It seems to me to be a good day to share “The Common Denominator of Success” written by Albert E. N. Gray. It is one of the best articles on what differentiates successful people from those who are not. It is an article that forces me to re-read it on a regular basis. It is one that gives me pause to think every time I do.

You can examine yourself, you can commit to working on acquiring new skills, you can create a workspace, and you can have the earnest desire to succeed. According to Gray, the secret to success does not lie in any of that. Nor is it a matter of just ‘working hard' as most of us have been taught. Gray studied people who were successful and in doing so, formed a common fundamental element, a common denominator of success. This was:

“The secret of success of every person who has ever been successful – lays in the fact that ‘THEY FORMED THE HABIT OF DOING THINGS THAT FAILURES DON'T LIKE TO DO'”.

I have come to believe what Gray said is true. In a keynote address on the subject, Gray asserted that “The things that ‘failures' don't like to do are the things you and I and other human beings, including successful people, don't naturally like to do.” Gray maintained that we had to realize from the start that successful people were the minority and success is “…therefore ‘unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes, nor by being guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.”

The one basic dislike common to everyone boils down to “We don't like to talk to people about something they might not want to talk about.”

I find that conclusion to be magnificent! It seems to me, we live in fear that we do not have the right as fellow human beings to try to talk to others about things that could better their lives, change their approach to life, and even improve their standard of living. What is the worst thing they could/can say to us; “No”. Moreover, in doing so we hear them rejecting us instead of our offer, our plan, and our advice. This is simply NOT the case!

Gray ascertains that successful people are always able to overcome this and do things they don't like because, “Successful people are influenced by the desire for pleasing results. Failures are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods and are inclined to be satisfied with such results as can be obtained by doing things they like to do.

One of the primary differences between successful and non-successful people in a business opportunity, home based, franchised, or not is that we settle with ourselves! We settle for good enough instead of great; we lower the bar to our comfort zone instead of coming right up to it, leaping over and surpassing it!

Gray emphatically makes the case that successful people “form the habit of doing things they don't like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they want to accomplish.”

Success is linked to the habit that is built on a purpose that is strong enough to make us leap over anything, including the things we don't like to do, to accomplish that purpose!

Gray also maintains that the one will not “form the HABIT of making and keeping a promise (to one's self) until you link it with a definite purpose that can be accomplished by keeping it.”

Purpose – is a strong word. It is packed not only with intent, but also with determination and passion. It is not totally about cold, hard logic; it is about identifying something that you will derive the biggest ‘pay back' from and that will reap you ‘rewards' in terms of satisfaction of self, satisfaction of and for others, pride, honor, and respect. Per Gray again, “If it's a big purpose, you will be big in its accomplishment.”

By surrendering to the purpose, Gray, asserts we can achieve success and the will to overcome the things we don't like to do.

Gray was an executive with Prudential Insurance Company and wrote his address on this subject in 1940! Recently on the bestseller list, a book titled, “The Purpose Driven Life” has dominated for many weeks.

Some consider it ironic; I however, in the context of the applicability to this business opportunity, consider it prophetic.