If you want to be successful when chasing a difficult goal, then I strongly encourage you to surround yourself with great people.
Surrounding yourself with great people will be hugely influential to your success because they can complement your skills and experience, provide a different perspective to your own, give you an honest opinion and keep you focused on achieving your goals.
I’m confident in what i’m good at so I tell people “Area A represents my skill set and where I can add excellent value. This skill set also represents my earning ability, so my time and energy is best spent squeezing every drop out of it. When there are other skills I need that will contribute to my success, then I need the people that have them“.
“This bit over here – Area ‘B’ – this is not a natural part of my skill set. Given time I could do a competent job, but why would I? I’m not looking for competent, I’m looking for excellent“.
An example of when I needed excellence was when my wife and I stepped out of our comfort zone and purchased several rental properties in one hit. We had unsuccessfully invested in rental properties before so we had enough knowledge to get ourselves into real trouble second time around.
This time though, things were going to be different.
We had a clearer understanding of what we wanted to achieve and were fortunate to have a close friend with a deep understanding of property to act as a mentor. We already had a great accountant, so we enlisted a law firm that represented our interests, and navigated us through a complicated process.
Together, we joined up and created a high performing team. We bought the properties, built some great relationships along the way, and created a foundation to launch our next venture from.
So, a key tip for you:
Be as clear as you can on what you’re trying to achieve. If you don’t know what you want, it’s going to be really hard for someone else to know. If you’re not familiar with structured goal setting, google SMART goals as a way to get you started.
Some characteristics of the people you want in your team?
- They need to be empathetic to who you are and what you want.
- They should be able to explain what their role and responsibilities are in a way that is going to meet your needs. It’s no point having a lawyer that only speaks legalese if, like me, you prefer things in plain English.
- You need to be able to trust them. That means different things for different people, but for me, when someone says they’re going to do something, they do it.
My last point is this. Having people you can turn to for honest advice is invaluable. We’re fortunate to have friends that are like family, but if that’s not a reality for you, then reach for the next best thing.
Ask yourself the question, and I mean literally say out loud “who could I turn to for advice”? The very first person that springs to mind is probably a good starting point, so go with your gut, back yourself and contact that person – today.
You can do this. Get moving, surround yourself with great people and chase down those big life goals.
