Editor’s note: This article was first published in October 2022. Its reference to something ‘recently discovered by younger internet users’ describes 2022.
Brian Tracy’s famous course, which runs to more than seven hours, has recently been discovered by younger internet users. In one part of it, the legendary Brian Tracy gives an explanation, as masterful as it is simple, of what people need to succeed in life. And you really only need two things.
Most people think that to succeed you need intelligence, luck, connections or good looks, among other things. And the truth is that all of that can help. That’s undeniable. But as Brian Tracy says, and as we can see today if we take a look at the successful people around us, we can safely say that there is no direct correlation between those requirements and success.
None at all. Having a high IQ doesn’t guarantee that you’ll do well in life. In the same way, studying doesn’t guarantee success. Nor does working hard, if you’re not channelling that effort in the right direction. So what does it take to succeed?
The key to success according to Brian Tracy
Tracy came up with a simple formula to explain it:
C x E = Results
For Tracy, it all starts with the “C”, which stands for comprehension: knowing where we are, how we should do things and where we want to go. That “C” is then multiplied by the “E”, which is effort.
If we have a good understanding and put in effort aimed in the right direction, the result can become inevitable.
See also: The parable of success: the gold prospector
In other words, the key to success is as simple as making an unshakeable decision to start going after what you want and learning everything you need to get it.
And to this we should add something we’ve repeated until we’re blue in the face: start today, even if you don’t know how it’s done. Learn along the way. Start even if you don’t have the means you think you need. Just start with what you have to get what you want.
See also: How long does it take to learn a skill or become an expert?
There’s no ideal starting point for deciding to pursue success. The ideal starting point for you is exactly where you are now, because you have to accept your situation not as it should be, but as it actually is for you.
In short, you could be starting from a more advantageous position, but you don’t have that advantage. You could have more resources, but you don’t. You could be much smarter, but right now you aren’t. So this is where you need to apply the main message I keep coming back to, which basically boils down to:
“Deal with it and keep going.”
And you keep going from wherever you are, using whatever you have at hand, even if you don’t quite know how everything is done and even if you can’t see the road clearly. As the Spanish poet Antonio Machado put it, “Traveller, there is no road. The road is made by walking.”
See also: If you want to succeed, there are 10 things you need to be very clear about
Featured image: Metro Centric, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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