We all want to be successful, but the way we get to that success is through hard-work and dedication, not a quick burst of motivation. How do we achieve success? What does it have to do with KFC? I’ll share my thought here:
Consistency Over Time
Source: https://jamesclear.com/continuous-improvement
This graph from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, show that minor but consistent improvement over time is significantly better than being idle. Think about it. If you are able to be 1% better for a year, that’s 37-fold in improvements over 365 days. And if you get 1% worse everyday, by the end, well, you’ll be left with nothing.
Showing up everyday matters.
Think of school, for example. How did we learned them arithmetic? ABC? Vocabulary? It’s because we have Identity and System.
System and Identity
To change the output, we need to change the input; to change who we will be, we need to change who we are. In school, we have a fixed system that is repeated years on years to maximize your success. You wake up, you learn, you rest, you repeat. That’s Structure.
How can I apply this to my life? Time Blocking.
To put it short, appoint the tasks you need to do like a doctor’s appointment on your calendar, tasks that you know will benefit you: gym, reading, networking, cleaning etc.
This way, you’ll eliminate that quick burst of motivation where one day you want to be productive, then the next, that motivation runs dry. Now, you have a duty to stick to.
You’ll need, to a certain extend, to be delusional and confident that all of 100% of your effort will lead to 100% of your success. It’s undeniable that Luck play a significant role in someone’s success. A study shows that you need to be confident enough to see failures as an opportunity to grow but not too overconfident where a drawback crushed your motivation. It’s the goldilocks spot that you have to find.
Delayed Gratification
Many wishes, even expect, results to come quickly. But the fact are simple, results take times. When referring back to the graph, this become obvious. Many quits during the first phase of progression because they don’t see the result they expected.
” The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily “
This famous quote by Charles Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, also applies to us in our context. The most important aspect of compound interest is time. Just trust the process; the results will shows in mean time.
The Colonel’s Recipe
The Colonel Sander’s fried chicken recipe had a rough start during his pitching periods to countless of restaurants, attempting to franchise his recipe. After a thousand rejections, he struck gold.
His first sales was in 1952 in Salt Lake County, Utah where the iconic 11 secret herbs and spices chicken was sold… And the rest is history.
source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KFC_worldmap.svg
It’s no secret that Kentucky Fried Chicken is one of the most popular fast-food chains in the world. No doubt about it. Started as a single restaurant in Utah, KFC now have over 31,980 restaurants across 150+ countries, serving the recipe created by Colonel Sander during his 50s to billions of people worldwide.
Had he quitted after failing to pitched his franchise over hundreds of times, he wouldn’t have succeeded the way he did, and left behind such a legacy.
You’ll never know how far your potentials will go if you don’t put in the works for it.