Five Influencing Factors of Greatness and Success

 Excerpt from my latest book, "Foundation for Greatness." 

These simple and incredible five factors summarized what causes greatness and ushers success in one's pursuit and endeavor. 

"By and large, in the end, the extent of your personal legacy, success and accomplishment, has been determined by five factors. These factors will be responsible for your place in the race for success:

1. Location: The forces that influence you and motivate you
2. Durability: Your enduring legacy … the things that could be said about you after you have died   
   
3. Height: Your achievements and the lives you have affected positively
4. Uniqueness: The area of your differentiation … what you can do that others cannot do
5.  Cost: The price you are willing to pay

Unless you address these elements properly at the beginning, you may find it difficult to attain a reasonably level of accomplishment. What are those aspirations that ignite a burning desire in you? This is your location. This is what influences the decisions and choices you make on daily basis. Your durability is how you would like to be remembered after you leave this earth. What achievements and contributions might you be remembered for? The level of greatness you achieve determines your legacy.

The number of people whose lives you improve in some way by your product, on either a local or global level, determines the height of your success. You earn your place among high achievers by how many people benefit from the solutions you provided. These solutions are the product you will be marketing to the world. For instance, there are few people in the world who have not in some way benefitted from the Microsoft solutions developed by Bill Gates, who was once the richest man in the world. His product has established him as highly fruitful and successful.

Your uniqueness is whatever makes you different from the pool of your competitors. This is your trademark as a person. If there is nothing that makes people know you each time your name is mentioned, you have yet to discover what you should be doing. When you discover your purpose, it can announce you to the world as you begin your pursuit. 

With the right motivation, you can find your purpose and develop your legacy by developing a solution that will cumulate in the highest height of achievements and operate on a unique platform. But all of this comes with a cost—the price you are willing to pay. Such prices can be high and often involve risk, but they are inevitable if you are to succeed. You must make a determination that you will achieve your goal. This determination is where you begin your foundational level.

The most important thing for you to understand is that your great accomplishment and fulfillment depend entirely on your in-depth foundation, your consistent maintenance as you build your structure. All of this together contributes to your big picture of affecting the world by solving a particular problem."