TES 047 - 2 Forces That Drive Your Success

Hey there, real quick before we jump into the episode, listen, if your earnings treadmill hasn't set you free yet, running faster won't either. Listen, hustle without principles just going to burn you out. So here's what I want for you. I want you to join me for my money machine experience live. It is three free trainings. Deep dive into how to escape the treadmill and build a money machine that actually works for you. All right, grab your spot here by going to moneymachinelive.com and I'll see you in the free training. Hey there. I'm Mel Abraham, the author of the number one best selling book the Entrepreneur's Solution and the founder of Business Breakthrough Academy where we teach you how to design a business and create a life, a life of financial freedom and peace of mind. And welcome back to this episode, episode number 47 of the Entrepreneur Solutions show. I can't believe that we're hitting 50 episodes already. It's been a tremendous joy for me. And in this episode we're going to talk about something, you know, given the time of year and everything that that's on, a lot of people say, well, you know, what does it take to be successful? And so, and I think that it has to do with a couple of things. And I'm going to give you a framework and a way to assess where you are depending on what area of your life, it could be relationships, it could be business, it could be finances, it could be health, what area of your life you're in to decide what zone you're living in. It's called the Success Zone evaluator. You can actually download the Success Zone Evaluator by going to melabraham.com session047 or you just text me to mylegacy one word, no spaces to 38470. But when we come back, when we come back from this brief introduction, we'll jump right in. I'll give you an idea of how the whole thing works, what it is to consider and maybe understand a little bit better where you are in different aspects of your life and what maybe needs to happen to get you to move and to shift and to change things in the upcoming 12 months. All right, I hope to see you right after the introduction. See you soon. Bye.

Welcome to the Entrepreneur's Solution where highly successful entrepreneur Mel Abraham becomes your entrepreneurial mentor. Here, Mel reveals his business building strategies and even gets chance to answer your questions. Mel Abraham, a CPA by education, but an entrepreneur by exhilaration and a true believer in the entrepreneurial way of life. It's through entrepreneurship that we create community, support society and live our dreams.

It's where possibility meets reality again and you can have the life and lifestyle you want. One of freedom and peace of mind. Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur's Solution, where it's time for you to be bold, dream big, and live life your way.

Hey there. Welcome back. I'm Mel Abraham, the author of the Entrepreneur's Solution, founder of Business Breakthrough Academy. And welcome back to this episode of the Entrepreneur's Solution show. And in this episode, we're going to spend a little time talking about success, talking about what I think are two of the main drivers of success. Whether it's. And when we talk about success, I'm not talking about just business success or wealth. I mean, certainly that's a big part of it. So how successful are you in business? How successful might you be in business going forward? How about wealth or money matters? How about health? How about health? How are you doing with your health?

Are you feeling vibrant? Maybe you need to lose a few pounds. Maybe you need to gain a few pounds. Pounds. Maybe you're not eating healthy. I mean, I know me, every once in a while I get that sweet tooth and it gets the best of me. But, you know, it's about where you live most of the time and not necessarily where you live all the time that impacts so, you know, wealth, health, business, relationships. How are your relationships? What are the things that you're bringing to the table of relationships that might increase the success of the relationships, that deepen the intimacy of the relationship, all of those types of elements. And I think it comes back to two factors. And those two factors, when we go through them, kind of put you in what I call one of four zones of success. And depending on the four zones of success, it starts to give you an indication of where you're spending the majority of your time and maybe why the results you're getting are the results you're getting now. Those results might be the ones you're looking for, but then again, they may not. And so understanding how that plays out and this model kind of gives you a way to assess yourself, to score yourself, if you will, to really kind of graph where you are in each area of your life. And I invite you to do that. So why don't we get into it a little bit, give you an idea of what it is, how I use it and how you can use it in your life. And so again, it's called the success zone evaluator. It's effectively a quadrant model. And so there's two things that I think are primary drivers of success. Now, we can talk about purpose, we can talk about desire, we can talk about. I'm going to assume that those are there because one of the things that comes into play when we start to look at all those factors is we need to get clarity on a couple of things. First, what's my values? What do I stand for? And if you see me speak, you know that I am constantly asking question, what do we stand for? What do we stand for as a business? What do we stand for as an individual? What do we stand for as a leader? It's one of the most important questions, the most fundamental questions we need to answer. And that many times we don't answer. And when we don't answer, that's when we get sporadic results, that's when you get haphazard results. That's when we get inconsistency, that's when we get people that will compromise their values, that will do things for greed, that will do things for need, that will do things that maybe in other circumstances they wouldn't otherwise do because they didn't get clarity on what they stand for. So let's assume that you've got clarity on your values and that there's conviction behind them. And the way to figure that out is just see what you're doing every day. You may say that this is what I am, this is what I stand for. But if you're not living it, if you're not doing it each and every day, then maybe that's not what you stand for. In fact, one of the things that I tell my clients and.

