The Difference Between Successful vs. Unsuccessful People | Journey Principles Podcast 011

Welcome to the Journey Principles where we show you how to go from stuck to unstoppable with life strategies that work. Now, here's your host and creator of the Transform youm Framework, Stephen Scoggins.

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Journey of Principles with Steven Scoggins and my buddy, director of communications, Connor Kraft, where our show is here to help you go from stuck to unstoppable with life mastery principles that are simple and. And easy to apply. And that's what we're about to do. We're going to jump right into the content today and actually talk about our next featured piece of content. Connor, what is that today?

Today we're going to be talking about the greatest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people.

This is the guy you like to ask the most difficult questions for some reason. Why is that?

Because.

First of all, they're very, very high level, basic questions. I think that a lot of people, people do have very specific questions. But if we, if we started out by teaching specific answers to very specific questions. Those specific questions, like, for example, how do I lose 40 pounds? That's only gonna apply to a certain type of person who's in a very specific area. So I try to keep the questions or the topics as vague as possible so that they apply to life in general. But the result of that, obviously is very difficult to answer questions like, what is the biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful people? And you go, well, there's a lot of things, right, but we got to pick one, I guess.

So I can write you an entire narrative. No, you know, it's funny. Fortunately, you do a good job of give me a little heads up on kind of where you think our tribe is going and the kind of questions they're asking and the kind of things that kind of come from that. That area. And you've done a great job in providing that. As I try to prepare for these different shows and these different podcasts, I want to make sure that what I'm bringing to the table is of substantial value. Meaning there has to be something that I use myself or I've done myself or I'm doing myself as we speak. So the things that I brought to the table today are things that I personally use to this day. I'm pretty sure they're things that I teach you on a regular basis. And all the other people that have plugged into us. And the first one I want to think about is Steve Meyrick again. And it's the way they think.

The way they think. Okay, so this is the first difference.

First major difference in.

So how many are we going through? Because it says the greatest set we're.

Going to go through. I've got. I had to go to three, man. I can't.

All right, no problem.

There's no such thing as.

So everyone watching would probably consider you a successful person. So I guess these are the three top things, the three biggest differences that you've noticed that have made the difference in your life.

Yes.

Okay, got it.

That's the easiest way to do it. Because like I said, there's not a one and done. When you're talking about successful people versus people who struggle to find success in whatever variety of capacity that is, you're really looking at character traits. Right. So the character trait that Steve Meyrick told me a long time ago, step one, was always change the way you think. Right. So he'd always say that a rich man saves invest and looks for an roi. Like, he's always preparing for a brighter future. He's always in preparation mode. Right.

Delayed gratification.

Delayed gratification.

I'm not saying that they're necessarily. They have to be patient. Right. They may not be what their natural gifting is, but they lean more on the principle than they do of their impatience is. Does that make sense?

Yeah. So you're saying that even if they're not naturally a patient person, they're executing patients, essentially.

Exactly. So they're following a plan, they're following a process. Right. They know that they're always trying to be in preparation mode to prepare for what the worst case scenario would be. For example. All right, so during the time of this particular podcast, we're still dealing with the coronavirus. Right. C19 is still loud and proud, still hurting a lot of people. A lot of states have been shut down entirely. Right. We're very fortunate that several of the companies that I own are in the construction industry. So we've been very fortunate. We're allowed to keep operating. But the principle that Steve taught me a long time ago, long before I became acquainted with Dave Ramsey and his team, was to stay out of debt, be debt free. Right. So a lot of the companies that are struggling right now for cash and trying to make sure. Trying to make ends meet and even closing their doors, unfortunately, a lot of those companies were already founded on debt, meaning they'd already been founded on, you know, borrowing money to start their venture. Okay, well, when there's no revenue coming in or little revenue coming in, it's very hard to pay your bills. Oh, yeah, right. So what I do differently is I've always followed the process of trying to be as close to debt free at all possible. Right. I'm not saying I've never borrowed money before, ever in my business career or my personal life. But what I'm saying is that the principle is, is to always be as close to debt free, if not debt free at all times.

