Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 39 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

The Secret Sauce of Success – Part 2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 39 of our Trek. Yesterday and today we are looking at the 20 ingredients that make up the secret sauce that will make you successful.  Just like secret sauces being applied to a good BBQ or steak, the ingredients that make up the Wisdom-Trek Secret Sauce should be applied to both our personal and business lives to help make us successful. We need these ingredients to permeate our very essences so that it brings out the best in everything that we do.

If you missed yesterday’s podcast or journal, make sure you listen to it or read the journal so you will learn what the first 10 ingredients are.  As mentioned yesterday, apply these ingredients and then be authentic, be transparent, and be the person that you would like to see in others.

Today we are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The workload continues to be very brisk as we are helping to ramp up a new construction project in Mesa, Arizona, along with a heavy workload with our other clients.  Life is never boring, and daily we must remind ourselves to enjoy every step of the journey.  That is what makes life worth living.

After mixing the first 10 ingredients into our secret sauce yesterday, today we will finish by adding the remaining 10 ingredients. The sauce is already starting to taste really awesome, and if we apply this sauce to our lives when we are finished, we will radiate success in every area.

Well, it’s time to break camp and look for the remaining 10 ingredients as we head on out on our Trek for today. The core ingredients we are using were adapted from ideas shared by Dan Walschmidt, author of the book Edgy Conversations.  I have modified this list and added my own years of experience and wisdom to these items.  Today we will mix in the remaining 10 ingredients that make our Secret Sauce for Success.

Here are the remaining 10 ingredients for our Secret Sauce for Success:

1. You have to deliver results when making excuses is an option. – To be successful, we cannot fall prey to making excuses as is so readily done today.  Take responsibility for your actions, and do everything with excellence.  As I have worked with team members within our businesses throughout the years, and with my own children, I have tried to emphasize that in everything I expected results, not excuses.    The only way to learn how to ride a horse is to get back on every time you fall off. “It’s easier to go ahead and succeed than it is to spend all the time and energy it takes making excuses,” Jim Rohn. Success = No Excuses.
2. You have to search for your own explanations even when you’re told to accept the “facts.” To be successful, it is not always wise to just accept what you have been told, even if it is supposedly a fact. Discover the results for yourself. Forge a new path on your trek of life. “Discoveries are often made by not following instructions; by going off the main road; by trying the untried,” Frank Tyger.
3. You have to make mistakes and look like an idiot. There is nothing wrong with making honest mistakes, even if it casts you in a negative light. A life making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.  Although none of us want to look like an idiot, we need to put away our pride and the façade that we try to portray to make us look better. We should not be afraid of making mistakes, but be afraid if we are not learning from those mistakes.  Face it. You are going to make mistakes in life. It’s what you do after the mistakes that really counts.  So, get over yourself and pursue success.  In his letter to the dispersed Jews, Christ’s half-brother James  put it this way in Chapter 3 verse 2, “Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.”
4. You have to try and fail and try again. The only lasting failure that we will have in life, is if we fail to try.  You will not become a permanent failure unless you are satisfied with being one. Celebrate when you fail, for then you will know one more trail that did not lead you to your destination.  You will only be poor if you allow yesterday’s failures to bankrupt tomorrow’s efforts. One of my virtual mentors, Zig Ziglar said it well, “Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night and today is a brand new day.”
5. You have to run faster even though you’re out of breath. No runner quits when they are out of breath, for they realize that if they run, maybe even faster, it will not be too long before they get their second wind.  It is a physical and psychological fact.  It is the pain of losing that first wind that needs to drive you onto success. Run for the prize.
6. You have to be kind to people who have been cruel to you. Some people are just cruel and unkind. That is a fact in life.  We should never treat them in the same manner.  Yes, sometimes those people will cause us to be angry, which is understandable, but that never gives us the right to be cruel.  We will never be successful long term if we are cruel to others.  When Christ taught us the Golden Rule he put it this way, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!”  
7. You have to meet deadlines that are unreasonable and deliver results that are unparalleled. To obtain a level of success you must not only meet deadlines, you must exceed expectations of those you are serving. Don’t be content with doing only what is expected. Do more and do it with excellence.  It’s the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.
8. You have to be accountable for your actions even when things go wrong. Personal responsibility is so important for success. Be willing to accept the results of your actions, good or bad. Don’t blame others if you fail.  Be fully accountable for your own life. If others are to blame then you have given them control.  Success is putting aside our pride, accepting responsibility, and then making it right.
9. You have to keep moving towards where you want to be no matter what’s in front of you. As we have talked before about the obstacles that appear on the trails of life, we need to keep moving forward.  Find a way over, under, around, or through every obstacle that you encounter.  That is the stuff life is made of. . You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals.
10. The secret sauce to winning is all the other 19 points blended with sweat equity. Our last ingredient in our Secret Sauce of Success is the blending of the previous 19 ingredients into the sweat equity that allows us to accomplish our success.

Success never comes easy. It will cause you to sweat. Many times it is actually blood, sweat, and tears before success. I know that has been true in my life. Be willing to mix these 20 crucial ingredients together, and you will possess the Secret Sauce of Success

 Well, that will finish our podcast for today. If you missed any of our previous podcasts, please check out Wisdom-Trek on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Wisdom-Trek.com. Tomorrow we will learn how to land on your feet when you step off of a cliff .

So, please join us at our “camp” tomorrow for another day on our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you enjoy our daily doses of wisdom, I encourage  you to help us in the following four ways:

1. Leave us feedback about the podcast on Wisdom-Trek.com.
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Thank you!

The journal from this podcast can be found at  Wisdom-Trek.com where we also have pictures, tweetable quotes, wisdom nuggets, and free resources.

As we take this Trek together let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy the Journey, and Create a Great Day! See you tomorrow!