Successful people have many traits in common, I would like to talk about just two of them this week, High Demand and Burnout. Over the past 25+ years I have read, studied, acted and experienced thousands of hours on what it takes to be successful. I will confess that my research is not scientific, but instead based on sweat, blood and tears learning from situations and people that I have coached, interviewed or met along the way.
In my 25+ years of experience it has led me to understand that all successful people have high demands on their time, face the possibility of burnout, and in some cases do burnout. Let’s talk about high demand. This has a few different meanings for successful people. High demand is not only about time required in the public view but it is also the individual’s high demand for him/herself to get things done. Amazingly successful people have the same amount of time as everyone else in the world, 24 hours in a day, but somehow they squeeze every once out. They demand this from themselves. It is not something they allow to be done by others to them, rather successful people have a higher standard as to how to use their time effectively and efficiently. This is something many successful people have learned during their long journey; few people have this innately. Curiously, they all mentioned that this was a learned habit over years, and much was learned through failing multiple times. High demands are in many cases for high achievers, another way of saying, I have high standards of myself. Their refusal to lose creates high demands for them and their time. Learning how to create a system to avoid others robbing time will be essential in your success and avoid burnout.
Speaking of burnout, why is it that successful people (for the most part), avoid burnout? To be fair there were a few cases in which I encountered burnout victims. What I learned from the burnout victim’s vs non-burnouts was that as I read and discussed more on this topic, it was fascinating to know that successful people didn’t feel as though they were burning out or had burnout. They understood the reason or reasons they engaged in the business or their area of expertise, and it was not about gaining notoriety or fame and fortune. They genuinely cared and loved what they were doing regardless of how much work it was or how much failure they encountered. In fact, the failures became the fuel that lead them to breakthroughs to their success. They understood that many people or organizations may think they are nuts or crazy, but they loved the process of learning something they were interested in, not dreading the work or feeling shackled to it. It was even more clear why the burnouts didn’t succeed. Their purpose for doing what they were doing is based on winning outcomes or results, not on what they would learn or with a mindset of how they can master the game of golf or the business that they are in. Burnout, as I have come to understand, is caused from a lack of purposeful engagement to learn, create and master.
If your goal is to be “successful” define what that is for you; success is up to the individual. With this being said, to be successful, you must understand high demand and burnout are a part of the equation. Start with the questions, “what does success mean to me,” and” why do I want what I want.” Then forget about the outcome and go for it!
Enjoy your Journey!
