The Cycle of Business Destiny

This is the 5^th episode in a 9-part series exploring the answers I got when I asked several clients of mine about the one thing which made them grow their business to its first million dollars in annual profit. 

The client featured in this fifth episode had this to say, “If I had to narrow it down to one thing, I would say that I started acting like a guy who did more than a million in profit. I got really serious about my goal and I started acting the way a person would act who made this kind of money. Putting in the hours, making the cold calls, etc. I literally imagined the person who made that type of money and I started to behave like this person. This included hiring a great coach.” I am honored and privileged to be that coach he referred to.

As we look at this, what I would like to know is, if you were to write down a brief description of who you believe yourself to be, would that description include a note that you make over a million dollars in net profit a year? Have you included that in your description of who you believe yourself to be?

The wheel of beliefs, potential, actions and results

Let me show you something that I was taught a very long time ago. It is really simple. If you divide a circle into four quadrants, one will contain your beliefs which determine your potential (in the next quadrant), that potential in turn determines the actions you take (third quadrant). Those actions then feed into the 4^th quadrant which contains the results you get from your actions.

If we were to look at just potential, how much potential does each human have? I believe that our potential as humans is somehow limitless because during the Olympics every four years, someone runs faster, jumps higher or achieves something better than had ever been done before in history.

So if your potential is limitless, how much action can someone take every day? It depends on how much of their potential they are tapping into. If you were to be tapping into 100% of your potential every day, how much action would you be taking? Probably a lot more than if you were tapping into 10% of your potential! 

Consistent actions lead of compounded results over time

If you consistently took more action than anyone else in the field or industry you are interested in, what kind of results would you eventually start to achieve? You would start to achieve some world-class results even if in the beginning you were horrible at what you did because by continuing to take action, you are able to constantly improve your craft until one day, you begin to see results that were once just a dream.

When you achieve a result that you initially believed to be impossible, your beliefs improve. As your beliefs improve, you will tap into more of your potential. As you tap into more of your potential, you will take even more action, which means you will even end up getting even better results. And in turn, your beliefs of what you think is possible will expand even further.

Success and failure are self-reinforcing

The above pattern is the difference between your success and failure in everything you do. The pattern keeps playing out and is self-reinforcing! If you believe it is possible and you tap into more potential every day, take more action every day, and you get better results every day, this wheel starts building momentum and you soon get so much momentum that it feels like you can accomplish just about anything.

If you reverse this wheel and think “that’s not possible for people like me,” even if you are really talented, you will tap into less of your potential, take less action, and you will tend to get less impressive results. This will happen even if you are the most talented person in the sport, the business or even the relationship. Your beliefs will also go down, and that will send you into a downward spiral. That momentum will stick.

In terms of business, let me ask real quick, do you think it is possible for your net worth to reach that of Warren Buffett? Notice how quickly your brain made a decision on this matter. Do you believe that it is possible for you to grow your net worth in a similar way to the trajectory seen in the growth of Warren Buffett’s net worth? 

Let me warn you, if you don’t believe that it is possible, are you likely to tap into more of your potential, or you will tap into less? On matters of earning, you are going to tap into less of your earning capacity. If you don’t believe it is possible, you are going to take less action. As a consequence, your results will be worse, and you will ultimately reinforce your beliefs that it wasn’t possible for you. 

What would happen in your life if you believed it was possible for you to grow your net worth like Warren Buffett? 

A case study of changing one’s beliefs

Let me take you back to the client I referred to at the start of this post. I worked with him before he made a million in profit, and I have worked with him after he started making that kind of money. 

Back in the day, I showed him the graph of Warren Buffett’s net worth over the years and he said it was impossible for him to attain similar growth. We then discussed the wheel of beliefs, potential, actions and results. He decided that he was going to start looking at the graph as if it was possible for him.

He said he didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he was going to look at the image and say to himself that if it is possible for them, then it is possible for him. He said that was all he will start doing. He has since made multiple million dollars a year in net profit, and it all started by deciding to act like someone who is making a million dollars. 

The first thing he changed was his beliefs regarding how much money he thought possible for him to earn. 

Now let’s project into the future and see what life looks like. You can have a positive belief or you could have a negative belief about your capability, and if we trace this five years into the future and plot a graph for those two individuals, are their results going to get better or worse? 

The curve for the person who believes it is not possible will keep moving downwards and it will get worse over time. On the other hand, the curve of the person who is uncertain regarding their ability to attain great results will go in waves up and down without really making any significant gains because they lack conviction about their ability or inability to attain great results. This type of person has the ‘shiny object syndrome’ and they keep switching from one thing to another without really committing to anything for any length of time to see results. 

Commitment gets the snowball rolling

The third option is the one that brings the kind of growth evident in Warren Buffett’s net worth chart over the years. Note that the growth in the earlier years is hardly noticeable. For example, you wouldn’t be impressed if you invested in Warren Buffett between 14-21 years of age because the results aren’t anything spectacular. However, the four years between 21 and 26 years begin to reveal some magic in the results. From age 30 to 39, he went from a million to $25 million in net worth! From 39 to about 49 years of age, he grew from $25 million to more than $300 million. By age 62, his net worth had shot up to about $15 billion. He kept going, with his net worth growing massively to more than $70 billion.

This is a huge example of what happens which you stick with something for such a long time that you get world-class results like no other person has ever attained. 

At the beginning, the results of the three people aren’t any different and the person who believes they can’t do it will ask the person who believes they can that since their results are the same, why does that person go to so much trouble by taking classes, reading so many books, but then several decades later when huge results are evident, people will say the person crushing it really got lucky.

Here is a question for you; what would you have to adjust in your belief system so that you can get on the green line taking you upwards and not the red line taking you downwards? What would you have to do to step into the identify of someone who earns millions, lives the kind of life millionaires live and has the kind of relationship and love and joy in their life in the way you desire? 

Three steps to transformation

First, you have to believe it is possible. Secondly, step into the identity of someone who is going to be the kind of person they wish to be. Three, you have to take consistent action to make those results come to reality in your life. If you need help with this, specifically in your business, fill out the form at the bottom of this page. I have helped people attain this before, and I referred to a text message of a client who I helped to make this transition happen in their life. I hope this is helpful, I hope you get on the green line and ride the curve. I hope you get the results you desire and deserve. Get in touch, and we will do what we can to be of help.

To Your Success,

Jairek Robbins