What is success to you? The answer is often elusive, yet its definition is a force that guides our actions in life. More importantly, what leads to or what is the structure that will culminate in what we define as success? If we can identify the beacon that illuminates the goal, the we can dial in on the structure that needs to exist to reach our goal.

I tend to ascribe to the philosophy that a lot of ‘luck’ that we associate with others having success is really a mixture of happenstance and preparedness. I can see in my life advancement that has happened in my career that occurred and from the outside looking in, a person could contend that luck was involved. Some of that is true. Forces out of my control were in play that created an opening. Yet, the actual act of performance and obtaining the desired outcome would never have been possible, if I was not prepared. In short, the ability to performed involved structure.

By structure, I don’t mean we need a blueprint that is regimented in detail and complexity as that to build a skyscraper, yet we do need to hold in our mind the goal of creating a skyscraper or whatever the product is.

I overuse the saying that you eat an elephant one bite at a time, to convey the point that any large goal isn’t overtaken in one motion. It’s a lot of little motions. The little motions need to be focused towards the end, yet diversions are not to be seen as derailments. Consistency and determination can be called grit, and hanging on to the chase is the critical component of being able to see success through.

If you have the grit to chase what you see as success, then you should have the mental awareness and desire to develop the ‘structure’ that I’ve mentioned above. What’s the path to realize the dream? What motions must you go through to prepare you to be able to run through the door of opportunity when the door is cracked open?

Preparation and opportunity are the two factors that lead to success. You don’t get the marriage of these factors without a structure of preparation. Luck is real, but doing the work to be ready to capitalize on the grace of luck is just as real.

Be intentional and keep eating the elephant one bite at a time.