Addicted To Success

I wanted to talk about the positive powers of addiction – and it stands to reason that I should share the best advice on the subject that I’ve heard so far. Here are some excerpts from a chapter out of Michael Masterson’s book, “Confessions of a Self-Made MultiMillionaire”. The chapter is titled: “The Junkie’s Secret”.

Three habits of a highly successful drug addict

1. He works longer hours. Addicts hustle for money every waking hour.
2. He works with a single-minded purpose. Nothing matters except getting the money he needs for his fix. And so is never diverted from his goal. He can’t be.
3. Most important: He does WHATEVER IT TAKES to get his dough.

If you study the lives of the world’s most successful people you will discover that they all did the following:

• worked long and hard
• managed to be enormously focused
• did whatever it took to succeed

Something to think about, isn’t it?

Working long and hard is important to success. And having determination and focus is important too. But to achieve really big goals … to climb into a whole new category … you have to do more.

You can keep doing what you’ve done so far, you can stick to the same habits but you’ll never reach your goals that way. They can only be achieved through the willingness to do whatever it takes, including things that are risky, uncomfortable, new, worrisome or even dangerous.

Tapping Into Your Inner Addict

Somewhere inside you there is a fire burning. It’s your core desire. Left untapped, it will scorch your inside. Vented, it will give you the energy, the imagination, and the boldness to do what it takes to win.

It is damn hard to get a new venture going, to launch a new career, or to really break away from the past. It is difficult because it’s different. And because it requires you to go beyond your “comfort zone”.

Take a look at your “to-do” list for today as an example. There is probably something there you don’t want to do. You know it is important. You have highlighted it. Yet you are reluctant to do it.

Maybe it’s making a difficult phone call. Or performing a tedious task. It is highly likely it is something that you’re not comfortable with. That’s why you haven’t done it so far.

If you want to achieve more than you have ever achieved, you have to be willing to do more than you have ever done before. You need to commit yourself, put in the hours, stay focused, and yes, do that unpleasant but very necessary task.

The addict’s quotidian objective is not a preference. It is not a goal. He must – absolutely must – get his fix, and he knows it. For him, failure is not an option.

If you could somehow drum up a physical need to achieve your primary goals – if each day you could approach your primary success-building tasks with the same intensity a junkie gives his crack habit – absolutely nothing could stop you.

Pretend for a moment that you ARE an addict and that getting your fix depends on accomplishing the one goal that escapes you. What – if your physical well being depending on it – would you do to absolutely, positively (failure is not an option) succeed?

Set aside your qualms. Ignore your fears, at least for the moment. If nothing else mattered, what is it that you would do?

Got it? Good.

Now ask yourself, honestly, why you are not doing that? Do you have a moral objection? A doubt? A fear of failing? Get those feelings out and take a hard look at them. That’s what’s keeping you from what you desire.

Face your feelings squarely. Think about how they are blocking you. If you do that fully and honestly today, you will have accomplished a lot.