Impact is the New Black - 7 Common Traits for Uncommon Achievement

We live in perilous times, a time when most people are angry, feel betrayed and frustrated because they are experiencing lack in a time of plenty. It is perhaps an under statement that a majority of people are doing jobs they hate and that half of college students will not find jobs upon graduating. People see the world changing around them and are desperate to learn how to create the future they desire.

It sounds like an oxymoron to say create a life vest for someone else, when you are drowning yourself, so why is everyone talking about social impact? Every major company and venture fund seem to be focused on impact because it makes good business sense and it’s good for everyone. The world’s most successful companies solve problems for millions of people. By creating a solution that positively impacts many people they are rewarded with wealth. Impact is the true purpose of entrepreneurship – believing that there’s a better way, and creating the path to that vision.

I've always been fascinated with those who change our construct of what is possible. Looking back I grew up with the ultimate game changer, my father - a man who dedicated every living breath to making his country great and became a significant force in the process.

  There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. - Nelson Mandela

At age 16, I moved to the United States on my own in search of a better life, with that audacious move, I instantly became the quintessential latchkey kid – living on my own in New York while my parents were thousands of miles away in Ghana. I spent countless hours studying the traits and habits of the world’s most fascinating game changers - people so impactful that they literally changed everything in their focus and the world along with them.  In the process,  I cultivated a similar mindset - one that empowered me to create transformative innovations such as the world’s first 4D Audio Headphones, Realtime Streaming of movies over satellite, which changed the movie distribution paradigm from celluloid to digital streaming used by movie studios such as Lucas Films for Star Wars; an online video platform for clients such as Coca Cola Company, Microsoft XBOX, Tribune News Company and more than 200 radio stations to securely distribute premium content over the Internet, and today CEEK VR, a virtual reality (VR) distribution platform working with the likes of Universal Music, Berkshire Hathaway’s Richline Group and Miami Children’s Hospital.

I wrote It's Not Rocket Science: 7 Game-Changing Traits for Uncommon Success because, I felt compelled to codify and share my discoveries, practical insights and invaluable resources from my journey with anyone looking to create something of significance and great impact – what I call uncommon success.

 Uncommon success is found in shinning a light through some dark corner of our world and transforming it. It's about doing something significant to change your industry, community or the world for the better. It is what makes game changers valuable, not material wealth or mindless rebellion!

The common traits needed to transform our world are not genetically encoded. The currency for effecting great change is not money, youth or education; it is the right mindset – which anyone can acquire.

Below are 7 traits to help you on your journey to positively impact your workplace, community or the entire world. These operating principles have brought me infinite gratification at work and more joy than I often feel deserving of.

Trait#1 - Unbridled Creativity can be in all areas of life. Dream HUGE.

If your dreams don’t scare you then they are not big enough. - Ellen Johnson Sieleaf, First Woman President, Liberia

Don’t define what’s possible by your circumstance or past achievements. Innovation is about being creative enough to solve a valuable problem. You don’t have to be an engineer to come up with good solutions, you have to be creative and imaginative, and anyone can work hard on connecting the dots. In an age of technology we all have the tools to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and get rewarded for them. Look at technology as a tool in your toolbox, not as a personality trait. There are many billionaire non-techies that have all used tech to drive massive change and uncommon success. Pandora co-founder and CEO Tim Westergren was a record producer and part time nanny.

We are all on a hero’s journey. We just don’t know it. Some answer the call, and some don’t. - John Mackey

Trait #2 - Radical passion is about aligning purpose with talent. To make your life count, you must find the problem that you are willing to dedicate your life to solving. This is a pointer to where you can be most effective in the world. Every game changer has a fundamental belief about their chosen area of impact, it is how and why they forsake all logical thinking in pursuit of a vision– it has very little to do with becoming rich, but rather the person they innately feel compelled to become. True happiness is the opportunity to be who you are for a living. This is your  raison d'être and unlocks greatness. The battle for life is the fight to discover and live your radical passion. What does your ideal world look like? What makes your soul dance or weep? This is the problem you should be solving. Don't mistake your avocation for your vocation.  A Facebook poster sums it best.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid? 

#Trait # 3 - Active Compassion is seeing the potential path to joy for another, and actively doing something to help them achieve it. Significant change cannot be achieved without a primordial motivation that is beyond one’s self. Service is the cornerstone of every great business, you need to internalize the troubles and pain points of your customers in order to create an uncommon solution. 

My father once told me “In the final analysis, we will all be remembered by the problems that we solve and the ones that we create.” It didn’t mean much to me at a young age, but in retrospect it was the most profound thing he ever said to me. Find opportunities to be of service and you will always be valuable! The more people who are affected by the problems that you solve, the bigger your impact on our world. Truly innovative solutions are transformative. To  become a game changer, solve a problem that can impact a lot of people.

Trait #4 - Obsessive Focus. If you’ve seen Forrest Gump, then you might remember Bubba, a guy who knew everything about Shrimps. Well, it’s the same in life – you have to be synonymous with your area of impact. What are you synonymous with? By design or default your brand is taking shape. Make it intentional. Own it. Invest in it. Become it! To unveil genius, you need to have an anthropological understanding of your field. You must become the foremost authority in your area of service. Be it shrimps or virtual reality; make yourself synonymous with your field of significance.

