I was listening to Seth Godin’s podcast about start-up business recently, and he said something that really struck me. He was talking about playing ice-hockey as a kid with his dad as the coach. He said:

The key to being successful in ice hockey is to know what to do, to be able to do it and to care enough to be prepared to be hit.

I think those three things are the key to being successful in just about anything. For ten years I failed to grow my practice beyond white belt ($120k a year) because I didn’t know what to do – I didn’t have a methodology. Fortunately once I did the Million Dollar Expert Program with Matt Church and learnt what to do, I was able to do it.

I already had the capability to train and coach, and was also able to sell reasonably well.

But I’m pretty sure my career as an AFL footballer is doomed. Not because I don’t know what to do … run fast, jump high, mark the ball and kick long. Problem is even though I know exactly what to do, I don’t have the capability to do any of it.

And finally care enough to be hit. The final piece is about commitment. Once I did the MDE program with Matt, I was really, really committed to implementing it. I even declared I was going to go from white belt ($120k a year) to black belt ($720k a year) in a year, and blog about the journey every week.

I also think it’s worth reviewing any failure you’ve experienced against these elements. What was missing? Did you not know what to do (i.e. wrong strategy or methodology)? Did you not know how to do it (i.e. missing capability)? Or didn’t you care enough about it to get hit (i.e. insufficient commitment)?

Love to hear your thoughts about Seth’s key to being successful – you can leave them below.