Being Obsessed with Success: 4 Mantras to Keep in Mind
If you go back throughout history and look at some of the most successful people ever, there is one thing they have in common. From Michaelangelo to Amelia Earhart to Michael Jordan to Steve Jobs to Marie Curie, just to name a handful – they all were or are obsessed with success.
In their thought-provoking book, Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different, Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger discuss part of what made Curie one of the most noteworthy scientists of all time:
“Yes, Curie was brilliant. But she also had a fanatical drive. It wasn’t uncommon for her to work in her lab until she collapsed from exhaustion. She labored for four years in an old shed to isolate a new element, radium, and continued even after it became clear it was poisoning her. That drive, which ultimately killed her, also made her a pioneer in radioactivity research and earned her two Nobel prizes.” 1
More on some interesting Marie Curie-related trivia in a bit but first let’s discuss…
Obsession: The Secret Ingredient of Success
The great thing about being obsessed with success is that it helps us bypass all of our inhibitions and self-doubts and makes us crazy enough to believe we can overcome rational limits.
What’s true is this – whatever we want out of life is only worth the price we are willing to pay to get it, and obsession is what helps us write that check.
As the authors say, “When success quotes us its price, obsession hands it a blank check and says, “Fill in the amount, I must get back to work.” 1
Stop Apologizing!
If you are one of those who is obsessed with success, there is no need to apologize for it. What else would you rather be doing than chasing your dreams? Nothing! For those of us who are obsessed with success, lying around and doing nothing is like nails on a chalkboard. Now, I am not saying this is for everyone and you need to make sure it doesn’t control you as you will see in a bit, but there is no need to apologize for who you are either.
Taking a Walk Down Good Enough Avenue
While we discussed the perils of being a perfectionist in a previous post, we also want to be mindful of how far we drive down “Good Enough Avenue”.
Going too far down that road can result in a couple of problems:
(1) People start getting comfortable
When people start getting comfortable, things start going downhill. We all need a little stress and a little edge. I like how the authors say, “If talent is a knife, comfort is a concrete block that blunts its edge until it can’t cut anything.” 1 Exactly!
(2) Good people start to leave
Gifted people with a ton of talent don’t want to be comfortable, they sign on to work on passion projects and to do the impossible and build what “cannot be built”.
Obsession: The Dark Side
While being obsessed with success is critical to achieving goals far beyond your dreams, there is also a dark side that emerges when you do not recognize and respect your limits.
The idea is to make sure you have guardrails that protect you from the potential self-destruction that obsession with success can lead to. While obsession can create worldly success, it can also paralyze and kill momentum, lead to flawed logic, foolish decision-making and infinite iteration that ends up producing nothing.
To prevent your obsession from ending up on the dark side, Bonnell and Hansberger recommend:
“The key is to know which side of obsessiveness you’re channeling and stay firmly on the right side of the lines, out of the path of oncoming traffic. You must not turn down your gift for perfection but rather corral it so it is constructive instead of destructive.” 1
The Key to Obsession
The hallmark of being obsessed with success in a healthy, and productive way is doing something that you absolutely love.
According to Bonnell and Hansberger:
“It’s about doing those things in the service of something that’s wormed its way inside you and won’t leave. Being madly in love with your mission, infecting the people you’re leading with that same love, and doing it all for a purpose that’s bigger than making money—these things let you pay the crushing bill your obsession lays on you.” 1
It’s almost as if there is an inner voice that only you can hear that drives and fuels you toward whatever it is that you are obsessed with.
4 Mantras to Keep in Mind Regarding Being Obsessed with Success
Bonnell and Hansberger believe that being obsessed is simply how many of us are wired. With that being said, it is more about what you do with being obsessed with success that matters. Along those lines, they offer 4 mantras to keep in mind regarding being obsessed with success.
