Success and Impact Blog

Multi-Dimensional Success Defined

Excited Mixed Race Female Student Holding Chalkboard With SuccesYou want to achieve success in your life. Yet, modern lives are complicated; we have so many different facets of our lives – we take on family obligations, community and civic activities, as well as career goals – to name just a few. Those are what I call “commitments of daily living.” Beyond that, many of us want to make an impact in the world, to achieve more success in a way that brings value to others.

It’s interesting because sometimes people achieve success in a specific area of their lives, while other areas suffer. Unfortunately, we’ve witnessed this in its extreme when seemingly successful people admired by fans around the world shock us by committing suicide . Why is this? One key reason is that despite tremendous success in one area of life, other critical areas are lacking or absent.

That’s an extreme reason why I promote this concept that we should consider success on a much broader life paradigm. So in order to attain ‘holistic success’ and to create your own unique impact in the world, we coined a new way of thinking about success, impact, and happiness-contentedness call Multi-Dimensional Success.

Multi-Dimensional Success occurs when you purposefully align your professional and personal lives to achieve your goals and make your unique impact in the world.

(1) Think of such greats as Robin Williams, Whitney Houston, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Vincent Van Gogh, John Belushi, Marilyn Monroe , Phillip Seymore and Hoffman, Simone Battle (25 yrs of age) – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/hollywood/Shocking-suicides-Celebs-who-stunned-us-with-their-sudden-death/photostory/40104641.cms

The Doctor is In – How often do you update your Success Life Strategy

How often do you update your Success Life Strategy and why/ how are you going about it? Rx

Annually, I review and update the entire Success Life Strategy (SLS). Throughout the year, I engage with different parts of the SLS at different intervals. For example, I may evaluate the Success Quotient section monthly or even daily based on working toward a goal, objective, or action item. On the other hand, no need to review my Values section unless I have a difficult decision to make that is creating conflict, doubt, or second-guessing.

To make next year an Exceptional Year, I review through last year’s objectives, goals, and actions and the Success Metrics assigned to them to determine where I succeeded and where the challenges lay. All of these taken into consideration together is my Success Quotient. The more I achieve these metrics, the more successful I am at reaching my goals. The old adage: you won’t achieve what you don’t measure.

Then review my Values, YOUnique Excellence Pillars (how I operate in the world), and the Impacts I want to make with my life. Reflecting on what I’ve accomplished, the challenges had, what I’ve learned, and new opportunities, I may make adjustments on parts of the Success Life Strategy. Then I begin working on the creation of my next “Exceptional Year.”

What are your YOUnique Excellence Pillars? Share yours with us below!

Delving into your Success Quotient

12482705_sYour Success Life Strategy focuses you on creating the impact and multi-dimensional success you deserve to have in your life. 100% of the people – just like you- who have incorporated this tool into their lives have had profound results. Including me – its been THE KEY to my own success.

One element of the Success Life Strategy is creating your “Success Quotient.”

So, what is a Success Quotient and how can you use them?

Once you’ve created your Success Life Strategy, you have a set of objectives, goals, and action items. To move forward effectively, you will want to measure your progress, which is why we adopted the Success Quotient.

The Success Quotient is a set of metrics – preferably quantitative and objective, yet sometimes qualitative or subjective – that measures your progress toward your goals and successes.

For each item – as I shared in the above example – you create a measurement of success trying to become as objective as possible even for soft or personal goals. We do this because it can be difficult to see the transformation we make in our lives, when we don’t actively measure the actions we take to create change in our lives.

That’s why I’ve been such an advocate of creating your Success Life Strategy – it’s a plan for your personal life to create multi-dimensional success and really affect impacts that you feel are important with your life.

A key part of this is the Success Quotient.

The Doctor Is In – Q & A With Dr. Knight

Denise Gonzalez wrote recently:

Dr. Knight, you talk about YOUnique Excellence Pillars. How are these useful? Can you give an example of how you used them?

Denise, “Excellent” question about YOUnique “Excellence” Pillars (YEPs). OK, that was goofy. Couldn’t help myself.

firecrackerLet me share an example of how I used my own YOUnique Excellence Pillars to develop the culture of our consultancy called Firecracker International. I did this for two reasons:

  1. Attract similarly minded consultants as “Firecrackers”
  2. Attract clients who appreciated these characteristics

I used my personal YOUnique Excellence Pillars as the foundation for our company’s culture through our Value Statements. Here’s what they are:

  • Catalysts fueled by the Outcome
  • Big Picture Strategists, Assiduous Problem Solvers, Tactical Creators
  • Be the Hero You Already Are
  • Full Force Living
  • Cultivate Magnanimity in Every Moment
  • Courageous Truth with Compassion
  • Inclusive Big Tent mentality and 1HumanRace Culture
  • Be the change we want to see in the world.

