“Successful people have already grasped the truth that lottery winners have not: life is not a lottery. Success is not a random accident.” – Jeff Olson

When it comes to matters of success and achievement I’ve learned something over the years that has taught me so much. It’s this: believing that success is the “right” outcome can be hugely limiting. Sometimes we have to fail forward to be truly successful in life.

You read that correctly. I said, “fail forward”.

I’ve learned far more from my mistakes than I ever have from my successes. Resilience has been one of the greatest gifts that I’ve received from failure. The truth is that it’s easy to believe that you’re supposed to be successful. But if at some point in time you’re not immediately successful at something, what will your reaction be?

Will you give up? Will you make an excuse like, “It just wasn’t meant to be”, or “I guess this is a sign that I’m not supposed to do that”. Or maybe your reaction is to blame someone or something around you for not being able to accomplish what you set out to do. Perhaps it even feels embarrassing if success isn’t immediate.

“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

The truth is that negative and difficult things do happen – and most of them appear to be completely out of your control. How you react to and view those circumstances is what makes the true difference between success and failure. And your reaction is completely within your control.

Sometimes our journey toward success isn’t instantaneous, or even imminent. Sometimes we have to put in the time and effort to reach our desired outcome. Sometimes this takes longer than we’d like it to.

In today’s day and age we are all hooked on instantaneous success, and immediate results that we can see and feel. We’re looking for a “breakthrough” in a matter of minutes or days. We want it now!

This line of thinking can be incredibly detrimental when it comes to success.

Believing that success should look a certain way, or that it should be fast and easy if it’s “meant to be” – this mindset can actually keep you from taking the actions you need to take to create the results that you want. Breakthroughs, more often than not, come as a result of a series of consistent, determined, compounding steps.

It’s the little things, the baby steps done consistently over time, that compound on each other to create massive shifts in our lives. The truth about quantum leaps is that they are actually smaller than microscopic! After a period of time, all of those little steps add up to what appears to be a sudden shift to another level. And those baby steps are so small that it’s not even apparent how that shift was able to happen.

As a general rule, very few people actually celebrate the baby steps. And even fewer celebrate the first step. But taking that first step – which is often a step that takes us outside of our comfort zones – is a powerful way of assuming success. After that first step, it’s only a matter of continuing to take the baby steps that follow.

“Remember, you have to go in one direction or the other; you can’t stand still. Everything is constantly changing. Either you let go of where you are and get to where you could be, or you hang on to where you are and give up where you could be. You are either going for your dreams or giving up your dreams. Stretching for what you could be, or settling for what you are.” – Jeff Olson

Will you choose to stay in your comfort zone? Or will you choose take that first of many baby steps toward your dreams?