3 STEPS TO GET WHAT YOU WANT

I have a quote on my desk at work that reads "Change what you do until you get what you want." It's just a part of a larger quote by ​Francis Xavier Muldoon. His advice on succeeding is: "Know what you want. Find out what you're getting. Change what you do until you get what you want." (link) 

1- Know what you want

Figure out what you want. This is your end point or goal. Do you want money? How much? When do you want it? Perhaps you want to reach a certain level of spiritual enlightenment. What level do you want to reach? When would you like to reach that level? Whatever you want, it must be measurable so you will know when you have met your goal.

2- Find out what you're getting

It's impossible to get directions to an end point if you don't have a start point. If your end point is what you want, then your start point is what you have. If I want to become a billionaire, and I currently have $500 in the bank, then I know this may be a long journey. If I'm worth $835 Million, then getting to a Billion is a lot closer. In either case, I need to make a map of how I'll get from where I am to where I want to go.

3- Change what you do until you get what you want

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of crazy.

In 2006 I was working in a Chemistry Lab at the University of Utah, helping to create a device that could detect a certain chemical in the bloodstream. I was able to detect this chemical as low as about 30 parts per million, but needed to get it down to 2-3 parts per million in order for the device to be marketable. I made changes to how the blood was mixed, how the device was cleaned, and every variable I could think of, but none of those changes made a difference. I was not allowed to change the surface area of the detection device because that piece was the most expensive. Changing it would have made the device too expensive to produce. In the end the project was thrown out. The one variable that needed to change could not be changed.

The good news here is that the chemical detection project was just one of a number of projects going on. Other projects were successful and profitable, which is what the University wanted all along. The department heads knew that some ideas would not pan out, but that did not keep them from sponsoring new ones. ​It took over a hundred tries before Edison reached an acceptable light bulb filament, but he eventually found a way and it was worth it. 

Remember, the people who succeed the most, fail the most- because they try the most.