Success Secrets: How Credentials Can Sabotage Your Business
by Molly Gordon, MCC

The most important of all success secrets is conscious connection with something bigger than you, rather than trying to be bigger than you are by acquiring more credentials.

Do you ever worry about whether you have the credentials you need to succeed?

Do you keep investing in training without earning a return on your investment?

Credentials can't hold your business up
Building a business on credentials is like building a house of cards. The first time your shiny new self-image is jarred (by comparing yourself to someone else, for example) the entire structure comes crashing down.

If you rebuild with the same materials, going for another credential or certificate, you end up with the same rickety house, just more cards.

I'm not saying that credentials are bad. In some cases, they are essential. Even so, if you are too focused on credentials, your business will suffer.

When does a credential do more harm than good?
It's easy to tell when going for a credential is a bad idea: it evokes anxiety instead of enthusiasm. While these emotions evoke very similar shifts in the body, they move us in opposite directions.

Enthusiasm moves us closer to Source
Enthusiasm says, "Open up, you have a present!" It wakes us up to current reality and inspires us to engage with life from wonder and gratitude. When we feel enthusiasm (en-theos, literally, "God-filled"), we sense that other forces are at work in our favor.

Enthusiasm is contagious. When you are enthused, the people you are in business to serve can feel it. When you reach out, they recognize and respond to your message.

Anxiety moves us away from Source
Anxiety says, "Look out, trouble ahead!" It prepares us to protect and defend. We sacrifice the present moment for the sake of preventing future disaster. When we are anxious, we feel that we are alone with our problems.

Like enthusiasm, anxiety is contagious. If your message does reach your audience in spite of your defenses, they'll sense that something is wrong.

The most important of all success secrets: Success depends on conscious connection with Source
By definition, we are always connected with Source. But when we are not conscious of that connection, we can become preoccupied with problems that don't exist yet or that simply are not ours to deal with. As a result, we stop being present and engaged with current reality.

We worry about how people will react to our offers -- offers we haven't made and may not ever make because now we are procrastinating. The longer we procrastinate, the more evidence we have that we don't have what it takes to succeed. It's a vicious cycle, and it's all smoke and mirrors.

Another success secret is that every steppingstone along the path to success is identical. All that is required (and I'm not saying this is easy) is to show up and take the next indicated step.

That might look like going to a networking breakfast even though you don't have an elevator speech. When it's your turn to introduce yourself, maybe you say:

"I'm so-and-so. I have the crazy notion that taking photos of children is my life purpose, and I'm darn good at it, if I do say so myself. I haven't the foggiest idea of how to say that in front of an audience, so if you'd like to help me with an elevator speech, here's my email address."

Who knows? The point is that the most important of all success secrets is conscious connection with something bigger than you, rather than trying to be bigger than you are by acquiring more credentials.

You'll go a lot further if you show up and make mistakes than you will if you try to get things right before you start.

Are success formulas a waste of time? Read this article on success secrets and find out why business formulas don't work (and what does.)