At the elementary school Gifted program I attended for four years, one of the most important and time-consuming activities every year was the Independent Study Project (ISP). The ISP consisted of picking any topic of interest, and using all of the Bloom’s Taxonomy cognitive objectives as guidelines for understanding, thinking, and communicating about the topic in more depth than we would normally do so in the traditional school system. These cognitive objectives included, in order from simplest to most difficult: knowledge (e.g. facts), comprehension (e.g. understanding of ideas), application (e.g. applying known facts/ideas to solve new problems), analysis (e.g. analyzing relationships between ideas), synthesis (e.g. using known ideas to create something new), and evaluation (e.g. making judgments about ideas).

In terms of the ISP, we would be graded on how well we met each of these objectives (if at all). During your first year of doing an ISP, in Grade 5, students weren’t expected to have met the synthesis or evaluation objectives. However, it was the hope of the teachers that students would be meeting all of the objectives in their ISP’s by the end of Grade 8. In case you were wondering, my project topics from first to last were the Brain and Nervous System, Flying Machines, Genetic Engineering, and Stem Cell Research – so I guess it’s previous obvious that since early on I have been interested in science, but particularly topics dealing with ethical issues.

Admittedly, before I was even identified as gifted, I already had a bit of insider knowledge about the ISP because my brother had already been in the gifted program for two years. Not only was I aware of my brother’s projects, but I also attended the annual ISP showcase and got to see the different projects and how the students already in the program approached meeting the six objectives for the ISP. This information would prove invaluable later on when I started doing my own ISP’s.

Not Knowing How to Succeed

As I mentioned before, students doing their very first ISP’s in Grade 5 were not expected to achieve all of the objectives. I would say those were pretty fair expectations, especially considering that even when we met some of the objectives, it wasn’t necessarily intentional. For example, almost every student produced some type of report to go with their project, since that was a pretty standard thing to do in school. Such a report would satisfy the knowledge and comprehension objectives, whether we really knew it or not.

However, the same could not be said for some of the higher objectives like synthesis or evaluation. The types of project work that could satisfy those objectives just weren’t things that most Grade 5 students had encountered before. So as usual, nearly all of the Grade 5 students in my class completed up to the analysis objectives, but neither the synthesis or evaluation aspects.

The fact that they weren’t able to was not necessarily a function of ability – quite frankly, most students just didn’t know how to achieve those objectives. It’s kind of like any activity you’ve never tried before. Just because you’ve never seen a bicycle before doesn’t mean you would be incapable of riding it – you may just never have learned how to.

The same goes for many things people just aren’t successful in. Whether it be learning a new language, starting a successful business, or cooking with a new recipe – in order to be able to successfully do anything, you need to know how to.

That being said, there are certain barriers that sometimes hinder us from getting to the point where we are ready to learn the “how to”.

So what prevents people from learning “How-To” succeed?

Barrier 1: Natural Aptitude as an Excuse

Granted, natural talent or aptitude is often involved – this is true for any activity. That being said, the problem is that many people often use a lack of natural aptitude as an excuse for not trying – but without trying, you can never succeed.

They think that just because they don’t have the voice of a Leona Lewis, they cannot sing at all. Or that because they do not have the business savvy of a Bill Gates, they could never start a successful business.

Am I saying that natural aptitude doesn’t matter? Am I saying that anyone could be the next Leona Lewis or Bill Gates?

No, of course not. However, why should that matter? Can you still not be a singer even if you are not as great as Leona Lewis? Can you still not be a successful business person even if you do not end up being a billionaire like Bill Gates?

Many of us seem to have an “all-or-nothing” approach to success – we want everything or we don’t want anything. Sorry, but that’s just not being realistic. What is realistic, and what you can do, is try your best and be as successful as you possibly can.

I find that many people lack confidence in possibility, particularly in their own skill sets. They think they either have it or they don’t, instead of realizing that they have potential in everything, just different degrees of it. And because of that, most people don’t bother exploring their potential in many different fields.

Barrier 2: Luck and Opportunity as Excuses

Many people think that you need to be really lucky to be successful, that you often need to be in the right place at the right time – and they’re right. The problem is that many of these people use luck as an excuse for their results.

Everyone needs to get lucky to be successful at anything. What sets successful individuals apart is their ability to understand how luck is involved, and work hard to capitalize on opportunities when luck finally does comes their way.

As I mentioned previously, I feel I got bit unlucky for not being able to connect with my judges for my Loran Award interviews. At the same time, I got lucky later on for being interviewed by TD Scholarship judges who I could absolutely connect with – that being said, it definitely took skill to recognize that opportunity and capitalize on developing that connection further during the interview.

Barrier 3: Lack of Desire

In order to be successful at anything you have to really desire it. Most people who are considered the best at something generally work harder than anyone else at their craft because they want to succeed at it more than their peers.

If you want something bad enough you’re going to work much harder than you ever have at something before. A strong work ethic is often just as important as raw talent to be successful at something.

I remember someone sending me this article about a brilliant Canadian mathematics student a few years ago, who achieved a perfect score at the 2004 International Mathematics Olympiad. According to the article, the student trained for three years, sometimes practicing for up to four hours a day. While we don’t know exactly how much he trained, the point I’m trying to make is that raw talent alone isn’t enough to succeed even if you’re one of the best.

In order to succeed, you need to be willing to work at it, and the only way you’ll be willing to put in the effort is if your desire is strong. If you don’t desire to succeed, you won’t.

While overcoming these three barriers is definitely important for being successful, most of us will probably never overcome them completely. I know I still have trouble with all three of them from time to time.

Nonetheless, I have to say that one of the most important and common attributes I have observed among individuals who continuously achieve a significant level of success is resourcefulness: the ability to research and learn what it takes to be successful at something (i.e. knowing where to find the “How-To”).

Part 2: Resourcefulness and Mimicking Success >>

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Read the other parts of the The Secret to Consistent Success series here:

• Part 1: Not Knowing How To Succeed
• Part 2: Resourcefulness and Mimicking Success
• Part 3: Adaptation and Innovation