 Note it doesn’t take talent, but rather applied knowledge to create an area of significance, and knowledge isn’t pre-coded into anyone’s DNA – it can be acquired with diligent effort and applied with careful thought. Obsessive focus knows that no matter how deep you go, you can go deeper. The mind is a natural information magnet. It is constantly seeking direction, and when there is no direction it searches chaotically for purpose. Once focused, it tunes out the noise and collects the  requisite data needed for you mission.

Set Priorities – Boiling the ocean is a fruitless exercise it will never get boiling hot. It’s better to be a master of one area, than a jack-of-all-trades. It is only through mastery that you can see the unknown, unseen and unexperienced. Mastery comes easy when radical passion and obsessive focus collide.

Trait #5 - Relentless Hustle is finding yourself and your passion in the context of everything that you do. People talk about overnight successes, but overnight successes come well prepared and are waiting for the right opportunity. Before Leonardo da Vinci painted the Monalisa he painted thousands of hours of 'Dianes' and other paintings no one's ever heard of.

Without hustle, a funny thing happens talent…nothing! Talent without hustle is like a nice car with no gas – it’s going nowhere fast. There are loads of talented people in the world, but only those who work hard change the game. It all comes down to a relentless pursuit of your vision and doing consistently what others do occasionally.

Michael Jordan didn't make his high school basketball team, Albert Einstein was seen as lazy and possibly slow, Sir Richard Bronson – virgin founder was a dropout; most people who knew them back then would have concluded he wouldn’t make it very far in life - but these global game changers all hustled to make their dreams a reality.

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” Kevin Durant

Trait # 6 - Extreme Audacity is temerity.  It takes extreme audacity to do what no one else believes can be done. I once saw a Tweet that said "You can’t break through barriers, without making noise."  If you’re afraid of what others think of you, then you’re not ready for greatness.   Failure is an inevitable part of the success equation. It takes courage to stand in the face of your failures and those who use them to attack your vision or question your credibility. Most people are so petrified by what others think of them that they don’t dare to step outside of their comfort zone – but where your comfort zone ends is where life begins.

Fear is a primal instinct that help us survive. It warns of impending danger and questions our readiness to deal with it. How we respond to fear depends on how well prepared we are.  Acting or reacting without knowledge in the face of fear is recklessness. Courage is not fearlessness, but rather using knowledge to dissolve fear and acting in spite of the fear.

 Success is a snowball that picks up momentum and grows bigger as it rolls along. Every fearless step you take toward your goal, helps you trust your instincts more. Be brave enough to dream HUGE. There will always be doubt and people who just don’t see it.

Don’t be afraid to stand up for your dreams even if you have to stand alone.

 Trait #7 -  Pitt bull Tenacity is holding on with white fingertips while hanging on the side of the cliff, because you believe it's possible to make it to the top of your mountain. Each day people let go of their most sacred hopes, dreams and  the amazing potential that lies within them because they do not believe they are capable of doing something extraordinary.

The body does what the mind believes.

We become what we perceive as possible. Create your vision for impact and reverse engineer from there. Believe that your ultimate success will happen no matter what.  Many people quit when hardships arise because they glamorize, idealize and romanticize the road to success, not realizing that all great journeys are marred with imperfections, bumps and bruises. Everyone faces challenges, assuming  your situation is unfair or impossible keeps you from finding a solution.

People often wonder how small tech startups disrupt major brick and mortar giants in all industries?  That's because engineers are unafraid to experiment and take risks. Engineers love sharing spectacular failures on the way to surprising success, because they consider each failed experiment as something they now know not to do. How you see progress and failure is important. Impatience is the worse thing for any journey; it makes it long and arduous. Being impatient with your dream is like pulling out a plant constantly to see if it’s growing. It’s the quickest way to kill it.

If you get bored, you’re not doing enough. It signals that it’s time to take steps that propel you toward your goal, whether it’s taking a class or finding a new mentor. Action injects excitement. It’s the toughest to be active when all seems grim.

Tenacity is a test of faith – faith in oneself, faith in the vision, faith in the outcome. It is pressing on and still believing in the possibilities despite everything that speaks to the contrary. Be willing to go for broke, empty it all – You have to decide early on that you will be willing to put it all on the line in order to make your dream a reality. Sacrifice isn't loss; it's an investment in your future. Work 24/7 so that you can work because you want to not because you have to.

 One of the most important assets on your journey to uncommon success is the army that you build. Find like-minded people who believe in your vision and will  help pull you up in moments when your strength isn't enough.

Being a game changer  by it's very nature creates disbelief, because it means you are bringing something unique to the world that has never existed before. It's your responsibility to help others to see your vision -in spite of... Doubt and disbelief signals the uniqueness of your belief, because if it were easy everyone would be doing it already. 

We are in an extraordinary time when technology has given us amazing opportunities. What used to be the domain of only the privileged and connected is now accessible to all of us. Regardless of race, gender, education, age or circumstance, we all have access to the tools and resources needed to create the future we desire. Embrace your unique vision and raise your skills to a level of excellence that enables you to create uncommon success!

For detailed exercises grab a copy of It's Not Rocket Science: 7 Game-Changing Traits for Uncommon Success

Mary Spio, founder and President of virtual reality content creation and distribution company CEEK VR and author of It’s Not Rocket Science: 7 Game-Changing Traits for Uncommon Success