And so because you think in a different way from those people and you're operating by that principle, that, that healthy debt free principle, you are now in a position to actually attack the marketplace and win, whereas they're crumbling.

Yeah. So my competitors right now are starting to struggle where Che has got quite a bit of capital, which means we can probably go for several months paying for payroll and paying for expenses and lights and a beautiful studio that we have, the live event center that we have. Right. That principle of always knowing that life comes from a set of seasons. There's always a summer, there's always a fall, there's always a spring, and there's always a winter. Right now, for a lot of people right now, there's a lot of winter, right? There's a lot of. You can't harvest what you can't plant, right? So there's a lot of winter going on. And that's where changing the way in which you think, you have to learn to think in such a way that you appreciate the blessings and you appreciate the harvest when it's there, but you're also planning for the season when it's not. You see what I'm saying? So that's just one piece of what I find between successful people versus people who aren't traditionally all that successful or struggle to find success is the way they think is the way they think.

So if you wanted to like, just have a real quick actionable before we moved on to the second thing. What's an actionable way to think more like a successful person? Like, what was the first place someone should go?

Well, I mean, I think I've already kind of mentioned it. I think the best place to start with is always be prepared for a winter season.

Right.

When you're thinking about becoming or moving towards a very successful mindset, you've got to be able to always know that there's going to be a famine season, right? Call it biblical, call it not Joseph in the Bible. Seven years aplenty. Seven years of famine, right. Whether you believe in the Bible or not, or whether you believe in faith or not, that principle still stands the test of time. Even today. Successful people are always taking advantage of opportunities. Most of Them take advantage of opportunities when other people can't because they didn't plan for it.

Darrell. So you're basically saying that it would be a very smart thing to do to basically go out and figure out how do successful people think and then compare the way that you think right now with them and see if you can become more like that.

Yeah. It's a process of modeling, and I've got several action steps we'll get to as we go through the show. But the primary thing is if you learn to think like a successful person, then you'll start taking actions like a successful person, and then you'll start getting successful person or people like results. Now, success comes in a lot of different forms and a lot of different fashions. Success is not always tied to business or roi.

Right.

I want to be an amazing dad.

Yeah.

Right. So what I need to do is I need to get around other amazing dads.

Correct.

And model that behavior.

Right. Yes. Success. Everyone always thinks it's monetary or it's business success. And it's easy to get caught up in thinking of it that way because you always see the guy on. Standing on top of a mountain or with money flying down heavens or whatever. But. But yeah, success is just basically like. How would you even define success?

Just, I think success is when you find ultimate fulfillment.

Ultimate fulfillment.

I mean, that's. I think that's really it. I mean, if, you know, some.

Some you're happy.

I mean. Yeah. I mean, some people love to paint and. And you know, and in some cases, you unfortunately don't make money painting until after you go. After you're gone, for sure.

Well, it also helps that, you know, that that's another reason why we broke life down into eight different areas. Because there's eight different areas of life. Mastery.

Yeah.

You know, there are. There are your relationships, and you could be really successful in relationships, but really suck at your fitness or your finances.

Yeah.

And you need to go over there. So the way that they think. The way that they think, that's the big one.

Yeah, I mean, that's a huge one. I mean, obviously, because out of everything that you think about comes your actions. Yeah, every single thing. So Steve taught me to think like a business owner. He taught me to think like an entrepreneur. He taught me to think like an entrepreneur that cares and loves their team. Right. So right now, whenever, when a lot of other businesses are struggling, we have a lot more Runway to keep going and potentially take over market share because of it, for sure.

So, okay, so after the way that they think, what's your number two?

I think number two is going to come down to the way they live. And what I want to do is just before I'll do a quick surface level thing because I think I actually want to do our next podcast on uncovering a traditional life versus a transformational life. So I'm going to do a deep dive in the next podcast, but at the surface level. People that are successful in life, no matter what it is. Okay. Do life a specific way. They create strategies, they create routines, and they're not so worried about what the market does or what people do or what people say. Right?

Yeah.

They're all about following a plan.

There's a quote that I like that basically says, winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners.

That's. I can't say any better myself. Yeah, that's. That's totally down.

