Goals, no doubt they are important and no doubt you’ve heard every self-help/success teacher preach about their importance. Hey I’m not here to knock on goals they are incredibly important and you know what it’ll be tough to be successful without having something that you’re striving for. A single point that you can focus your energy and potential on until you accomplish it. Goals are very important, but they are not everything despite what many think.
Likewise mindset. Mindset is incredibly important and without the right mindset you will not get far. To be successful in somethings like dating beautiful women and living your life for a productive purpose mindset is all that is needed. The man who neglects his mindset will never get the success that he wants for his life. I have no doubt about that. Mindset is essential to success but it is not everything.
The Mistake
Here is where many go wrong. There comes certain times when mindset or goals are not enough to get you what you want. How many people do you know that set goals that never get anywhere. Mindset is certainly more important than simply setting goals but even then there are certain things that the right mindset won’t get you. There comes a time when it comes down to one thing and one thing only. And that one thing is skill. Even if I’m the toughest mother to ever exist I can’t out box a championship fighter no matter my mindset. Likewise even if my mom, dad, wife, girlfriend, son, daughter, grandparents, and dog will all die if I don’t make a deal the best salesman in the world would still get the deal.
There comes a time when it is only skill that matters. Two places where this applies the most is in combat and with money. Now don’t get me wrong obviously setting goals and mindset play a roll in both but unlike other things (like picking up girls) you can’t just think you’re great and be great. That doesn’t work in the ring or in business. You have to actually be great. You can’t fake it til you make it when closing a deal or fighting an opponent. Despite what clowns who never closed a deal in their life think sales is about skill not being a BSer or being able to talk (as many have learned the hard way).
Develop Your Skill
So you’ve set your goals and you have the right mindset, great. Those are needed and will take you far in life. Do not forget them and keep them with you always. However that is not all there is. You also need to develop your skills. You have to be able to do things without thinking about them. Good selling skills, good marketing skills, and good copywriting skills are reflexes. Let me repeat that, they are reflexes. Meaning you’ve been over them so many times that they have been drilled into your mind. Wealth like combat takes skills to come out on top (or to even compete).
The best mindset and greatest goal setting in the world won’t make you a millionaire if you don’t have the business skills to back them up. A great quote by Archilochos “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training”. Meaning that having high hopes and a great attitude are great and all but without training they are meaningless. Take 100 motivated to the core men without training them put them up against 100 men with the most basic of training. And the ones with the most basic of training will win in both business and war. There is no substitute for skill.
Use Both
Don’t ever needlessly limit yourself. Make use of everything that you have around you. That’s something that all successful people do is make the most of what they have while also striving to acquire more. Whether it’s wisdom, skill, or wealth use what you have and acquire more. So use goal setting, foster the right mindset, and build the right skill set. They are all important and vital to success. Sure if someone held a gun to your head you’d go with skill but that’s a choice you’ll never have to make.
It’s skill that pays the pills. It’s skills that you get you what you want and need. Don’t forget this vital gap that keeps many from being successful. It took me awhile to get it to and it’s something that your average success expert or whatever they are called rarely talks about. Probably because it’s hard work developing skills, and it’s much harder to sell hard work then it is “believe and you’ll achieve” or “write down your goals on a sheet of paper”. Again mindset and goals certainly important but skills are what will pull you through.
Summary
So you know that it’s going to take more than just setting goals and having the right mindset to succeed in every facet of your life. A good mindset isn’t enough to make you enough money to have freedom and be able to provide for yourself and those you care about. Likewise having a good mindset isn’t going to get you out of a tight situation where someone wants to make you their victim. Skill will not fail you. Combine skill with the right mindset and you have a very powerful force that most will never tap into. Too bad for them.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
