Four Reasons Why Ability Is Not Enough for Success

If you want to be successful in any field, it’s clearly important to have the necessary ability but, the truth is, ability is not enough on its own. It’s only the first part of the jigsaw.

For example, before you can win a major tennis championship, it’s obviously useful if you are good at tennis or at least able and willing to work hard at learning.

It’s the same in business. Your best chance of success comes if you work in an area that reflects your personal strengths.

And, in both cases, it helps if you enjoy what you are doing – as your passion will keep you going through those long hours and all the challenges.

According to research in the field of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), there are four main elements that determine how successful you will be in any aspect of life.

Element 1: Capabilities
The first key is your capabilities. You will only be able to get the outcome you want if you’ve got the right skills, abilities and knowledge to achieve it.

Of course, you might need to improve your capabilities and learn more.

The problem for some people is that they never get off the treadmill of learning new things. The secret of success is taking full advantage of your existing expertise.

Napoleon Hill said: “I ask not for more riches, but more wisdom to use the riches I already have.”

That means make the most of your existing knowledge and skills before spending time and money acquiring more.

One of the fastest ways of enhancing your own capabilities is to ‘model’ strategies others have followed to become successful and then adapt your own behavior to match theirs.

This is not about copying other people but is about learning from their success. You have your own perspective to add that will make you different.

And, of course, a key secret of successful people is that they play to their strengths rather than wasting time on their weaknesses.

Where you lack the right capabilities, you can seek the help of others through partnerships, employing people and outsourcing.

But you need to identify a core strength or capability that people will pay for if you want to sustain a business.

Here are some key questions to think about:

• What capability and expertise do you have that other people want and will pay for?
• How can you build on that capability and your strengths to help your business?
• In what areas do you lack the capabilities you need and how can you best resolve that?
• Do your capabilities make you more suited to a different business?

Element 2: Beliefs
Even when you have the capability, it won’t deliver for you without being matched by a belief in yourself.

Henry Ford said, “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.”

Your beliefs are what you hold to be true, and they determine what you can and can’t do.

For example, if you have the skills of a great tennis player, but don’t really believe you are good enough, you simply won’t succeed.

Skills and abilities on their own aren’t enough for success – whether in tennis or business.

Hesitation and lack of belief is one of the main issues that holds business owners back from the success they could have.

In holding themselves back, they’re not only disempowering themselves, they’re also depriving others of the contribution that they can make.

Many people hold back because they are waiting for someone to give them the encouragement or endorsement they need. Often, their hesitation is encouraged by others around them who hold them back with comments like “that’s too much work” or “it’ll never happen”.

These people often pay too much attention to ‘gurus’ who may have less expertise than they do.

In general, your best chance of success in business is by choosing an area where you already know you have strengths that you can build on. That will help ensure you have the belief that you need.

So, to consider how your beliefs are helping you – or holding you back – think about this:

• On a scale of 1 – 100, how much do you believe in your own ability to deliver the business success that you want?
• What 3 steps can you take now to improve your score and enhance your belief in yourself?

So capability and belief are the first two keys to success.

Tomorrow, in the next part of this series, we’ll look at the other two.

In the meantime, for more on the secrets of success and how to achieve it quickly, check out Success Mindset Power

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Tagged as: beliefs, Capability, napoleon hill, Neuro-linguistic Programming, NLP, Success Mindset