Earn success through iteration

March 25th, 2010 · No Comments · General

We all know that some of the most successful people in the world toiled for years before reaching greatness in their chosen field. Their success happened “over time”. Now, I hate that thought because it doesn’t tell you the whole story. What exactly did these really successful people do all those years? What did Michael Jordan do to reach NBA glory? Or, Michael Phelps to make Olympic history? Or even Tiger Woods…pre-sex scandal, of course. Well, after studying all of their and others back stories, a common theme began to coalesce. They all created very well-defined, highly ambitious goals and then iterated ruthlessly to achieve them.

Iteration

Webster defines iteration as:

a procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result

Read that again, and this time really let it soak in: REPETITION….leading SUCCESSIVELY CLOSER…to a DESIRED RESULT.

From this definition, we can glean several key points -

Accept that goals won’t be obtained the first time you attempt to reach them.
To get to our destination, we have to know PRECISELY where we’ve been.
Give each iteration your all because forces outside your control may make it your last.
Counter balance #3 with the faith that you will have the time to reach the goal you want

Let’s go over each point in turn:

No one is perfect

Whatever goal you pick, you won’t reach it perfectly the first time you set out to achieve it. If you want to learn piano, your first time playing will likely produce pain and suffering for you…and those around you. It will take many iterations, many practice sessions, to gain real profiency. But, that’s okay. As a matter of fact, I find substantial value in making mistakes. The best teachers make the most mistakes because they also know what NOT to do. This gives them the ability to anticipate student’s mistakes and allows for correction of the infraction the moment it occurs. So, recognize that every iteration not only brings you closer to your goal, but also teaches you key lessons along the way.

Know where you’ve been

You must measure everything.

Out of all these points, mark this as the most import. No other trait have I seen shared between so many successful people and companies. Successful companies use statistics from previous quarters to drive the success of the next quarter. Olympic athletes ruthlessly time themselves to gauge improvement. Football teams spend hours and hours watching film of their games trying to weed out errors. To accurately judge progress, you need multiple data points or else you might as well stand still. Each data point you get increases your amount of accuracy. And, since the human mind tends to put the best light on past situations, instead of measuring by making a “mental note”, put your trust in a video recorder.

Give it your all

The world is a crazy place. Your life could dramatically change, or even end, tomorrow. Don’t let that lead to inaction. Let it motivate you instead. To quote the illustrious Samuel L. Jackson, don’t”go out like a punk”. Be in the moment, and make this iteration count. If you exercise, “leave it all on the floor” during that next work out. If you’re married, take the time to intimately connect with your partner everyday. Partition your time, partition your mind, and fully focus on the current iteration. Treat each iteration as your last.

Keep the faith

Execute like the future is unknown, but set goals like you will live forever. As stated in point one, the more you iterate the more you learn, so setting goals in easy reach robs you of valuable learning experiences…in addition to wasting your time on easy goals. However, when you aim high, giviving yourself several checkpoints along the way, you will have a series of life long mini-achievements that you can lean on as a source of confidence for conquering the next iteration.