#10) Success with The Windham Establishment Principle

Hello, and welcome to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham.

Today I'm going to talk about success and the Windham Establishment Principle. Just to give you a quick preview, take a quick look at this typical exponential growth graph.

In order to succeed in anything, we need to get all the way over to the right where growth is going up like crazy. Keep that in mind as we proceed.

Let's start with this video series. Maybe you feel things are progressing very slowly, especially with all the introductory material. But believe it or not, there is a reason for each of the videos that I've presented so far. I'm building a foundation. 

It's much like from the Karate Kid. Wax on, wax off. You may not immediately see the benefits, but as we progress further, you will start to see how it all comes together -- much like when Mr. Miyagi attacks, Daniel is able to instinctively block his punches. Wax on and wax off turn into actual applied techniques.

But to get there, Daniel had to expend a certain amount of work. This is core to the Windham Establishment Principle.

Imagine that you wish to erect a large building. What all needs to happen? First you must design it. You must then find a place for it, and obtain licenses and permits, and buy land. You'll need to hire a team, and arrange for the materials. As work progresses, you may have to remove waste as well. Think of how much time the whole process would take, and imagine all the money that would be required. Would it be worth it? Why do it at all?

You're not making any money. In fact, you're spending lots of time and money, with nothing to show for it. It's all work and no pay.

But then one day, you finish that building, and when it opens, the magic begins.

Let's look at that exponential curve again. And this time I'll add some dotted lines. This portion to the left represents the long time it took to put up the building. The building opens where the two lines come together. And then everything happens fast. Businesses move in. They pay the rent, and you start making the money. And get this ... you no longer have to spend all that time you've spent working, because the building has already been established. Maybe you have to do a little upkeep, but mostly, it turns into very little work and all pay.

And get this. It's not just you benefiting, but also the people who just moved in. Now that they've established a place, they can produce and make their own profits. A net gain for everyone involved!

This phenomenon also happens in practically every aspect of our lives. Remember when you were a toddler, and all you could do was crawl? When you established walking, it opened doors.

In my own video series, I had spent hours putting together music for my Drake Equation video. But now that I've established this music, I can use it anytime I want.

That's another good part of the Windham Establishment Principle -- what you establish, you get to keep.

This happens in math. First you learn numbers, then addition and subtraction, then multiplication and division, then exponents and roots. And then it branches out to calculus and higher math.

It even appears in my church in the concept of "line upon line, precept upon precept." This means you must first learn foundation principles before moving on to higher ideas.

And if you've ever played the game Civilization or any kind of building game, you may know of technology trees. First your country must learn how to make the wheel, and then you can learn higher technologies that build on the wheel. If you want to build a rocket ship, you can study the technology tree and see what you need to work on next.

Now before I finish, here's something to consider. How many times have you started on a big project or goal where you've spent hours and days only to fail miserably? How many times have you given up because you felt like you weren't getting anywhere? And don't worry -- you're in great company. I don't know how many times I've failed and given up. This is a major drawback of exponential growth.

I'm going to need that curve back.

In a true exponential curve, the rate of increase is constant throughout. However, in the beginning it looks like very little growth. That's because the base is very small. But as the base increases, so does the growth, and once you hit a critical mass, it rises like crazy. I wonder how many of us have given up right here where we were so close to success, but we had no idea. If only we had kept going on a little further -- gone to that audition -- put more time and money into it -- or passed that next exam.

It's so easy to think of our regrets from the past, but there's another way to look at it. This progressing slow thing is normal. Now that you know these things are exponential, it should give you hope that success really can happen. If you give up, it only guarantees failure, but if you go just a little bit further and stick with it, you may just well establish something and then the payout would be great. 

So think about it. Would you like to try out the Windham Establishment Principle? Perhaps you could tackle something small, or if you're currently working toward something, maybe you can resolve to stick with it and keep it going a little further. See if you can establish something new.

As we continue on forward together, we'll learn more tools along the way. You'll see when it all comes together.

Thanks for watching, and remember, we can "Always Be Better."