The great achievers of the world have one thing in common. They do whatever it takes.
In the movie Joy, based on a true story, Joy Mangano tries to launch her invention of a new miracle mop. Setbacks, problems, law suits, fraud, more setbacks ensue.
But again and again, she does whatever it takes. Right down to standing in the parking lot demonstrating the mop. Trying to get a sale from the back of her car. That's how Wayne Dyer sold his earlier books for a long time too – out of the back of his station wagon. Driving from place to place. Doing what it takes.
Joy is now worth over $50 million. Wayne Dyer published 40 books, 21 were best sellers. His first book has sold some 36 million copies!
Barbara Brennan took a mortgage on her house to get her book Hands of Light published, and so did the author of the Artist's Way as I recall, Julia Cameron. None of this is comfortable stuff. But it's doing whatever it takes to make it happen.
Of course any pioneering approach, product, theory – or disruptor - as the tech savvys like to call it, is bound to be rejected by the mass consensus of that moment and that field. Otherwise by definition, that thing would be neither original nor pioneering.
So anyone wanting to pioneer anything, perhaps even their own lives, needs to be ready to do what it takes, because the normal routes and paths and doorways will not apply. Nor will they open. Doing what it takes though, will create new pathways and doors where they never were before. That's alchemy. Money Alchemy to be exact. Get the book.
Most people want to succeed. They want to make money. Or build a company. But they don't want to get their hands dirty. They don't want to disrupt their routine. They don't want to do what it takes.
In a recent bout of nostalgia, I recorded an episode of Hotel Impossible because it was set in Greece. It's a reality show in which a hotel expert helps to turn around a failing hotel business.
Amongst other things, this Greek hotel's spa was a smelly mess – mould, dirt, humidity, and more. In comes the hotel owner's glamorous wife, in charge of the spa section. Dressed like she should do nothing but pose.
And truly, she would have been unable to bend, in that itsy bitsy ever so tight strapless top and even tighter (matching!) skirt. With ludicrously high heels to boot and enough make up to clogg the rest of the filters... (No need to get nasty, Kiki. Well it was really badly done. Moving rapidly along. Whose voice is that? I'm the narrator. Okay we're going all Eddie Izzard here now. Moving rapidly along. I love that man!)
Okay, so hotel expert removes the filthy, clogged up filter from the air filter. Miss Spa flinches back, her face distorts as if confronting Medusa, or one of the lesser Gorgons. She won't take her beautifully painted nails anywhere near that dirt. (Don't you bring that filthy dirt near me boy! You hear her African American alter ego say in a shrill voice, hands on hips).
Owner husband comes to the rescue. Dismisses filter dirt as 'specialist maintenance issue'. Insists regular cleaning does take place. Expert fishes out a big handful of did-not-get-here-overnight dust and months'-worth dirt from a more accessible spot.
This is ordinary, vaccum cleaner variety dirt. Expert hands dirt to Miss Spa, who tries to avoid it, flinches, moves away. But expert cunningly grabs one of Miss Spa's hands and places dirt right in the centre of her palm! Miss Spa is devastated! She becomes so overwrought, she drops dirt, furiously rubs her hands, and runs away from the camera. Thankfully not across the mouldy floor or she would have slipped in those heels... We never see Miss Spa again. Not even at the end when everyone is joyfully dancing the sirtaki.
(What's a sirtaki, Kiki? It's a Zorba the Greek dance. Oh.)
Yes, it's been said that money is dirty. What that really means, is you may need to take off your high heeled shoes and get down on your hands and knees and clean off some dust or mould – if you want to make it work. Or you may need to miss some shut eye – if you want to properly prepare for a presentation. Maybe you need to stay up all night to get it done. Maybe two nights if that's what's needed to do what it takes. Or maybe you need to drive around to seven different shops across town to get that folder you need that will perfectly match your logo.
Do what it takes. It means get out of your comfort zone.
We're not talking death defying feats here people. Just trying a little. Bothering. Doing something that may not actually be in your job description.
Most people won't. They want to stay comfortable. They want to stay clean. They think the role of owner or CEO or manager means Very Important Person who cannot (or will not) get down and dirty to make whatever needs to be done happen.
Most people just won't do it. That's why most people are just not that successful.
If you're not prepared to get down and dirty, then you're going to miss that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Can you picture traveling to the end of the rainbow? What that would entail? Even without the threat of Orcs or Mordor. It would certainly mean getting out of your high heels, out of your attitude, off your butt and doing whatever it takes. Period.
Look around you. Where could you be doing whatever it takes to make it happen? Right now. Whatever IT is. Don't delay!
Do it, and watch your wealth expansion index soar.
You are one step closer to that pot of gold. (Watch out for orcs). (Nicely done Kiki. Thanks... but if you're the narrator, then who's writing this?)
We create the world