The Secret to Being Successful? Don’t Follow Your Passion

• February 24, 2021

 

Everyone wants to be successful. 

 

Our society is so success-driven, you can find someone happy to sell you a book, online course, or multi-day seminar dedicated to helping you find success just about everywhere. 

 

Recently, I had the pleasure of talking to the creator of The Secret Knock and my friend, Greg Reid, award-winning author of more than 100 books — thirty-two alone were best-sellers in 45 different languages. He also travels the world meeting some of the most powerful and influential people alive and writes about their success so the rest of us can implement their methods in our daily lives.  

“Not a bad gig (for a guy) with dyslexia,” Greg says.  

 

Not a bad gig at all, I have to say. Since Greg has talked to so many people across the success spectrum, I had to ask him what’s the one thing people need to achieve a high level of success.  

 

His answer: CPC. Clues, patterns, and choices. 

 

“Looking back in life, If I were to learn this one technique would have changed many things, Greg said. “It works like this: accountability and responsibility for every single thing that happens. Stop blaming other people. It’s your fault.” 

 

To illustrate his point, Greg used the example of a first date. 

 

“Let’s say I go on a first date, and the woman happens to be 20 minutes late. Anything could have happened, but there’s a little red flag. It’s a clue. But if I go on the fifth, sixth, and seventh date. Every time she’s 20 minutes late that forms the P, the pattern. And now it’s my C, choice whether I deal with it. Yell at her. Break up with (her), but it’s not her fault. She’s just late. Stop trying to change people to fit in your little own paradigm box,” Greg said. 

 

CPCs are applicable to business relationships as well. Often, we work with people who have bad reputations but you think you’ll be the one to break that pattern and things will be different with you. Inevitably, things go wrong, and you wonder why. 

 

“It’s like seeing a rattlesnake rattle. Bite your kid sister, you go to pet it, get bit, and you’re mad at the snake,” Greg said. “Looking back in life, we’re never angry at the relationships that didn’t go good or the business practices. We’re angry that we stayed in too long because we saw the clue. We saw the pattern, but we made our choices a little bit too late.” 

We also talked about wealth as it relates to success. Greg and I both agree that the age-old advice of following your passion and prosperity will follow is bad advice. I can’t think of one person who says they have a passion for garbage, yet people have made millions in waste management. Greg says he came to this revelation after asking a multi-billionaire a simple question: Why are you wealthy and I’m not?  

 

“Because you believe all the BS lie is that you’re spreading to the world,” the billionaire told him.  

“(The billionaire) pulled out his cell phone, and it had a meme that I put out there that said ‘follow your passion and not a paycheck,'” Greg recalled. “(The billionaire) said, ‘and you wonder why you’re broke, you idiot.’ The richest people that were millionaires and lost all their money 100% of them did that, following their passion. (The billionaire) said ‘no one that’s a wealthy billionaire ever lost their money because what they’re doing is constantly looking for opportunities, and they use that wealth and prosperity to finance their passions.'”  

 

This billionaire also told Greg, “We own the stadiums and the football teams that people following their passion are giving their brain matter on the field for just a few million bucks. It’s just a different perspective. You can be rich, or you can be wealthy. It’s up to you.” 

  

Before you eventually earn your wealth, Greg says you should prepare for your success. He admits it sounds weird, but it can pay off.  

 

“When (success) comes, it’s going to come so fast and furious. You better be prepared for it. It’s like a slingshot. It’s been pulled back, pulled back, pulled back. Well, when that lets go and goes forward, I’m telling you, I want to be sitting on that train ready to rock and roll,” Greg says. “All I’ve been doing is setting myself and positioning myself for success. I did not over pivot like everyone saying, what I did is I hunker down and I stayed true to my core values.” 

 

Staying true to your core, or what I call walk away values, is essential. You should draw that line in the sand early. Then you’ll be better prepared for what’s next. 

 

Greg and I spoke during a private C-Suite Network event. We turned part of our conversation into an episode of my podcast, All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett. When you become part of the C-Suite Network, you immediately gain access to unique content, like this networking event, with some of the brightest minds in business. For half the cost of a business lunch, we can help you become the most strategic person in the room. Click here to learn more.