There's even a corresponding image of. I think it's like a Michael Phelps race. I could be wrong, but I think. Yeah, I remember an image of basically a guy who's in. He's like swimming and the other dude's looking at him and he's behind.

Yeah, he's too busy. He's too busy focusing on.

You got to focus on, you know, what's. What works for you.

And successful people live their life a specific way. They live their life by a strategy. That's why we're so passionate about life mastery. Yeah. If you want to master every single area of your life, all you got to do is follow the plan.

You just have to learn the right strategies for life. That's it. That's it. And anyone who's struggling just doesn't have the right strategy.

Well, either they don't have the right strategy or they don't necessarily have the right mentor guy to help them along the way, to kind of keep them accountable, to kind of keep. Keep them moving. So, you know, you've come to me several times that, hey, man, I really don't want to do the push ups today. That's our terminology.

Right.

For those of you guys haven't been around, that just means do the hard work first.

Right?

Right. And I'm like, no, man, you got to do it. You're like, I don't want to. Right. We just, we just had this conversation before we went on air. Connor's telling me I need to change something. And I'm like, I don't want to. He's like, dude, the people. I'm like, ah, crap, you're right. Right. Same kind of concept. Right. Successful People do the hard work first. Right. So they're. They're constantly living their life in a specific way. Right? Right. Number three, I think, is the way they learn.

Right.

Successful people are always hungry to learn more.

People who are traditionally don't achieve a certain level of success, no matter if it's in your family or career or whatever. Right. Are kind of on autopilot. They're living their life in a constant state of apathy. Does that make sense? And I think because of that, because there's no lack. Because there's a lack of focus on moving forward, you never make forward progress.

So I wonder if I inverse these and say, okay, so if the greatest differences between successful people and unsuccessful people are the way they think, the way they live, and the way that they learn, would you say that if you flip that, then if you're not as successful as you hope you are, then one of these three areas, you're probably not operating proper performance.

Absolutely. Yeah. Because. And that's what took me so long to kind of prepare for today's show is I was thinking to myself, well, I could do this. I could talk about this, I talk about that. But where do I just steal this information?

No, that's. I think that's gold.

I think the distilling into those three things are the foundation.

Well, for sure. And I'm just thinking, like, if anyone listening to this can just think about those three things and think, okay, if you're not where you want to be in your life, you know, think about it. Are you thinking like a successful person? Are you living like a successful person? There was a long time where. From a. Learn. Okay, so the third one's learning, too. I spent so much time learning, I put. Spending a time. I spent plenty of time learning like a successful person, but I wasn't ready to live like a successful person. And I was still kind of in the process of figuring out how to think.

Yeah.

So I think I'm making progress there. But. But unless. Unless you have all three of those working together, in my experience, it's really hard to get.

Ironically, when I was laying these things out, I actually had you in mind. That's precisely the reason why I put learn after live. Right.

Because I did learn first.

Because you did learn first, and you didn't. And you didn't. Well, I mean, think about it. So, you know, in our relationship, getting to know each other as friends, acquaintances, mentors, and all mentees and all that kind of stuff, right. You get to learn the. What you're good at. What you're not good at your struggles and your blind spots and your strengths and all that kind of stuff, Right? Well, when you think about it, all this opportunity that lays out there before us, you, you can't capitalize on it if you spend all your time just learning.

Well, right. And I mean, honestly, action matters more than knowledge to a degree, which, that always surprised me.

Well, see, ironically, the action leads towards the desire for knowledge.

So I had those flipped though. This is what was confusing to me. So I thought for a long time that accuracy is more important than speed. And I still think that to a degree. But interacting with you and interacting with some other successful people who I've witnessed who move at blazing speeds and they just take so much action. But arguably some of these people who I work with and study, they're not always the most accurate. They're not even always doing the right things. In other words, they're not perfect. They don't have all the answers.

No one does.

But you would think so. I used to look at successful people though, and think, oh, they have all the right strategies, they're just doing everything better. I found that there's a lot of successful people who are way more successful than me. And arguably this may be my foolish young arrogance, but I would dare say that in some things I have better answers than them. I have better ways of working, but they kill me because they take so much more action. So I've almost weirdly like thought about this. Like, is it more important that you're just taking an action versus going out and getting all the information, making sure that you have the perfect action and that you know the right strategy before you start.

