Success – According to the Collins English dictionary, success is “the favourable outcome of something attempted”.
If you were to ask twenty random people what success meant to them I am in no doubt you would get twenty very different answers. If you were to ask those same twenty people if they would celebrate success, you would again get back a variety of answers, ranging from “no” to “absolutely”. Why is it that something that is seemingly very simple can cause such differing responses from people.
In business you will also get a vast array of responses, and a lot of this comes down to the business owners and their attitude to:
- themselves;
- their customers;
- their staff.
There are scores of platitudes about learning from failure, and while it is possible to learn great lessons from life’s clunkers, neuroscience now shows us that nothing succeeds like success.
Have you ever had that golf game, presentation or some other challenge where everything you do with that challenge is golden? Then, the next day, you go at it again and you mess up one time and–bam! You can’t seem to get in the groove.
There is a brain-based reason for that, and the more aware of it you are, the more you can create success momentum in your business.
Here’s what goes on that makes success so…well, successful. When you’re learning something new and you have a success, even a small one, your brain gets a little reward bump of the pleasure neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is used to thicken the neural pathways needed to learn a new skill. Your brain is drawn to activities that give you those little pleasure bumps. You can actually become addicted to success.
But the big news is that the more you succeed, the longer your brain retains the proper information to help you succeed again.
Look for the low hanging fruit within your company – small successes that everyone can participate in because its a good way to get the snowball of success and high morale rolling, particularly when things are going badly.
When you discuss mistakes, ensure you don’t just focus on the what-not-to-do part of it.
If you want to head down the path of success, you have to understand what is correct and try the successful behaviour until you have a positive outcome.
Atlassian is a name that should be known to every Australian business owner. This is a great example of an Australian business, owned by two mates, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar.
‘Build everything with heart and balance’- a small gem that set us all on the path to success, one of Atlassian’s value statements from a 2010 presentation on ‘ The Business of Software’ by Scott Farquhar.
By being the change you seek, you are actively celebrating your success each and every moment so that you stop doing and start being what you want to be… SUCCESSFUL!
