on the other hand, involves wagering inputs such as time or money in hopes that you will get lucky.
Don’t Seek Out Shortcuts To Success
Shortcuts to success are enticing because we believe they will make the path easier. Ironically, this is hardly ever the case as they usually result in setbacks.
I mentioned in a previous article that trying to get rich quickly is one of the things we should never do with our money. Instead, the prudent approach is to select worthwhile endeavors and work hard to see them through.
Compared to a shortcut, hard work is actually hard to do. But on a positive note, hard work is much more of a sure thing because you control the inputs and eliminate unnecessary risk.
The Success Stacking Process
With the basics understood, you are now equipped with the knowledge on how to become successful. You have a solid vision for what realistic success looks like, are prepared to work hard for it, and understand that time is your friend. You also have eliminated gambling and shortcuts from your toolkit.
So what are the steps to actually stack up some successes? Let’s dive into that now.
Focus On A Single Goal
In this step you will identify what is important to you and set that as your sole focus for accomplishing. In doing so, you will eliminate noise and distractions that can take you off course. You will also benefit from having clarity which will help in the next step of making a plan.
To identify your goal, simply ask yourself this: What is my one thing?
Your one thing is the goal you would select if you were literally constrained to pursuing only one endeavor for a period of time. In other words, it is the most important thing you would like to accomplish at the moment.
Establish A Plan For Success
I was recently telling someone about the major goals I have and they challenged me by asking specifics about my plan – which I didn’t really know. Thankfully, that conversation revealed to me that I had work to do on my plan if I really want to achieve my goals.
By the same token, developing a plan for success is important for achieving your goals. A plan is powerful because it gives you a set of steps and a direction to embark upon. A plan is also beneficial because it allows you to focus on the next best action – which is the secret sauce of the entire framework.
Even if your plan isn’t perfect, you will be better off with one than without.
Your plan can and should always be updated to reflect new realities, learnings, and obstacles. Therefore, you will never be locked in with a plan.
Intensely Focus On The Next Best Action
Even with a plan, there are many possible tasks to complete at any given moment. Unfortunately, having so many things to get done can cause a great deal of confusion. As a result, many people become overwhelmed and stall out or give up.
The success stacking framework overcomes the challenge of having an infinite amount of tasks by focusing your attention on the single best next step at any given moment.
In doing so, you will harness the power of focus as you complete a step that you are confident will move you forward.
For example, a person looking to start a business may need to work on a business plan, licensing, product development, and staffing. There would be no way for them to achieve all of these tasks at the same time, so they will pick one area and drive that to completion before going on to the next task.
In time, this person will complete all of the tasks on their list and have their business successfully launched.
Lock In Your Successes
Success is fleeting. Or, to put it differently, successes are never permanent and must be maintained in order for them to stay long term. This is why we see some businesses survive for decades while others fall. The ones that succeed long term constantly grow, evolve, and reinvent themselves.
In similar fashion, an important part of success stacking is locking in your achievements.
Let’s take for instance someone working hard for a work promotion. Once promoted, this person can easily rest on their laurels by stopping the effort that made them successful. This would be a shortsighted approach as they were promoted based on the higher level of performance and will likely fail with lower effort.
It could be helpful to envision success stacking as a literal set of layered building blocks.
Each layer of success bolsters the next higher level and removing a lower level can tumble the entire system. Therefore, you must ensure that you do what is necessary to lock in your previous successes before moving on to the next thing.
This is an important step for avoiding what we commonly refer to as “setbacks”.
Five Years In The Past + Five Years In The Future
Think about where you were five years ago and consider the progress you’ve made over that time. Are you where you hoped you would be?
Follow this by thinking about where you envision yourself five years from today. Do you have a plan for getting there?
Personally, I have some pretty lofty goals to achieve in the next five years and feel extremely confident that I will accomplish most of them thanks to the approach outlined above.
Only time will tell how successful I actually am, but I feel good knowing my path is set.
Knowing how to be successful is not always intuitive. Additionally, there are many paths toward success. There is nothing revolutionary about the success stacking principle, but it does give you a framework to work from.
Look no further if you’re seeking guidance on how to become successful. Afterall, the most important thing to any success is actually getting started and not giving up. So with that, I bid you good luck toward your future achievements.