How to Learn from the Unsuccessful

You want to know how to be more successful at work and in the rest of your life. You turn to the Internet. The Internet tells you lots of things. I tell you lots of things. One thing you hear a lot: Look at people who succeeded and do what they did. This advice is, most certainly, great advice. Successful people are successful because they did the right things. There might be other reasons, of course, but the only thing you can do is imitate what they did.

But what about the opposite? Small digression:

Recently, I saw a 60 minutes report in which Steve Wynn was interviewed. Steve Wynn could arguably be credited with single-handedly revitalizing Las Vegas. He's made a gigantic fortune in doing it. When the interviewer asked him how he did it, he said it was rather easy. I think he's being modest (of course) but there is something to this: Wynn looked around Vegas and saw a town that was on the decline. Nothing had really changed in the town since the 1970s. And that was the thing: Nothing had changed! Nobody had innovated. Steve Wynn realized that he could make a big bunch of money simply by bringing Las Vegas up to date. That fundamental realization, coupled with an amazing feel for what the public wants, revitalized Vegas and made Wynn an extremely rich man. As Wynn said, "In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is King." I think that he's understating his own abilities, but he has a point. Wynn saw what the owners in Vegas weren't doing and then he did it.

If successful people are successful because of the things that they did, then most probably unsuccessful people are unsuccessful because of the things that they did (or didn't do). So, here's some simple advice for you: Observe unsuccessful people and then . . . don't do what they do. Do the opposite. It's strange advice, I know. But, if you're at a loss about how to begin to make a positive change in your life, look around you. There are probably lots of people who have failed to make the change that you want to make. What are they doing that's holding them back? It could be something as simple as continuing to eat the wrong foods. Or, it could be something far more subtle. Perhaps you've seen someone at work send exactly the wrong signals when there was a chance for promotion. Maybe somebody's outwardly gruff manner is preventing potential soul mates from seeing her wonderful true self. There are lessons there for you. And here's the thing: Almost by definition, there are at least as many unsuccessful people in life as there are successful people. So, why not look at around and learn some lessons?

Subscribe to my blog. You can Digg this post (etc.) using the bookmark tool below. I am also starting to Twitter.