How To Be Successful In The Here And Now: Ian's 3 Level Hierarchy Of Success
Your life has stages, and every stage has its challenges, here's how you overcome them
Success is subjective..
We all have an idea of success, but yet we never reach it
Truth is, most people never achieve success..
Because every time they are successful, they gain a new interest
That new interest results in new challenges
As a result, they are never happy
They never truly reach their goal
For some, this is fine
Because their real goal is the journey itself
But most people move their goals, and become frustrated over and over again
Think about it for a second..
You have a goal you’d like to achieve right now right?
But what happens when you achieve that goal?
You lay down, feel an immense weight leave your shoulders..
And then seconds, minutes, hours, or days later..
You have a new goal
A new opportunity
Something new that’s not yet within your grasp
This is what it means to be human
The endless pursuit is part of the process
This is why I’m such a big follower of Maslow
His hierarchy of needs as seen below..
Talks about this in detail
As your needs change, your goals change, and as your goals change your perspective of success changes
“If I achieve this, I will finally be successful”
“If I get there, I will finally be successful”
Truth is, nobody ever reaches the highest level of the needs hierarchy..
And those that do, Never make themselves known
Because after reaching that level of success, you have no need for affirmation
But as much as I love the needs hierarchy, and how applicable it is to every aspect of life..
I recognize that the main reason people will never reach success on the highest level, is not because they physically cannot, but because they are trying too hard
But to understand what I’m talking about, we need to look at my hierarchy of success
True success, is not quantifiable
As the hierarchy of success goes up, the less people move up
And you as a human being, are exactly the same
The reality? Most people give up on their dreams and aspirations
They stay in the “Ordinary Success” level their whole life
But getting to the “Elevated” level, is easier than people realize
By the end of this article, you will have all the tools you need to reach the “Enlightenment” level
No, I won’t drag you there, you will need to get there yourself
The point of my articles are to shift perspectives
And only by changing your perspective on reality..
Can you move up levels
Let’s start with the level everyone is on
Level 1 In The 3 Level Hierarchy Of Success - Ordinary Success
You are born, you open your eyes, you grow up, you go to school, you go to university, you get a job that pays well, and then? You have nowhere to go
Your mind is clouded by your subjective perception
This is where 99% of human beings are stuck
They want to move up levels, but they think they’ve hit the ceiling
But here’s the missing piece of the puzzle they don’t have..
Are they content? Or are they just moderately satisfied?
The two are so similar, that it’s easy to mistake the one for the other
This one simple mistake, determines everything
1.1) But how do you know if you are “Moderately satisfied”?
You analyse your quality of life
Quality of life can be calculated by asking yourself the following:
When I open my eyes in the morning, is there anything I worry about?
When I am doing my work during the day, what am I worrying about?
When I close my eyes at night, what am I worried about?
If you are always worrying about something, you will never be content
To be content, you need to live in the here and now
Most people think in potentials, rather than in the present
The answer, is to think in both
Find a balance between the two states of reality
Be content with your current circumstance, but stop worrying about uncontrollables
“But Ian, what if I do have control of my situation?, what do I do?”
That means you are not content
If you are not content, you will always worry
If you are always worried, you will never move up in levels of success
“True success is a perception of reality, due to great effort” - Ian Pierre Botes
To move to the “Elevated Success” level, you need to overcome your mental barriers
If you are not 100% satisfied with your current situation..
If you are worried about things all the time..
If you are filled with anxiety due to your circumstances..
If you have reached the ceiling, but you have yet to be content..
Then you are stuck on the lowest level of the hierarchy of success
You’ve heard it before
“I have to do this job, because there’s no other way”
“This anxiety is normal, because working a stable job is the highest level of success”
Is it though? According to everything I just told you, do you really think you are content?
Or are you just ‘moderately satisfied’?
You will never actually be content, if you keep experiencing avoidable psychological and physical issues
Anxiety, fear, sleeplessness, lack of free time etc.
These are all signs you are moderately satisfied, but not content
1.2) How To Go From Being ‘Moderately Satisfied’ to Being ‘Content’
To move up levels, you need to identify what is holding you back
Your current reality is a result of your programming
What you’ve been told since childhood is most likely incomplete
The reason people stay stuck in the ‘Ordinary Success’ level..
