The Common Denominator of Success
The Common Denominator of Success
If you are somebody that works or has worked within the sales field, there is a good chance you have heard of a piece of literature titled ‘The Common Denominator of Success’. Written by Albert E.N. Gray, an official of the Prudential Insurance Company who had more than 30 years experience within the sales development field; the inspiring message is considered one of the most timeless pieces of life insurance literature.
In 1940, Gray set out on a ‘voyage of discovery’ to see what it was that made successful people, successful, or, as he dubbed it, the Common Denominator of Success. After carrying out extensive research, reading numerous autobiographies, biographies and dissertations, Gray concluded that the common denominator of success is as follows:
Makes sense eh? The most successful people are successful simply because they regularly push themselves outside of their comfort zone. They do things that ‘failures’ don’t like to do. But what is it that failures don’t like to do? Well, according to Gray, it’s exactly the same things that successful people don’t like to do! The difference being that successful people have a purpose strong enough to make them form the habit of doing things they don’t like to do, in order to accomplish the purpose that they want to accomplish.
Here at T2, we talk a lot about Sense of Purpose. Our Sense of Purpose lies deep within our human psychology, at the bottom of our unconscious iceberg . Our sense of purpose is where our unconscious motivators come from, which then influence how we behave to the external world. Although everyone’s sense of purpose is individual to them, generally it falls under the following four categories:
Prove - having to prove someone right or wrong or maybe prove a point.
Provide - providing for someone which may be money, a home or possessions or maybe a supportive, encouraging and nurturing environment.
Achieve - achieve recognition, goals or honours
Avoid - avoid embarrassment, struggle or failure.
Our sense of purpose is the thing that drives our behaviours, however, according to Gray, if it isn’t strong enough, it won’t help you form the habit of doing things that you don’t like to do. To explain this a little further, here’s a snippet from Gray’s paper:
Although the above perhaps sounds a bit strong, Gray does make a good point. However, at this point it’s worth us saying that in no way is he kiboshing the importance of our sense of purpose. He is simply saying that in order to push us to do the things we really don’t want to do, our purpose needs to be strong enough to make doing these things a habit.
We have another pathway on the T2 Hub which explains how we form habits and for most people, it’s not the actual habit formation that’s the problem, it’s the time that it takes for a behaviour to become automatic that prevents people from making them stick. Habits are comprised of three things:
Out of the three elements above, the ‘cue’ is the most important one. If the cue isn’t there, the habit formation is not going to happen. In his paper, Gray says that you won’t form a habit unless you link it with a specific purpose that can be accomplished by forming the habit: your purpose is your cue. Therefore, when you decide to do something that you don’t want to do in order to be successful, this decision must be made every day until it becomes automatic.
So if providing for our family isn’t a strong enough purpose, what is? Gray stressed that in order to form the habit of doing things we don’t like to do, our purpose needs to be practical, but more importantly, have some form of sentimental or emotional importance, and this importance needs to be something that is life long and deep rooted, a type of legacy if you will.
Taking the ‘providing for my family’ purpose as an example; there is a huge difference between someone who says that they want to provide for their family who grew up quite comfortably, to someone who wants to provide for their family, that has grown up in poverty. The wants and needs of the person who grew up in a financially stable environment will be fulfilled much quicker than the wants and needs of the person who grew up in poverty and therefore, the second person is much more likely to form a habit of doing the things that they don’t want to do, than the first person. In fact, the chances are, the first person’s true sense of purpose isn’t to provide for their family at all, it might be to achieve, prove or avoid!
It may all sound a bit complex, but what Gray is trying to get across is that in order to be successful, we need to have a strong enough purpose to drive us to do the things that make us feel uncomfortable and push us outside our comfort zone. Doing the things that others don’t want to do puts you ahead of the curve and therefore, results in you becoming successful.
In Summary: in his paper, Albert E.N. Grey said that successful people are successful, because they push themselves to do the things that they don’t want to do. However, in order to be truly successful, you need to make doing the things that you don’t want to do a habit, so it’s no longer something you don’t want to do! The thing that drives the desire to make doing the things you don’t want to do a habit is your sense of purpose. According to Gray, understanding your true sense of purpose will be strong enough to push you to do things that are outside of your comfort zone. This is what will make you successful.