Yeah, I think for me it's a three legged stool, meaning you can't really make progress without doing each of these three things simultaneously. You can't focus hardcore on one because all of a sudden you got a very strong stool leg. Meanwhile your other two are falling, falling apart.

Right. Like if you move a million miles an hour in the wrong direction. This was my argument before because I was like, well, speed can't be everything and action can't be everything because you have to do the right thing. Because if you move, if you're trying to go north, right, but you're moving a thousand miles an hour south. Yeah, okay, you're not gonna get to. Well actually you will get to north all the way around the world. But that's what I'm saying, eventually faster you'll get there. Yeah, but here's the thing, is that. So I put so much over index time. And also part of this was because of fear. I was so terrified of wasted effort, which is the real punch line. I was afraid of doing the work specifically because I didn't want to do the work and not get the result.

Well, you know, you mentioned that earlier we did. I think it was today that we actually did some more of the question and answer sessions that came in. And one of the things was, how do I eliminate fear? Well, and my answer to that is, well, knowledge, right. And options. Well, in order to get knowledge and options, you have to be thinking like a successful person. You have to be living like a successful person. Right. And you need to get learn, which is the options portion.

And you need to be willing to actually take the action to shock your brain and make your brain.

It's all about Dave and his team. Dave Ramsey. So you guys know that I'm a. A good friend and family. Well, I'd say I know the rant. I know the organization really well. Right. And one of the things that Dave always says is focused intensity over time.

Right.

You can't get there tomorrow, but you can get there quicker with focused intensity over time multiplied by God's grace equals unstoppable momentum. That's his momentum theorem. Right. And it's completely true. It puts all three of these phases of the stool under one chair that you can actually sit on and build from.

So do you think that what I should have done instead of spending 80 to 90% of my day focusing on learning and like 10 to 20% focus on the way I think, and then like 5% on the way I live, which was totally backwards. Would you say that it's probably a smarter strategy for people to first. I mean, they could pretty much go in order. I guess the first thing you need to figure out is how do successful people think?

Exactly.

Best thing to do that. And not to flaw to us, but. But I would say just go out there and get the information. Like, we have so much information on our YouTube channel, it's almost too much on our podcast. I mean, we do two podcasts a week. Our goal is to help you a lot with each of these three areas, but especially with the learning and especially with the way that you think we can teach you those things, the way that you live. We can teach you how to do that, but you have to actually do it.

And we're happy to have come alongside of you and make that happen from a momentum standpoint. Look, one of the greatest mistakes I ever made in my entire life was not building myself as I was building businesses and friendships and relationships. You've got to be building yourself. You've got to have a hunger to want to become more. Right. And you got to do each one of these three steps in equal portion, 33.3333%.

So you would, like, maybe divide your day up to where you're spending two, three hours learning. You're spending two, three hours focused on your thinking. And then. So how would you actually go about if you were to create a routine to improve the way you think, what would that be for you?

Well, my normal routine that I've been doing for literally the last decade is I wake up, I give God glory and thanks. I think I meditate and kind of on that. Obviously, that's my belief system. Right. I then go to the gym when the gym's not shut down. Unfortunately, I got a gym in my upstairs attic right now that consists of a dumbbell and a workout bench. But I'm still up there doing my thing. While I'm doing that, historically, I'm listening to podcasts or YouTube or reading books or audio books. Like, I'm always trying to feed my mind while my mind's the greatest awake. I'm fresher in the morning. Some people are fresher at night. Okay. So I'm always learning. And then I come immediately to work and I begin to do. Right. So I'm constantly modeling the successful behavior. I've already learned. I'm constantly learning new information, and I'm constantly applying it. Wow. Right? That is simple as step, step one, step two, step three.

It's basically just find the most efficient way to fit all three of these character traits into your life. The way that you think, the way that you live, and the way that you learn. If you can do those three things, three things, with optimal efficiency, you'll be successful.