Is because they’ve been told life is supposed to have all these problems
To be content, you need to eliminate this false perception
Someone who is content, is in control of their situation
This means you:
Have all your psychological issues under control
Do work you love
Sleep well
And you have more than enough free time
99% of people, don’t have all these problems solved
Unless you have some kind of chronic condition or special circumstance..
These things should be under your control
I speak about this a lot, but to control these aspects of your life, you need to build a digital business
You won’t get the freedom or removal anxiety by doing a normal 9-5
Your 9-5 is not the ceiling, its the springboard
Use the money from your 9-5, to build your digital business
Only by going in this direction, will you eventually be content
Without being content, you cannot move up levels
To choose a digital career path that can replace your 9-5 read this
To learn how to build a network of influencers read this
To learn the fundamentals of selling online read this
To build an audience you can never lose, read this
Now you have everything you need to get started on your digital business, you have the ability to reach the next level
Keep in mind, this process can take 6 months to YEARS
This journey is not some kind of quick fix to your issues
Building a business is BRUTAL
So be ready to become frustrated
But remember, the reward is much greater than the effort
With 6 months of hard work you can make life changing progress
Work on your 9-5 for 5 years, and you make almost zero compound income
Work on a digital business for 5 years, and you’re almost guaranteed to reach $10,000/mo, and higher
Now that you have the tools to become ‘content’, you know how to reach the next level
Level 2 In The 3 Level Hierarchy Of Success - Elevated Success
Elevated success, is the state of reality most entrepreneurs function at
They have reached the point where they know how to become content..
It’s just a matter of time before they get there
Hard work is key
So if you are on this level, you need to shift perspectives
With all your issues under control, or handled..
You have drastically increased your quality of life
And if you are not there yet..
You will eventually be
So what now? How do you realistically reach ‘enlightenment’?
By breaking down your desires and needs, to the most basic level
All of us have an internal driving mechanism..
That driving mechanism is a result of our basic needs
If all our basic needs are met, we aim for larger goals
This perception is flawed as well
To give you some perspective, I’m going to share a story with you
……
On the beach there’s a middle aged man sitting with his fishing rod
He does this every single day
Then one day a young entrepreneur comes to sit next to him
He asks the man, “So what do you do?”
“I catch fish”, the middle age man answers
Then the entrepreneur asks, “How many?”
One a day, to share with my family
The entrepreneur sits and listens, then he makes a suggestion to the fisherman
“Why don’t you catch a whole bunch of fish?”
“And then what?”, the fisherman asks the young man
Then you do that over and over, until you can buy a fishing boat
“And then what?”, the fisherman asks
Then you can use the boat to catch 100 times a much fish
“And then what?, the fisherman asks
Then you can eventually buy a bunch of boats
“And then what?, the fisherman asks
Then you can start a fishing company, and become a multi-millionaire
“And then what?, the fisherman asks
Then you can drink champagne with your family and relax while you catch fish
Then the fisherman looks at the entrepreneur and says..
“But am I not doing that already?”
……
You see, success is all about perspective
Quality of life really depends on what you want from life
The story of the fisherman teaches an important lesson
The only non negotiables, are removal of psychological and physical complications
So with that in mind, how do you reach the higher level?
By doing the following:
Eliminate all removable psychological and physical issues
Build a digital business that you enjoy working on
Learn to be happy in the here and now
In the end, to be successful, you need to feel like you have succeeded
And you can only do that by not getting distracted by gigantic goals like the entrepreneur talks about in the fisherman story
Choose a goal, and once you reach that goal, enjoy your success
If your goals change, that’s fine, but don’t be seduced by pointless goals you have no reason to pursue
If you are living your best life, why change it?
Level 3 In The 3 Level Hierarchy Of Success - Enlightenment
Very few people actually reach this level, because it requires you to disconnect yourself from reality
Forget anxiety, forget expectations, forget pleasing people
In the end, our perception of reality holds us back
Riches and resources are desired by all
Except for those who have let go of their Earthly desires
I’ll be real with you for a second..
The chance that you will reach this level, is 0,001%
These people are so disconnected from society, that they will never make themselves know to the world
But that disconnection, is what makes reaching this level so rewarding
Imagine being so disconnected from life, that you only feel happiness
Expectation and societal pressure is what causes our anxiety
These individuals have let go of everything causing them anxiety, pressure, or worry
I one day aim to reach this level, even if it’s only for a certain time period
That’s it for this week’s article, have a good one, Ian
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