Do you want to be successful? I’m not talking about money, though that may result. I’m talking about getting from where you are to where you want to be – starting that business, getting that promotion, landing that new client, creating a new product line, etc.

I believe there are only two skills you need that will make up for any of those you may not have:

1. The Ability to Sell What You Believe In
2. The Ability to Deliver What You Sell

Everything is Sales

The economy runs on selling a product or service for money. Even if you’re a programmer or a customer service rep, you’re in sales. Everything is sales:

• Hiring Managers sell the position to potential employees. You want the best applicants? Sell them on why your company is the best place to work.
• Entrepreneurs sell ideas to potential investors. They hear hundreds, if not thousands, of pitches per year. Tell them why they should care about yours.
• Job Applicants sell themselves to a company. If two people with similar resumes apply for the same job, who gets it? The one who can sell themselves over the other person. I’ve even hired people with less experience just because they convinced me they’d work harder.
• Revolutionaries sell people on why the status quo needs to be shaken up. Every person who’s ever led a movement, first had to convince a lot of people to see things as they did. They sold their vision and ideas.

Bottom line? You’re in sales whether you want to believe it or not. Embrace it. Then learn to sell your ideas, yourself, your business and your dreams.

Deliver on What You Sell

The term “salesman” has taken on a negative connotation. Primarily because so many things or ideas we’ve been sold don’t deliver. We don’t trust salespeople. We think they’re lying. I don’t believe that most salespeople intend to be dishonest. However, I believe most people sell something and then don’t deliver. Delivering takes effort. Delivering takes diligence. Delivering is hard, constant work.

If you can learn to sell what you believe in, then deliver on what you sell – be it an idea, your skill set, your company – you will never be lacking for business or a job. Many people can do one or the other. Only the truly successful learn to do both.

Do you possess these two skills? How do you use them in your pursuit of success?

In 1519, Captain Hernán Cortés landed in Veracruz to begin his great conquest. Upon arriving, he gave the order to his men to burn the ships. As I imagine it, someone then laughed and Cortés promptly thrust his sword into the man’s chest. After which, the rest proceeded to get hammered on rum by the glow of the blaze. Almost like a bloodier version of The Pirates of the Caribbean with Cortés played by Johnny Depp.

Here’s the lesson: Retreat is easy when you have the option.

Let that ruminate in your brain for a moment. I had to.

We all cling to something that acts as our escape hatch or our exit strategy (in the negative connotation). It’s our safety net “just in case…” What we fail to do is honestly complete that sentence. We lie to ourselves. If we were honest, we would say, “This is my safety net just in case I get scared.”

We postpone action until we no longer feel fear. Either that, or our actions are shallow attempts never designed to succeed. In reality, we must learn to act decisively in spite of our fear.

Burning Things that “Make Sense”

“That doesn’t makes sense.” We love that phrase. We love to hide behind it. We tell ourselves that certain things don’t make sense. It would have “made sense” for Cortés to keep a ship or two if not his entire fleet. But Cortés was on a mission and he knew that the only way to keep himself or his men from quitting on the mission was to take that option off the table.

What Cortés did was force himself and his men to either succeed or die. Retreat was not an option. I believe that to truly achieve the level of success we each desire, there are times when we need to “burn the ships.”

The question we have to ask ourselves is this: What are my ships? What am I afraid to let go of?

I can’t answer that question for you, but I can give you some areas to consider as you ponder the question, “What ships do I need to burn in my life?” Take a look at them, then feel free to add your own in the comments below.

As you consider each one, if it jumps out at you, ask yourself why. What is it that makes it hard to burn? Is it a false sense of obligation to it? Is it fear of the unknown? Is it fear of being perceived as a failure? What is it?

• Your Current Job – Are you afraid of trying something new? Are you comfortable? Are you convinced that this is as good as it gets?
• Your Field of Employment – Have you been dreaming of a career change? Does every ounce of your work drain you? Are you a people person stuck behind a computer screen? This is one I had to wrestle with.
• A Bad Business Deal – Why is it a bad deal? Why can’t you let it go? Do you feel obligated to the relationship?
• An Unrealistic Dream – Sometimes this is the toughest one to spot. I enjoy watching TV shows like American Idol because you get a chance to see people who are willing to put it all on the line in front of a national audience for their dreams. During the tryout rounds, you’ll witness as people who are ill-prepared give what they believe to be a stellar performance. Unfortunately, they don’t recognize the lack of skill in themselves. It’s sad because they are neither willing to put the work into accomplishing their dreams nor willing to modify them accordingly. Instead of dreams they have fantasies and that is a sad state for anyone to live in.

What are other “ships” that often need to be burned? What “ships” have you burned? How did it feel at the time? How does it feel now?