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The creator and founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK also created a formula for putting together a successful business. Effort x Focus x Faith = Success. Seems simple enough, right? But you have to start playing with the numbers. If on any given day, you give only a half effort (50%), half focus, and have half faith, you only get 12.5% chance of success. 80% of each ingredient gives you 51.2% chance of success. 90% of each finally gets you into a “passing” chance of success with 72.8%. You have to give higher than 90% of each element to really make your odds excellent.
I hope I didn’t lose you in all the math, but I think the lesson learned from it is worth the number crunching. First, let’s talk about the elements he chose for the formula. Effort is the easy one. Most everyone would agree that a successful business, a long-term goal, or anything else worth having, comes from effort, hard work and everything that it entails. If I am trying to lose weight, I have to put in the effort. A successful marriage takes effort. So effort is the no-brainer.
Focus is interesting. Focus is the ability to stay on task, and it is more difficult in today’s society than it used to be. Technology threatens our focus every day. Children threaten our focus. It’s easy to let millions of little things threaten our focus, but without focus, our effort has no target. I can work at 100%, but without focus, it will never mean anything. Without focus, my effort takes a shotgun approach and is scattered across the sky. I might as well not even put forth the effort.
Faith. Faith seems like the odd element out here at first glance. Faith is believing in myself but also in my goal. Faith is the element that brings the hard work and focus together. I can work hard toward my goal; I can focus on my goal, but if I don’t believe I can get there, I will talk my brain out of success every time. I have to really believe (at more than 90%) if I am going to be successful. It's also worth mentioning here that faith requires no evidence. I may never have saved $10,000 before or lost 50 lbs or gotten a promotion, but I BELIEVE I CAN. It is so powerful to believe something, truly know it, with no evidence to back it up other than a faith in yourself to accomplish the goals you set!
What do you want to accomplish in life? Do you want to start your own business? Lose weight? Learn to love yourself? All of your goals require you to truly believe they are possible. Do you spend time each day visualizing your goal? Do you think about what it’s going to be like WHEN you get there? You have to do these things to truly have faith in achieving your goal. Then you have to focus on getting it. What is the path for getting there? What do you need to do first, second, third, etc? What is your backup plan if one of the steps doesn’t work out? You can’t give up (lose your faith) if your focus falters. You have to stay focused on your goal even as things go wrong. You have to figure out all of the ways to fail to find success. And then you have to work hard all the way there. Even if you fail at one of the steps, you keep putting forth the effort and believing you will get there.
I love the way these three elements work together. So often in life I get caught up in working hard, but I wear myself out before I realize I’m not working in a focused way, or I start having “little quits” because I don’t really believe I’m going to get there. If you need someone to help you focus your plan and teach you to believe in yourself, I’d love to be your guide on the journey. Until then, much love!
