Think of retail giant, Samuel Walton who is the face behind Walmart. He is a classic example of a rags-to-riches story. Coming from a not so fortunate background, he grew up during the great recession period. He worked odd jobs to make ends meet; some days working as a milkman and later delivering newspapers. During his college days he waited restaurants and later joined the US army during World War 2. His first tryst with business came at the age of 26 when he started working at a small store. Soon he took a loan and started his own store and on 2 July, 1962 Walmart was started in Rogers, Arkansas. 

Another classic example of a rags-to-riches story is that of Sidney Weinberg who led the famous Wall Street firm, Goldman Sachs. He was in and out of jobs since the age of 10. His first real job was as a janitor’s assistance where he earned a mere 3 dollars a week. Soon he came under the notice of Paul Sachs, who was one of the cousins of the Sachs family who founded Goldman Sachs. In the years that followed, he went from becoming a trader to one of the partners at the firm and later led the firm for a long time.

The above stories shed light on the fact that in order to achieve a breakthrough result in whatever you do, you need to focus on the following points:

• Believing in yourself
• Proactive consistency
• Constant growth
• The Lollapalooza effect

The term ‘Lollapalooza effect’ means, we humans have inbuilt tendencies that sways our behaviour from time to time. And when several of these behaviours act together to drive us towards a particular direction, we can achieve either positive or negative results.

Let’s look into each of these points:

1. Change your mindset into believing ‘You can do it!”

Both Samuel Walton and Sidney Weinberg wouldn’t be so famous today had they accepted their fate and continued living life the same way. All they did was remove this tiny little roadblock from their minds and continued working towards the life they desired. The roadblock we are talking about is the mindset that things are difficult and you won’t be able to achieve anything. 

Pick up the pages of history and you will find so many great examples of men and women who challenged this mindset and with the firm belief that they could do anything, they transformed their lives for good. 

Your mindset is the foundation you lay before your action turns into results and it is very important to make the foundation as strong as possible.

Also read: How can you embrace chaos and the 80/20 rule that will change your life

2. Practice proactive consistency 

If you stick to a task long enough to sustain it, you will certainly make some progress. As days pass into years, tasks become easier and you become more adept. But the results you achieve from your consistent hard work, are they enough to yield a greater impact? Is it taking you towards your goal in life? There are people who are so consistent in their work, show up whenever they are needed but still don’t achieve anything substantial in life. Their progress becomes limited. So what else is needed to achieve a breakthrough result? We say proactiveness.

In case of Weinberg, he could have continued working as the janitor’s assistant. Afterall, he got that job with great difficulty. But instead of settling in with whatever he had, he proactively took up every opportunity along the way. He just didn’t do his job, he found out innovative ways by which he could help the company thereby reaching to the position of a partner over time. 

Hence, the real challenge in life is disturbing the consistency and venturing into a path full of opportunities while remaining dedicated i.e., being proactively consistent. We bet the results will be sweeter than you can imagine.

3. Constant growth

After you have followed the above two steps, you will reach a critical stage in your life when suddenly all the hard work and persistence starts yielding results. Because by then, you would have already worked enough to create an asset for yourself. This leads to a constant growth from thereon.

Also read: Top 5 mistakes to avoid as a freelancer

4. The Lollapalooza effect

The term ‘Lollapalooza effect’ was coined by American businessman, investor and partner of famous Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger in the year 1995. It means, we humans have inbuilt tendencies and mental models that sways our behaviour from time to time. And when several of these behaviours act together to drive us towards a particular direction, we can achieve either positive or negative results. However the key lies in utilising the lollapalooza effect positively in order to yield a breakthrough result in life. 

Our mental tendencies play a critical role in how we shape our lives. In the cases of Weinberg and Walton, they both moulded their psychological tendencies to make things work in their favour which ultimately led to their breakthrough success. 

If you want to achieve a breakthrough result in life, you have to set up the path in such a way that you have many things working for you at the same time. Take chances and unleash the hidden potential in you because you just have one life and if you live right, once is enough!

Also read: How to foster a culture of innovation at work

Image courtesy: shutterstock.com