“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody” -Bill Cosby.

Really simple thing to think about this week. Who in the Radical Nation has the ever-important “Key To Success”? Anybody? Does anyone have a hint, or even a clue? Probably not, and in that I’m not really surprised. This ethereal “Key” means different things to different people, the same way we judge success or failure. One person may see filling 5 requisitions in one day as a miracle feat; where someone else may judge it as a normal day in the park…. Do they both see it as a success ? Certainly, but to different degrees of satisfaction.

On the one hand, Person “A” may finally be seeing success after weeks of trying to tie up loose ends, where Person “B” may have been fortunate (again!) to be in the right spot at the right time. Both succeeded, but their methodology was different. Success means different things to all of us, and to say we will be “Successful” 100% of the time could be seen as a trifle misleading; as not one of us are that darn good!

Each day we have to be willing to sit in the trenches, dig through the muck to find the potential “diamond in the rough” that could put us nearer to the top of our chosen field. Some days may seem easier than others; most days will leave us questioning why we got up that morning… and still we trek forward. Falling back on past glories is not in the cards, neither is finding a better workplace “Just because..” Success is fickle, If I’m wrong then I am plying my trade in the wrong industry. Earlier this year, at Radical Quebec, I made some statements which I will not repeat here, suffice it to say, the reaction was a trifle negative. For me that was good, because in that one instance I received a response of validation to a topic I hold close to my heart—Working with people to make them better at what they do!

Do I claim to possess all the answers? NO! but I do provide a point of view for discussion which will, without a doubt, occasionally cause controversy, and possibly the odd disagreement towards my stand. And that is good, anytime someone is talking about you, good or bad, you have just done your job, because YOU are CAUSING talk about something, some people may see as mundane. In sales we had our ABC’s (Always Be Closing), because if you weren’t, then someone else on your team would, with pleasure, close out a deal you may have been working on for weeks, but negotiated yourself into a corner. Does the store want profits? Certainly! Is it already built into the margin? Definitely. No business succeeds long without profit; the same as no sourcer or recruiter will give the office away over one close. You are all only as good as the last big deal, or the last time you made a wave in the office. Good or bad- always try to create “success” in every meeting or transaction you accomplish on a daily basis. The client doesn’t know this yet, but you have already got them seeing your potential at “Hello” and they WANT and are BEGGING to do business with you!

Why do we make being successful in business so hard for so many and so long? Two reasons: 1. Because we can and 2. Because we know no other way. Success to many is just being able to look in the mirror and say to that other someone “We did it!”. And sometimes that just has to be enough. The magic answer isn’t easy to find, and if anyone other than Radical Recruit or Recruiting Animal can show me where is the flaw in my logic… Please, have at ‘er… because at the end of the day, success will take the form we least expect, and that will have to be okay; or else we will continue on our unending quest of disappointment, both in ourselves and towards others. Let’s face it: it’s those others that pay all the bills. So let’s dazzle them with our brilliance and blind them with our bullishness and knack for the right answer at the right time; because without conversation, or controversy, success is just like talking to yourself—Lonely and hollow; as the answers are there, but the audience has left the building.

Be successful and see yourself as a success, not just today; but every day you rise in the morning, head to Tim’s, SB or McD for coffee, and make the exciting trek to the office. Everyday is a new adventure, grasp it with all you can and fulfill a dream or two along the way!

Thanks, The Key to Success is closer than you think, and NO! it does NOT open the door to the executive washroom…(I already tried!) Until next week…

I AM The Sourcers’ Apprentice and Tuesday D.J. of this shindig

Daniel J. Smith

©2011 thedanieljsmith

Feel free to comment below on what you think Success should be based on? I know what I think…How about You?