BTW, I could not see all of these myself. I hired an expert who helped me to clarify these because although I’m an expert in Strategy and Succcess, finding your YOUnique Excellence Pillars requires an internal and external team.

Take a look at this example at Firecracker Innovation.

Your YOUnique Excellence Pillars

Anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote,

“Always remember that you are absolutely unique.
Just like everyone else.”

Think about this for a moment. We are all so very different, yet the same. What makes us the same allows us to connect and understand each other better. But what makes us different makes the world a glorious place. Many people want to hide their uniqueness or don’t even understand their unique gifts and individuality. Let’s explore this using the one of the Elements of your Strategic Life Plan™ called your YOUnique Excellence Pillars (YEPs).

Your YEPs are unique characteristics that are special and unique to You. We use the term YOUnique Excellence Pillars because these are the unique set of passions, qualities, interests, priorities, behaviors, skills, talents, and even quirks. When considered as the “package of you” they explain your magnificence – how you are differentiated in the world. They define your Personal Brand – who you are uniquely and differentiated in the world. They define you as an asset that others are attracted.

Why is clearly defining and understanding your YOUnique Excellence Pillars important to you?
Having clarity on your YOUnique Excellence Pillars is powerful. Understanding and having created a portfolio of your YEPs gives you a strong foundation of which to better understand how you are operating in the world. What attracts others, and why certain characteristics repel. It also gives us the ability to scrutinize those quirks we all have to develop ways of turning them into positive assets.

Here is an example of why clearly defining your YOUnique Excellence Pillars (YEPs) is critical:
In business strategy planning, organizations expend time and money to create their strategic plan. A differentiating element is what is called the Strategic Excellence Positions (SEPs). These SEPs explain how an organization is different from others, what are their strengths.

Your YOUnique Excellence Pillars (YEPs) is similar in these are the characteristics that you “cannot, not do”. Your YEPs are unique to you and they are not always obvious because they can even be those quirks your loved ones complain about transformed into your cutting edge. Your YEPs are YOUnique to You and are valued by others. They are unique characteristics that are special about YOU.

Engage the Success and Impact Team to create your Strategic Life Plan and clearly define your YOUnique Excellence Pillars (YEPs). These are your differentiators and become your PERSONAL BRAND.

3 Key Differentiators of the MOST Successful People

This month, I’ve had the opportunity to speak on a fun topic called the “3 Key Differentiators of the MOST Successful People”.

Who are the MOST Successful People? Picture being at an event and there is a certain “somebody” that everyone wants the opportunity to chat with. It’s as though just being near that person, their success might “rub off”. You know what I mean!

What is the difference between YOU – a successful person – and the MOST successful people?

Nothing!

So what is it that the MOST Successful People know that you do not? What’s their SECRET?

There is little to no difference between you and the world’s most successful people – except 1 thing. They have a Success SECRET that includes 3 Key Differentiators. For centuries the most successful people have passed on these 3 key differentiators from mentor to mentee; teacher to student; generation-to-generation.

The interesting thing is that YOU already know each part of this Success SECRET – but you may not be consistently putting them together. However, when you do put these together, life starts clicking in a positive way and you see an uptick in your success.

Here is the Successful Person’s Secret. They have:

  • A strong personal base from which to Springboard
  • A plan for Success
  • And a mindset to execute on creating IMPACT

You are probably saying, of course! These are obvious. However, we have learned that in order to consistently transform greater success in your life, you must develop these 3 Key Differentiators into a HABIT in your own life – to do these 3 differentiators consistently.

I usually don’t promote the Success&Impact Group actively in these newsletters because my intension is to share knowledge. However, we are built on catalyzing your SUCCESS HABITS!

We realize there are Habits of Success that we all need to develop that will TRANSFORM us into the MOST Success People. That’s why we developed the YOUniqueRx™ – to create Success Habits through routinely:

  • Leveraging the 5 Human Equities as a strong personal base
  • Creating your Success Strategy via a Strategic Life Plan
  • Leveraging Neuroscience to optimize your brain around your success and creating your unique impact.

We all have habits. The Success&Impact Group uses neuroscience to create powerful “Habits of Success”. So, if you want to uplevel your Success, join us for our next event to learn more about upleveling your success!

Image by carlosluzz (CC BY 2.0) via flickr

The Doctor Is In – YOUnique Personal Impact STATEMENT

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

Not all people feel they have the capability of creating impact in the World. The Success and Impact team believes everyone has the capability to create their unique impact in the world – their family, their community, and beyond. We call this your YOUnique Personal Impact. We are not alone as Anita Roddick observed,

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”

The Elements of your Strategic Life Plan™ include:

  1. Your Vision Statement
  2. Your YOUnique Personal Impact
  3. YOUnique Excellence Pillars (YEPs)
  4. Your Core Values Statement
  5. Your Long-Term Objectives

We are going to delve deeper into Your YOUnique Personal Impact STATEMENT.

