Everyone wants to be a success and even those who say they do not care, blossom when you congratulate them on an achievement.
However, though it may be personal, success is not measured only by you but often in relation to other things or people’s achievements. A whole lot of factors come into play when we consider who or what is successful and what is not. This is because there are standards. Even when not measured intentionally, they are agreed on by reason. Examples are how we choose the year’s top athletes, different scientific awards, solutions to health problems, and a myriad of other things.
The beauty of being successful is that for most areas of life, we walk a well-trodden path. To be a success, you only need to find the formulae that others used before you for that aspect of life; find a system and replicate. Occasionally you could be the one creating the system or part of a system but as the Bible says; there is nothing new under the sun.
“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” – Jim Rohn
Successful innovation is not just creating something new but is also doing something differently resulting in a new product or better efficiency. Below are some ways you can get a system to make you successful whatever your industry. These are meant to stir up your thinking and are not the only formulas for innovation;
1. The most obvious way is getting a mentor – someone who has done what you want to do before. By proverbially sitting at their feet; listening, watching, and asking questions you can replicate your mentor’s success. However, even then, your ingenuity is important because times have changed and it is your responsibility to tailor what you learn for your generation. If you don’t do that you would be light years behind with your innovations.
2. Training and Coaching; these inculcate a process or system through a series of theories and procedures that we are required to understand and replicate for a particular result which is equated to success. Trainers/coaches require that to get to the intended success they tell the learner something and then show it to them. The learner then replicates what they have been shown and go through the process with another novice. If they can replicate the process or system they become successful.
Showing it continually to others makes them an expert as they can pre-empt problems in the learning process. Being able to adjust aspects of the process to achieve better or broad success makes them a master. Examples are in business schools that may require one to run a business or start one as part of their accreditation and medical training amongst others.
3. Taking aspects of processes in the same industry and bringing them together where traditionally they were not done in sequence, is another way a system can be achieved. When you become a Master this is what you have achieved. This means getting rid of parts of a process that is not working or improving aspects so you can get rid of others to achieve and intended goal. An example would be the brain surgery of twins by Benny Carson, where the processes in the same industry (medicine) came together to make a successful new process.
4. Borrowing from different industries/cultures to come up with a new process. For example, an aspect of production or selling that has been used in one industry can be replicated in another. This is also where history comes to play; understanding the whole process of something or culture so you can see trends and applications for new trends.
Traditionally manufacturing is done in an assembly line while surgeons do a few operations at a time. However, today for simple procedures (e.g. eye surgery) we have surgeons who have organized their surgeries as an assembly line, and they, instead of the patient, move from station to station doing the procedure. This leads to minimal time wastage in patient preparation time and better efficiency just as in the motor vehicle assembly line.
5. You can also create your own system right from scratch. This may be necessary if you are coming up with something completely new under the sun. This would require a level of revelation like the apple falling from a tree for Sir Isaac Newton, or God inspiring you in a dream-like Elias Howe and Albert Einstein.
I think the example I find interesting and possibly falls into this category is Sound Bender a business presented on Shark Tank or Arab wars with Israel in the 20th century. Revelation for most people does not come easily because there is too much noise around us. This noise inhibits the mind from being still which is necessary for revelation.
For you to be able to get a successful system that works for whatever business you are in you to need to be ready to learn. It may not be from a teacher, mentor, or book but sometimes from the environment. Today, different names have been given to the improvement of business systems alike 5s, FIFO, and Kaizen. Having an understanding of these and applicable technology will also add tremendous value to whatever system you are developing.
Every problem you seek to solve has the answer right there around you or in you. God has given us a tremendous gift to create things and one of these is systems that provide solutions to problems. Take time to think and you will find solutions to problems that may be a challenge to you as an individual or to humanity a whole.
Continue the innovative list of different ideas of how a problem can be solved or a system improved. The more you use your mind to think the better of you. So having a place to jot down ideas, whether awake or asleep is important. You never know when the light bulb moment happens!