Absolutely. Remember this. Successful people run towards the fight, and they learn and they grow. Okay. Unsuccessful people typically run and hide. Right. If you want to get anywhere in life, you're gonna have to run towards the hard work first, which is the fight. I love that you've got to go after it. Right. You cannot sit back and expect life to come to you because it's not gonna happen by accident. Right. There's no one that stumbled into success.

Yeah. Success, no matter what that is. I mean, unless you consider an inheritance success. I don't, personally.

Yeah. I mean, ask. I mean, I think now.

Now, if you got an inheritance, but then you went and did something with it, that's.

Yeah. Which is rare. Most people, unfortunately, when they get an inheritance, especially after one or two generations, they're the ones that blow it most.

Right.

So you have my generation, in theory, that goes out and they really grind, they really work hard, they really go after it. And then after that, unfortunately, the next generation whittles it down over time.

Yeah. I'm like, I just wanted to say there's no problem if you were born into a lot of money. That's not. Doesn't mean, like, considered successful.

Not at all. Well, and success might mean something different. Warren Buffett, I heard him say one time, I guess he has either two or three boys, sons. One went into business, one went into.

Secular based ministry stuff. So he's doing like helping people, kind of homeless, I think. And I think the other one became like, it went into the arts. Right. And he said he didn't want them to be him. He wanted them to walk out their, their unique genius or sphere of genius. And that's successful to them.

1. The other thing is, and guys, there's no way to do this without some people hating us. But an example would be Donald Trump. Donald Trump was born. He already had some money. He wasn't a billionaire, but he already had some money. A lot of people were like, oh, well, you know, he isn't that successful because his dad gave him a small loan of a million dollars. And that's very helpful.

Yeah, a small loan of a billion dollars, you said?

No, no. A million.

Oh, he said a billion.

No, no. So his dad supports, supposedly gave him a million, and then over the course of his career, he turned it into 8 million or whatever.

Look, there's no doubt the dude's smart. There's no doubt, there's no doubt that he could probably learn to use Twitter to a different way. But all of us have strengths, struggles, and blind spots.

The point that I'm making is that Trump isn't someone who you would consider to be an unsuccessful person. I would say he's pretty successful from a standpoint of at least financially.

So. But, but, but he started with, he started with resources. It doesn't matter. It's just what he did with it. So.

Well, yeah, I mean, you can start with resources or start without resources, but the question is, are you trying to grow. Yeah. Are you trying to grow your level of influence? Are you trying to grow your wealth?

And is he happy?

Exactly what matters. I'm sure he's got his hands full of stress at the moment, but, you know, I think the question everybody, that, that's on this. That's on the show. And these that's listening to the show needs to ask themselves is how they stack up to those three things that you mentioned earlier. So, you know, are you modeling yourself the way after. After the way people think that are successful? Are you living in a constant daily routine that's actually making you more successful over time? Right. And are you taking the time to learn on a regular basis and grow that mentality?

For sure.

Right. So if you're doing those two things, you're good. Well, we're probably in pretty good shape. Remember, you can't amplify what you don't understand. So how can you amplify your life in a successful nature if you don't understand what successful people do do? Which is why we're saying these are the three pillars that you probably should stand on. So for sure.

So, okay, so what. What are we talking about next? You said the next podcast is going to be.

Yes, I'm so glad you asked that. So I mentioned at the earlier part of the show that we're going to jump into a traditional lifestyle versus a transformational lifestyle, since successful people live a specific way. Right?

Yeah.

Well, we have a process and a theology that can help someone understand if they're on track or if they're off the track. And we're going to talk about that in the next episode.

Perfect. So regarding these things, we talked about the way that they think, the way that they live. This probably fits more into the way that they live, but the way they think applies as well. This is one of my favorite lessons is a traditional versus a transformational lifestyle. One will keep you stuck, one will move you to literally everything you've ever dreamed of. So that's on the Next podcast, episode 12. And then, yeah, I think we're good to go for this one.

That's awesome, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I know it was short and sweet and to the point, but we hope you enjoyed it. We'll see you again on the next Journey Principles. Take care.

See you guys.

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