Folks is that when you want to really understand what someone's convictions are and what someone's values are, don't watch their lips, watch their feet. See what the actions are that they're taking, because those will give you a true indication of what's important to them. And they may turn around and say, hey, getting this project done is important, but they're leaving at 3 o'. Clock. It's not important. They can give it lip service all day long, but it's not that important if they're leaving at 3 o' clock without some outside force like some family emergency or something like that. So we watch their actions to demonstrate their values. Okay? Values are not illustrated. They're not talked about, they're demonstrated. And that's the key. So I'm going to assume that we already have clarity on the values and what we stand for and Purpose. Once we have that clarity, once we have that clarity, then there's two elements that I think really start to drive it, and that is focus and action. It's interesting how we look at people and we'll say that they're, they're gifted, yes, but maybe they've been gifted with the fact that they stayed focused long enough and they took action.

One large enough action on a long term basis, persistent enough to be successful. Many times people quit just on the cusp of success. They're just inches away from the finish line. They're just inches away and they give up. And so the question then is, how much focus and how much action are you bringing to the table? And I think that people live in four zones and the first zone is those that have very little focus and very little action. This is what I call the frozen zone. I mean, they're pretty much doing nothing. They may be the couch potatoes, they may be people that. In fact, I heard a statistic that most the average American watches four hours of television a day. A day, Four hours. I mean, it's kind of crazy to think about you're taking four hours out of your day to watch mind numbing television, which, you know, I get it, I watch tv, but I do it specifically and I watch specific shows. Some of it is just to unwind and unplug, but it's intentional. But to all of a sudden sit in front of the, in front of the TV or in front of your computer mind numbingly going through your day and all of a sudden four or five hours is just squandering, squandered away. If you do the math, if you do the math on that, you would see that you would be squandering away years of your life doing things that don't move you towards the things that you're dreaming about, doing things that don't move you closer to what your goals are. Doing things that actually erode your wealth, erode your well being, erode your health versus getting out and doing things that are more productive. That's what I call the frozen zone.

Those are the folks that take very little action and have very little focus.

In their life. Now, when we talk about this zone evaluator, one of the things to do is do it in a context. So when I use this tool, I use it in the context of a relationship, in the context of business, in the context of my leadership, in context of my health, in context of my wealth. So I will run this process multiple times in different contexts of my life to See where I am in that process.

The second zone that I think exists is what I call the scattered zone. These are the people that, they are just full of energy. And this is, this is actually a curse for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, thoughtpreneurs. Those folks, they got so many ideas, so much creativity coming out of them that what happens is that they take a lot of action with very little focus, very little focus. And ultimately what ends up happening with them is that they use up a lot of their energy and they get very little progress in the process because it's so scattered. It's sporadic. It's what I call the, the hummingbird syndrome. The hummingbird doesn't stay on one flower very long and they move from flower to flower to flower. And these people that live in the scattered zone will do something for a short period of time, not very focused, and then move to something else. Some people will call it the shining ball syndrome.

