Break Free from the Success Delusion
You’ve just landed a major promotion and privately you whisper, “Of course—I always nail presentations.” You’re on a high, but a quiet risk lies hidden. Lucky weather, the small miracle that everything aligned, and a mentor’s unexpected advice may have mattered more than your polished slides. If you mistake correlation for cause, you fast-track the delusion that you can repeat any triumph simply by copying the same actions.
Day after day you pump out proposals, but soon the win streak dries up. You find yourself cranking the same engine in thin air—because the magic wasn’t in your methods alone. You ignored timing, team chemistry, and outside luck. Before long, a missed opportunity blindsides you, and you wonder, What changed?
In truth, you’ve been feeding a superstition: “My success will always follow my rituals.” It’s time to break free. Question every triumph—celebrate, but also dissect. Pull back the curtain on your victories and thank those chance factors that helped you soar. You’ll see the difference between “because of” behaviors you can refine and “in spite of” quirks you can leave behind.
You’ve drilled into what truly powered your biggest wins—now let those insights guide your next steps. When the next success arrives, dissect it: ask which parts were skill and which were serendipity. Let your fresh self-awareness steer you toward smarter strategies, not empty rituals. Give it a try today—challenge that inner MVP and write down where luck made the real difference.
What You'll Achieve
You will cultivate a more accurate sense of cause and effect, reducing arrogance and impulsive repetition. You’ll replace superstition with strategic decision-making and sustain more consistent results.
Spot Your Superstitions
List key achievements
Write down your five biggest wins. Note what behaviors you credit for each success and what factors you may be ignoring.
Identify inconsistencies
For each success, ask yourself: Was my behavior truly the cause or was luck, timing, or others’ help at play? Write both possibilities down.
Consult a trusted peer
Share your list and ask a colleague which success you most likely achieved in spite of your quirks. Listen without defending.
Set a reality check
Next time you catch yourself believing, “I only succeeded because I do it this way,” pause and question that assumption on the spot.
Reflection Questions
- What recent success might I have over-credited to my own methods?
- Which outside factors played a bigger role than I admit?
- How can I integrate awareness of chance into future planning?
Personalization Tips
- A freelancer might realize that a big contract came from a friend’s warm referral rather than a slick pitch.
- An athlete may recognize that a personal best time was aided by perfect weather, not strictly by training changes.
- A parent might admit that a peaceful family dinner happened because kids were sick, not because of a new parenting tactic.
What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
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