Secret To Success: All Things Are Created Twice

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Success. We all want it. If someone, anyone, asked you if you’d like to be successful you would most likely say yes. Everyone would. I can’t think of anyone would answer no to that question.

Everyone wants to be successful and that of course means that everyone has a different definition of what success is, but that still doesn’t change the fact that they want it.

Do you think their is a secret to success? I would say it’s kind of tricky to claim their is A secret to success. I think it’s more accurate to state that their are a few key principles and habits that if followed, end up looking like a secret. From the outside looking in, someone not achieving what they want might assume that the successful person must know something they don’t or that they are just lucky. What that person doesn’t realize is that most of what they might consider a secret to success is actually just hard work and persistence.

I am going to go over just one key concept that I gleaned from one of my all time favorite mindset development books “The 7 habits of highly effective people” by Stephen R. Covey. If you haven’t read that book, go pick it up as soon as you can. It’s powerful. It should be required reading in high school. It’s been an enormous help for my head. That book by itself could be considered a secret to success.

Their is a subheading under the “Habit two” section called All Things Are Created Twice. It’s only about a page and a half but it’s one the most powerful sections of the book.

So how is all things are created twice a secret to success? I am going to quote the entire page and a half and then comment on it so that you can fully get what Stephen is saying:

All Things Are Created Twice

“Begin with the end in mind” is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.

Take for example the construction of a home. You create it in every detail before you ever hammer the first nail into place. You try to get a very clear sense of what kind of house you want. If you want a family-centered home, you plan to put a family room where it would be a natural gathering place. You work with ideas. You work with your mind until you get a clear image of what you want to build. (A secret to success right there guys)

Then you reduce it to blueprint and develop construction plans. All of this is done before earth is touched. If not, then in the second creation, the physical creation, you will have to make expensive change that may double the cost of your home.

The carpenter’s rule is “measure twice, cut once.” You have to make sure the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want, that you’ve thought everything through. Then you put it into brick and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. You begin with the end in mind. (Secret to success once again identified)

For another example, look at business. If you want to have a successful enterprise, you clearly define what you’re trying to accomplish. You carefully think through the product or service you want to provide in terms of your market target, then you organize all the elements – financial, research and development, operations, marketing, personnel, physical facilities, and so on – to met that objective. The extent to which you begin with the end in mind often determines whether or not you are able to create a successful enterprise. Most business failures begin in the first creation, with problems such as undercapitalization, misunderstand of the market, or lack of a business plan.

 The same is true with parenting. If you want to raise responsible, self-disciplined children, you have to keep that end clearly in mind as you interact with them on a daily basis. You can’t behave toward them in ways that undermine their self-discipline or self esteem.

To varying degrees, people use this principle in many different areas of life. Before you go on a trip, you determine your destination and plan out the best route. Before you plant a garden, you plan it out in your mind on paper. You create speeches on paper before you give them, you envision the landscaping in your yard before you landscape it, you design the clothes before you thread the needle.

to the extent to which we understand the principle of the two creations and accept the responsibility for both, we act within and enlarge the borders of our circle of influence. To the extent to which we do not operate in harmony with this principle and take charge of the first creation, we diminish it.” (The secret to success was everywhere in what you just read)

Secret To Success

Was that not brilliantly stated? I feel the essence of that page and a half is in the idea that you must know where you are going before you leave. You have to have a goal in mind if you want your life to change. As he said “Begin with the end in mind.” A true secret to success if ever their was one.

If you have no idea what you want or where you are going, you are going to end up with something you don’t want in someplace you don’t want to be. Simple as that. The whole article I’ve written today comes down to this: You have to get Chrystal clear on what it is you want and why. That is the first and MOST IMPORTANT secret to success.

You see, you’re life is like a plot of land waiting to be planted. The earth will return whatever you put in it. It doesn’t care. If you plant weeds, you’ll get weeds. If you plant fruit, you’ll get fruit. Either way, the dirt doesn’t care. The same holds true in life.

If you pursue nothing, you’ll get nothing. Well, actually will get something, it just won’t be what you want. It’ll be weedy. But if you plant or pursue a clearly defined goal and stop at nothing until you get it, then it will almost certainly come to be. In fact, it has to.

You Must Get Chrystal Clear On What It Is You Want And Why.

That’s just one secret to success

Ben Starner