Recently we read an article in Inc. Magazine about the discovery of a Formula For Success!
Well, seems like writers will write anything for the sake of circulation and traction. And even professional academicians such as Northwestern University physicist Albert-László Barabási, an expert on network theory, jumped on the bandwagon of trying to explain the formula for success.
And “bingo” they claim that the formula is as easy as: S = Qr.
The Inc. Magazine article summarizes it as:
“…Success, or S, is the product of r, the potential value of a given idea, and Q, a person’s ability to execute on that idea–i.e., their “Q-factor,” or combination of innate talent and skill, which makes them effective or not in their chosen field.
“So, if an individual with a low Q-factor comes across a great idea with a huge r value, the impact will still be mediocre, as the resulting product–or Qr–is diminished by the small Q-factor. Fantastic idea, poor execution. Think Apple’s first handheld Newton, with its inept handwriting recognition. The reverse also happens: A creative person with a high Q-factor can put out multiple weak or mediocre–or low r–products,” explains Barabási.
Occasionally, a great idea and exceptional skill collide. That’s when you get epic success…”
Then, they go on explaining how this impacts us the lay people…
Look, there has been tens of thousands, if not multiple more, articles, about success, what is it, how to achieve it, what to do and so on. But no matter how you slice this pie, the only thing that matter is the focus on E-X-E-C-U-T-I-O-N. The rest, well it’s there for the fillings…
So here is a summary of the Barabási stuff:
THE FORMULA: The Universal Laws of Success
By Albert-László Barabási
The First Law
Performance drives success. But when performance can’t be measured, networks drive success.
The Second Law
Performance is bounded, but success is unbounded.
The Third Law
Previous success × fitness = future success.
The Fourth Law
Whereas team success requires diversity and balance, a single individual will receive credit for the group’s achievements.
The Fifth Law
With persistence, success can come at any time or age.
But, there is a better success formula which has been around for NINETY (90) years before Barabási’s 2018 blog!
Let us put on a better twist on this SUCCESS thing and add our favorite insights by Napoleon Hill’s “THE LAW OF SUCCESS IN SIXTEEN LESSONS, Teaching, for the First Time in the History of the World, the True Philosophy upon which all Personal Success is Built”, which Hill wrote in 1928. Yes, that’s 90 years ago.
Here we go:
Fifteen Laws of Success:
I. A DEFINITE CHIEF AIM do away forever with aimlessness and fix your heart and hand upon some definite, well-conceived purpose.
II. SELF-CONFIDENCE master the difference between egotism and real self-confidence which is based upon definite, usable knowledge.
III. HABIT OF SAVING the will to steadily accumulate knowledge and thus forming one of the greatest known sources of personal power.
IV. INITIATIVE & LEADERSHIP learn to become a leader instead of a follower in your chosen field of endeavor. It will develop in you the instinct for leadership which will cause you gradually to gravitate to the top in all undertakings in which you participate.
V. IMAGINATION stimulate your mind so that you will conceive new ideas and develop new plans which will help you in attaining the object of your Definite Chief Aim.
VI. ENTHUSIASM will enable you to “saturate” all with whom you come in contact with interest in you and in your ideas. Enthusiasm is the foundation of a Pleasing Personality.
VII. SELF-CONTROL is the “balance wheel” with which you control your enthusiasm and direct it where you wish it to carry you.
VIII. THE HABIT OF DOING MORE THAN REQUIRED take advantage of the Law of Increasing Returns, which will eventually insure you a return far out of Proportion to the service you render.
IX. PLEASING PERSONALITY with THIS EMOTIONAL intelligence you will enable you to remove mountains of obstacles.
X. ACCURATE & FOCUSED THINKING is one of the important foundation stones of all enduring success. Separate “facts” from mere “information” and “assumptions” Organize known facts into two classes: the “important” and the “unimportant.”
XI. CONCENTRATION how to focus your attention upon ONE subject at a time until you have worked out practical plans for mastering that subject.
XII. COOPERATION & COLLABORATION learn and use the value of team-work in all you do. Co-ordinate your own efforts with those of others, in such a manner that friction, jealousy, strife, envy and cupidity will be totally eliminated.
XIII. PROFITING BY FAILURE learn how to make stepping stones out of all of your past and future mistakes and failures. Know the difference between “failure” and “temporary defeat,” a difference which is very great and very important.
XIV. TOLERANCE do not poison your mind with prejudices which will entangled you in foolish argument over these subjects, thereby poisoning your own minds and closing the door to reason and investigation. Intolerance makes enemies of those who should be friends. It destroys opportunity and fills the mind with doubt, mistrust and prejudice.
XV. PRACTICING THE GOLDEN RULE make use of this great universal law of human conduct in such a manner that you may easily get harmonious co-operation from any individual or group of individuals.
Lack of understanding of the law upon which the Golden Rule philosophy is based is one of the major causes of failure.
So lets us stop putting labels and formulas for success, the solution for success is nothing new, and many will try to summarize it and put it into other perspectives and meanings, but at the end of the day the Law Of Success is a combination of all the above with a pinch of “HIGHLY FOCUSED EXECUTION”
Let us know if you want a copy of Napoleon Hills’ book. It’s about 1,00 pages but worth every line and we can send you a PDF copy of it.