“Hey, Favour, if you had to predict the chances of someone succeeding within the next 10-20 years, what metrics would you look for?”
(P.S these are the kinds of conversations I love having - conversations that make me think for weeks)
I thought about it for a couple of days, did some research, and came up with five things that, in my opinion, are a great indicator of success, especially as a creative in today’s world. I call them The FIVE Superpowers of Success.
(another P.S: These five superpowers are subjective, i.e., they are MY opinion. You are free to disagree with them. All I ask is that you be respectful while doing so).
But before we examine these five superpowers, let’s talk about why it’s even worth discussing them.
Slowly, then all at once
How do you think people succeed? or in Nigerian parlance, how do people blow’? Are overnight successes really made overnight?
Let me answer with this example.
A few weeks ago, Tobi Amusan was on everyone’s lips. For most people, it was as though she appeared from nowhere and broke the world record.
Or was she?
In truth, success is the effect of thousands of positive daily habits compounded over time. Tobi didn’t suddenly wake up and break the world record. She trained daily all her life to become an ‘overnight’ success.
So, if you want to succeed at anything, it stands to reason that finding out the best positive habits and doing them consistently is the best and most surefire way to that success, right?
That’s why the question my friend asked was so striking.
Is there a set of actions that, if done consistently, no matter what career or profession you choose, you will be successful in 10 to 20 years?
I think there are, and I want to share them with you.
Superpower 1 - Reading
You’ve probably heard the phrase “Readers are leaders” a thousand times since secondary school, and I’m here to remind you that it’s true. Reading is one of the biggest indicators of success because it reflects a willingness to learn and be exposed to new ideas.
The more you read, the more sophisticated your thoughts become, and the better you can see the world. There’s almost no downside to reading….except for one.
“I would rather read the best 100 books over and over again until I absorb them rather than read all the books.”
— Naval Ravikant
Don’t fall for the mental masturbation that is reading countless books for reading’s sake. Instead, read only the best books that interest you, teach you new things, and make you see the world differently.
This leads me to the next superpower.
P.S Reading, in this context, means any format of gathering information, such as podcasts, Skillshare courses, insightful articles, etc. It doesn’t have to be a book to be valuable.
Superpower 2 - Thinking
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
― Steve Jobs
All the reading in the world will not do you any good if you don’t develop the ability to work through the ideas you read mentally. The real value in exposing yourself to superior ideas via books is the mental transformation that you go through.
To succeed, you need to develop the ability to access higher-quality ideas from books or other media, process them thoroughly, and find how to apply them in your life.
Let me explain in a bit more detail.
If you gain admission into the college to study medicine, it is expected that the information you come across slowly transforms you. So that at the end of your six years of medical training, you have enough medical knowledge to potentially save lives. However, if you could not absorb the ideas taught to you in class and demonstrate them practically, you cannot be a doctor.
In the same vein, as you go through life and consume great ideas from multiple sources, you need to be able to absorb those ideas and transform them into practical steps that will move you along the path to success.
For example, reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits can highlight the need to develop healthy habits. Still, unless you can critically reason out a way to apply the ideas discussed in the book, you will not be any more productive than you would have been had you not read the book.
Superpower 3 - Writing and speaking
Influence is inseparable from success. In fact, I argue that one of the metrics for measuring success is the degree of influence you have on others. And there is no better way to influence others than being able to speak and write.
The ability to construct ideas together coherently, where others can understand and agree with you, is crucial to success.
I mentioned that the first superpower was reading, the ability to identify and submit yourself to learning new ideas from books and other resources. I would add that the ability to structure these newly refined thoughts and pass them across in a format that allows you to reach more people makes you absolutely lethal.
By sharing valuable thoughts, you can position yourself as a person of authority in your field, get the right people’s attention, and so much more. In fact, you’re virtually unstoppable.
There’s no greater power than the ability to control the narrative, and the ability to write and speak is the best way to do that.
Superpower 4 - Building
“Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.”
- Austin Kleon
This next superpower is a bit more nuanced but still powerful. Building in this context is the ability to build structures and systems around your ideas to transform them from concepts in your mind into tangible realities.
It’s one thing to have an idea that you can write or speak about; it’s another thing to be able to build a newsletter or podcast that gets people to listen to you.
Building systems and structures makes it easier to be more productive, lead teams, build products, startups, and businesses. All of which are essential to success as a creative,
This superpower is one of the hardest to master. Yet, it is what separates the good from the greats, and if you can master it, I can bet a million dollars that you will be unstoppable.
Superpower 5 - Selling
Every successful person you can think of is selling something. The ability to sell, to convince people to exchange what they have for what you want, will make you richer than you can imagine.
You CANNOT become successful without knowing how to sell.
To be great at selling, you need to understand people and what they want while convincing them that you can help them get what they want with what you have.
This means you need a solid understanding of human psychology, behavioral patterns, and many more.
If you look closely at these five superpowers, you will notice a pattern - each one builds on the previous superpower on the list.
Your critical thinking skills are built on your ability to consume better ideas. Your ability to speak and write depends on your deep you can think. You can only attract people who believe in you and what you are building with your words, and the success of whatever you are building is dependent on your ability to sell it.
This is why I believe these five superpowers are crucial to your success, irrespective of your industry.
But, there’s one more thing!
There’s a final superpower, a bonus one, so to speak.
It’s A bias for action.
All these superpowers only become useful when you are proactive and actually take action. For example, if you keep piling books up but never read them, you will never access the valuable ideas that can change your life—the same with thinking, writing, building, or selling.
For example, it doesn’t matter how many writing ideas you have; unless you have a bias for action and actually sit down to write, you will never build an audience or get people to trust you.
So, there you have it.
The five superpowers (plus a bonus one) that, if developed, I believe will make anyone a success.
Now, if you want to learn how to develop these superpowers, I’m currently building a community of creatives who want to develop these skills.
In this community, I will be sharing the systems I have built that furnished me with these superpowers and helped me earn significant income on the internet.
More importantly, I will be sharing extensively on how to build, what to build, and how to sell what you build.
It’s everything I wished I had when I started out as a creative in 2018. Four years on and over $100k earned, I will be sharing all that I’ve picked up along the way.
It will run in cohorts, and the first cohort will be free.
If you’d love to join, please click here.