Those folks live in the scattered zone. Again, their results become sporadic. They may get momentary successes, but they're not necessarily sustainable because they don't continue on the path. They shift gears and they move and they change strategies and they change tactics regularly, daily, weekly, monthly, annually. So they don't. There isn't a system or process to them. So one of the things that we need to do if we find that we're living in that scattered zone in some aspect of our life, is to create systems and processes in place to get, to put focus in triggering mechanisms. When you get up, maybe it's, it's. I'm not being really good with my health, I need to drink more water. So what's the trigger when you first wake up in the morning to drink 8 ounces of water, 10 ounces of water? What, what process can you put in place that embeds your success as a result of the process? So, so you're not having to constantly think about it, but maybe it's setting alarms. I know for me, one of the things that I do, and we'll talk about it in a later episode, is I work in somewhere between 30 and 90 minute intervals. I try to. I do not exceed 90 minute intervals. And if that. And what I need sometimes what I do, because you can get caught up in your thinking and your creativity in the work that you're doing. And you could try to work for hours straight, but there are studies that show that there's a precipitous drop in your effectiveness.

When, when you start to work long hours without breaks. And we need to stand up, we need to move around we need to take breaks, we need to hydrate. We need to continually fuel our system if we're going to continue to be at the highest level of productivity, at high productivity levels. And so one of the things that I'll do is I'll set an alarm on my phone that'll buzz me every 60 or 90 minutes, whatever I set. And so I'll get up and I'll move around. I'll make sure that I'm getting hydration. I make sure that I'm getting a mind break, and make sure that I refocus my eyes on distance and openness. I walk outside, walk down to the beach, and then come back. Some people will say, well, that erodes your productivity because you're taking time away, but it's actually a fallacy. Unless you're taking the whole afternoon off, it actually increases your productivity because you come back with a renewed vigor. You don't have the fatigue that's wearing on you in that process. But the point being is that to create a process that will bring that focus into play so you can continue to move forward and move yourself out of the scattered zone. Then there's the third zone that exists, and this is the Hope Zone. This is the people.

Not to poke fun at it, but I'm going to poke fun at it. This is the people that like, for instance, the movie the Secret. I love the movie. I love the concept. I love the people that are in that. But the fact of the matter is, you can hope all day long. You can turn around and.

Talk about.

All the elements of bringing things into your life. But I got to tell you, it ain't coming into your life until you do the work, until you get up and do the things that are necessary. So the folks that are in the Hope Zone are sitting there staring at things. They're hoping for things to come in their life, but they're not taking action. So they're not a whole lot better than the Frozen Zone as far as the results they're getting, except that they know what they would like to get. The Frozen Zone. A lot of times they don't even know what they'd like to get. The Hope Zone. They actually know what they like to get. They're just not taking the actions to get them there, and that becomes a challenge. So one of the things that we need to do in the Hope Zone is if you find yourself, whether it's in health, wealth, or business or relationships or any of that type of stuff, whichever context it is, if you're living in the hope zone. And we need to bring action, we need to change the things we need to do. We need to break the patterns and again, put a process in for you to take action. Then there's the last zone of success, which is what I call the success zone. This is where you have high focus, high action with focus that moves you in the direction that you're looking to move into. And these are the people, the high performers, the high achievers, the high productivity leaders, the high deep, intimate relationships, the high leadership folks. It's because they have a concerted focus on that arena in their life, on that zone in their life, that context of their life. And in addition to that focus, they have a pattern of action that continues to move them forward on a regular basis. So I ask you this. When you think about health in your life, where are you? Are you in the frozen zone? Are you in the hope zone? Are you in the scattered zone? You're taking lots of action, but it's not focused, so you're not getting results. Or are you in the success zone? How about your wealth? If you think about your wealth for a moment, where are you with that?

Is it low action, high focus, low focus, low action, high action, high focus? Where are you? Which zone are you in? Because this will give you an indication of what your life could look like in a year, two years or three years if you don't change, if you don't shift, if you don't intentionally position yourself in the success zone. So how do we use this tool? One of the ways that I use the tool is I simply rate myself. I'll take health, for instance, and say over the last 90 days or the last 30 days. And I try to break things down again. I use a 90, 90 rule, 90 minutes, 90 days. I try to break my years down into four 13 week sprints, 90 day increments, because I think that they're manageable and they're achievable and I can make a big difference in 90 days. And so I get my focus zone on that 90 day increment. But when I reflect on things, maybe I look at it and say, hmm, how have I been with my health the last 90 days? Have I taken the actions I should be taking.

