The Paradox of Success

The “paradox of success” can be summed up in four phases:

1. When we have clarity of purpose, it enables us to succeed at our endeavor.
2. When we have success, we gain a reputation as a “go to” person. We are presented with increased options and opportunities.
3. When we have increased options and opportunities, we have increased demands upon our time and energies, it leads to diffused efforts.
4. We become distracted from what would otherwise be our highest level of contribution. The effect of our success has been to undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.

The pursuit of success can be a catalyst for failure.
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Success can distract us from focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place.