(1) Be in love with your obsession
I believe that loving what you are doing is a prerequisite for being obsessed with success. As the authors say:
“It’s love when no price seems too high—when Sisyphean effort and nocturnality that would embarrass Dracula make you shrug. When it’s love, you’ll pay the price, dust yourself off, and then do it all over again.” 1
(2) Chase away everybody who’s not as obsessed as you
One of the most valuable pieces of real estate we own is in our heads. So, it is mission-critical to be extremely selective in who we spend time with and who we let influence us. Remember, not everyone is willing to pay the price that you are if you are obsessed with success, and that is ok. Those who are will help bring the best out of you, and vice versa.
(3) Know how far is too far
As the authors advise: “You can’t rely on your significant other to pull you back when you haven’t slept for forty-eight hours or you’re snarling at everyone in sight. Is your obsession creating clarity, focus, and purpose? Or is it blinding you from your own self-destruction.” 1
It is critical to understand your own limits and know when you need to step away and shut it down for a bit. A recent post we did on counterbalance explains this idea in further detail.
(4) Set the standards of excellence
The fourth and final mantra is your ability to hold yourself to the highest standards possible. It is on you to define the high standards that you set for yourself and others and then hold yourself and those you work with accountable.
Did You Know?
I learned a few interesting facts about Marie Curie when doing some research for this blog post.
A few of the more notable things I learned were:
That she won the Nobel Prize in not one but two different sciences (physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911), the only person to accomplish that feat!
Curie was responsible for adding two elements to the periodic table (radium and polonium), with the latter being named in honor of her home country of Poland.
Sadly, Curie died at age 66 from aplastic anemia likely a result of her long-term exposure to radiation. Which makes sense as she was walking around with bottles of radium and polonium in her pockets all the time!
What’s even crazier is that the radiation levels to which she was exposed were so high that all of her manuscripts are still kept in lead-lined boxes.
Not only that, if you want to check out any of her personal possessions when you visit the Marie Curie collection at the Bibliotheque Nationale in France they will make you wear protective clothing and sign a liability waiver, just in case.
Well, it’s either that or wait until the stuff is no longer radioactive.
However, if you are going to do that you will be waiting a long time as they will likely stay radioactive for another 1,500 plus years!
I think I’ll pass on both and just check out the pictures online. I’m not that obsessed with success when it comes to the history of science!
Until next time, keep being obsessed with success (if that’s your thing), and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick
P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.
Use it Or Lose It
The 4 mantras to keep in mind that we discussed regarding being obsessed with success are:
(1) Be in love with your obsession.
(2) Chase away everybody who’s not as obsessed as you.
(3) Know how far is too far.
(4) Set the standards of excellence
When to Use It
Use these mantras for being obsessed with success when you are chasing your dreams.
What Do You Think?
What do you think about being obsessed with success and with the mantras above? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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References
http://mentalfloss.com/article/537552/facts-about-marie-curie
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1911/marie-curie/lecture/
https://gizmodo.com/marie-curies-100-year-old-notebook-is-still-too-radioac-1615847891 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie
What if we didn’t take good things for granted, and recognized all the kindness we receive from others? Learn how gratitude can lead to a better life—and a better world.
I enjoyed reading this post. I think when people find their passion in life , they tend to become somewhat obsessed with it. Balance is the key.
Hi Eileen, thanks for reading and commenting. Yeah I really believe to be incredibly successful there has to be an obsession at some level. Take care, Rick
One problem with an obsession with success – focusing solely on the goal causes other factors to be ignored, such as family, friends, house/car maintenance, health and so on. One needs to be well rounded, instead of having tunnel vision. I have known such people. While they may achieve their goals, everything else suffers – leading to divorce, alienation, bankruptcy, and dislike by others who come into contact with that person.
Obsessions are dangerous. As in the case of Marie Curie, they can kill you. Having a life goal is not the same as an obsession.
Hi Dave, So, it definitely isn’t for everyone, no doubt about that as there can be collateral damage to other parts of one’s life. With that being said, I do believe that those who have been obsessed with success have been responsible for many of the scientific/medical/technological etc. advances that we have seen as a human race. Not to mention many of the athletic, entertainments, arts etc. achievements we have seen. On another, note I am off this week and next to do some traveling and entertain some family who will be in town, so I am taking a break from the blog until Oct 28th. Have a great couple of weeks, Rick