Your YOUnique Personal Impact are those Impacts that you want to create in the world that leave your legacy of what you did, for whom and why. Your YOUnique Personal Impact Mission answers the questions:

  • “What is my YOUnique Personal Impact in the World?”
  • “Why am I creating this YOUnique Personal Impact?”
  • “For whom am I creating my YOUnique Personal Impact?”

The impact you are capable of making in the world is YOUnique to you. This is because only you have your unique set of passions, qualities, interests, priorities, behaviors, skills, talents, and even quirks. Accomplishing one of your YOUnique Personal Impacts takes strategic planning and could take you three or more years to reach.

Catalyst Points are those accomplishments and inflection points that move us to vision – from where we are to what we want to become. Your YOUnique Personal Impact(s) are the major Catalyst Points in your life – considered an “interim” or the Milestones to accomplishing your Vision – because you work toward them and oftentimes also use them as a springboard to the next part of your Success Journey. Catalyst Points properly directed lead to the vision. Incorrectly done, they lead away from the vision.
Examples of types of “impact” other successful people who leveraged YOUniqueRx to create includes:

  • Leaving a legacy
  • Building a business
  • Creating a charity
  • Starting a social movement
  • Changing someone’s life predicament
  • Making a career change
  • Up-leveling a hobby
  • Making a major life change
  • Getting your health back together

Consider that it’s not only your potential, but it’s your duty to use your unique qualities, passions, interests, behaviors, skills, talents, and even quirks to impact the World! Dr. Knight often says,

“It’s time to step into your YOUnique Heroism. Clarify why you are on your human journey, and take action on how you want to positively impact the world.”

The YOUniqueRx was created to help you to create impact with your life. Click here to learn more about creating your YOUnique Impact.

The Five Equities of a Human Being

Last week, I shared that when I “FREAKED OUT”, I recalibrated by practicing what I preach and looked at my 5 Human Equities:

  • My Purpose
  • My Success Ratio
  • My Connections
  • My Body
  • My Brain

Realizing they were out of FLOW.

You shared that you appreciated the article, but asked what are these 5 Human Equities?

The 5 Human Equities are the 5 Key Elements of Fulfillment for a Person. These 5 Human Equities were developed out of my experiences as an executive, physician, entrepreneur, and everyday parent trying to get through life as fully as possible. Over time the 5 Human Equities evolved to what they are today. Most everything we humans need to tune into – our mental and physical health, our curiosity to learn, and our genetic predisposition as humans to “matter”, to make sense of “why we are here”, and to make our unique impression in the world (at least our families and communities) are captured in these 5 Human Equities.

We have all tried it; no one has mastered it. There is no such thing as Life Balance.

Instead use the framework of the 5 Equities of a Human Being, as a solid platform that gives you strength and assures you are firm and in your greatest Power.

CirclesHere’s a few thoughts on each of the 5 Human Equities and how to leverage them to create Flow leading to greater Success in your Life.

Your Purpose

Your Purpose is about clarifying your Vision of your life journey and the YOUnique Personal Impact you want to make in the world– some people use the term legacy. Actively progressing toward Your Purpose requires developing and implementing on a Strategic Life.

The most successful people live purposefully. Successful people recognize that by aligning their professional and personal life on their Purpose they are able to focus their energy. This creates confidence leading to greater success and impact. Focusing your professional and personal life on an aligned purpose redefines your power. It is a Triad of unified alignment of your Personal Life, Professional Life, and Life Purpose.

Create a routine practice of Your Purpose “calisthenics” by reviewing and returning to Your Strategic Life Plan™ regularly.

Your Success Quotient™

Define Success on Your Terms™. As a society, our main measurement of success is how much money one has. Of course there are other ways of measuring success: a person’s influence, their reach, how infamous is a person. But ultimately, that translates into the value a person brings to the world and how they translate that value into tangible metrics of success – such as income, recognition, bonuses, and personal satisfaction.

However as individuals, we personally measure success in many different ways.

Your Success Quotient™ is how YOU measure success personally. Individually, people measure success in uniquely different – and often not consciously – ways such as how large is their home, what community do they live with, number of Friends on Facebook, how many parties invited to, number of children or cars you have, a house on the beach, how many times they have been “retweeted”, the amount of love they feel, their confidence level, how many people they have impacted or helped, whether Mom or Dad or a spouse said, “Good Job.” The myriad of ways to measure your Success Quotient™ is infinite.

Your Success Quotient may also be differentiated in material and non-material wants and needs. Successful people have clarity of how they measure success – their Success Quotient. Also, it is important to align Your Success Quotient™ metrics with frequent Action Items and Short-Term Goal attainment so you can experience and celebrate regular progress.