To move me towards optimal health, to move me towards vibrancy? And I rank that on a scale of 0 to 10, and depending on how I look at it, maybe I rank it as an eight, which would put me in the high action, the higher action level. And then I look at and say how focused Have I been? You know, it's one thing to take action, to get up and go to the gym, but it's another thing that when you go to the gym, you're just kind of going through the motions. You're not pushing yourself through heavier weights or through plateaus. You're just kind of going through the motions. I got my hour of workout in, and I'm done. Okay. How many times have any of us done that? I know I have. And so maybe my focus at that point is a 4. So if I've got an 8 and a 4 and I graph it on the quadrant, you're going to see that what's happening is I'm in the scattered zone, which means I'm not getting. Which means I need to bring more focus to my workouts or my health when I come back into play. Or maybe it's my relationships. Look at the relationship and say, yeah, I'm doing a lot of things, but I'm not present. I'm not focused. So all of a sudden, again, I'm in the scattered zone. Or maybe I'm present, but we're not doing the things. I'm not doing the things that she wants. There's things that are meaningful to her. And so maybe I'm in the hope zone, and I'm sitting back there. So in every context of my life, in every context of your life, here's what I invite you to do. Download the Success Zone evaluator and go through and score yourself in health, in wealth, in relationships, in business, in leadership. You can do it in parenting. You can do it in any context of your life. But I would at least do health, wealth, and relationships. And as an entrepreneur, do business and as an entrepreneur, do leadership. So those five zones and just score yourself and graph it out in the downloadable tool. You have the ability to graph it. You graph it out and you can see where you are on that graph. You're either in one of the four zones, and based on where you're at now, it's time to plan, take action, to change, or shift. So you can spend the majority of your time living in the success zone. So I hope that was of value to you. I hope that you're going to find this helpful. I know for me, to keep me on track, this is a great tool, great process to go through every 90 days to take it out and go, hmm, well, that kind of sucks. I didn't do so well that last 90 days. Now I got to focus on it and put a process in to focus on it. So I hope again that you'll take this, you'll use it, it'll make a huge difference. I think if you just concertedly use this for the next, the next year, you'll look back on the, on the next year and go, wow, how much, how much your life has changed because you were intentional, because you tracked it, because you knew that each and every time, each and every day, you spend the majority of your time in the success zone. So download the success zone evaluator again. You can get it@melabraham.com session 047. And if you're not by your computer, you happen to be out running around shopping at the gym, maybe, maybe you're out. Then just text, text mylegacy. One word. No spaces to 38470. Make sure that we get you the download link. And if you haven't done so already, do me a favor, subscribe. Okay? I love, I want, I love seeing subscribers, talking to subscribers, seeing who you are, what you're doing, seeing how I can support you. So join the community, join the rest of the folks that have joined me on this journey and, and working from there. And while you're at it, share it with a friend, send it to a friend, invite a friend to join in, Invite a friend to learn the tools that the successful are using, to learn the tools to build the dreams that you deserve to live. To learn the tools that are going to make a difference. And so I hope that you found this of value. If you have any questions about this, about wealth, about success, about business, about entrepreneurship, about thought leadership, whatever it is.

Just go to askmelnow.com leave me your message, leave me a question there. I'll make sure that I pick it up on one of the upcoming episodes, the entrepreneur solutions shown. Until we get a chance to see each other again. May your vision be grand, your journey epic, and your legacy significant. See you soon. Cheers. Now go make a success out of your life.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Make sure you subscribe so you get access to all of Mel's business and success tips. And if you like this episode, share it with a friend. If you have a specific business or success question, you can ask it at www.askmelnow.com. remember, it's all about being bold, dreaming big, and living life your way. Because the world needs you. Until the next episode, may your vision be grand, your journey epic, and your legacy significant.

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