Create a routine practice of Your Success Quotient™ “calisthenics” by celebrating often as you make progress towards hitting Short-Term Goals outlined in growing Your Success Quotient™.

Your Connections

connectionsNurture your Connections and your Networks. Your Connections are one of your greatest indicators of both happiness and success. Connections can be considered in many ways. For example:

  • Your personal and professional relationships
  • Your networks and communities
  • Your communications

The way you communicate and interact with your Connections is critical. Successful people work with and collaborate with other people. They have positive relationships filled with Integrity, which is communicated in action rather than word.

Connections and communicating are critical. Create a process so that you can engage in Your Connection “calisthenics”.

Your Brain

Your brain and bodyYour Brain is where all your Innovation happens. A Successful person is willing to “re-innovate” what they are doing and how they are doing it. They consider tools and exploring new concepts continually striving toward personal growth.

Successful people are committed to Lifelong Learning and most importantly – INVEST in themselves. Because of the extraordinary growth in Neuroscience, you can now apply these new findings to your life to leverage a greater percentage of your brains and increase your creativity and ability to “re-innovate” yourself.

(A shameless plug here: Neuroscience is a key to the success of the YOUniqueRx for our clients.) We have created a “The Manual for Your Brain” gathering Brain Tools for your Brain Toolbox so that you can “Tune Up” your Brain to get the results you want.

Engage in the YOUniqueRx to understand how to apply neuroscience to your life and to create a routine practice of Brain “calisthenics.”

Your Body

Your Body is the only physical vehicle you will have for your journey on Earth. Thus, as you create more Success and Impact in your life, you must tune into the 5 Human Equities and address Your Body.

Create and actively execute a proactive plan for Healthy Wellness considering the “inputs” and the “outputs” of your Body’s systems. Actively address and reverse the affects of disease and “dis-ease.”

Create a routine practice of Body “calisthenics” assuring there is appropriate attention to both the “inputs” and the “outputs.”

Acknowledging the “ebb and flow,” use the 5 Human Equities to assess and prioritize your life as a springboard for creating your life goals. Recognize that attention to the rhythm of your 5 Human Equities can act as platform to springboard your personal success and creating impact to live to your GREATest potential.

Success and Impact Factors

A few weeks ago an innovative online magazine called Health Care Sales and Marketing Magazine contacted us to offer our thoughts on what makes Top Sales and Marketing Professionals Successful. They also asked how can others learn to Boost their Careers?

I personally took to the research and created a list that is not only relevant for Sales and Marketing professionals, but for all of us.

Here are the Success and Impact Factors in brief:

  1. LOVE what YOU do!
  2. Create Your clearly articulated Vision.
  3. Know who you are as a YOUnique individual.
  4. Understand your Prioritized Values.
  5. Have a strong Short-Game AND Long-Game.
  6. Define Success on Your Terms.
  7. FOCUS your attention and your time.
  8. Assure FLOW in Your Life.
  9. Nurture your Connections and your Networks.
  10. Be Great – Innovative!

This is such a great list, we are going to share the link so you can download the White Paper explaining these Success and Impact Factors as well.

The Doctor Is In – 3ACT

Communities can REALLY show up! I wrote an article last month on the 3 Phases to creating Purpose-driven Focus that defines Your Success. The problem was, my acronym came up as CAT rather than ACT. Well, YOU – all our wonderful readers, commenters, editors, colleagues, and friends – stepped up to assist with the ACT! acronym.

3 Phases to creating Purpose-driven Focus that defines Your Success:

  1. Activate
  2. Catalyze
  3. Thrive

What does each of these mean?

ACTIVATE
In the YOUniqueRx program, we gain purpose-driven focus by creating a Strategic Life PlanTM (SLP). This documents your vision, impact, values, YOUnique Excellence Positions, and objectives. This process yields greater confidence in your ability to reach your Success Quotient milestones by clarifying your Purpose, outlining big goals, and articulating your Value Hierarchy. The outcome is focus on how you spend your time and clarity in choices and decision-making.

CATALYZE
Having developed a strong base from which to operate via your Strategic Life PlanTM, it’s time to take action. Action Elements include creating short-term goals that would constitute an exceptional year, ranking priorities, and to implement through action steps and sequencing. This is where the real fun happens and you experience the power of combining BrainScienceTM with your Strategic Life PlanTM.

THRIVE
Leveraging the 5 Equities of a Human Being, you remember and acknowledge the “ebb and flow” of life. You use these 5 Human Equities – Your Purpose, Your Success Quotient, Your Connections, Your Brain, Your Body – as a springboard for creating your life goals while assuring that you also maintain a healthful flow in your life.

These are the 3 Phases of the YOUniqueRx process to creating Purpose-driven Focus you can use to transform in your life. Make a commitment to yourself. Transition through these 3 Phases – Clarify, Activate, Thrive – to Catalyze Your Success.