Get Off the LAdder.
Dr. Vallario’s next book that introduces a new way to think about success, finding satisfaction and how to lead a more fulfilling life.
Success has generally been viewed as a linear process. A straight path we follow, with the end point being some grandiose accomplishment. Only once we reach it will we allow ourselves to feel any satisfaction in our efforts. We often refer to this path as “climbing the ladder”, in an attempt to reach the top. We might climb different ladders in our life, be it the corporate ladder, the academic ladder, or even personal ladders. We just climb and hope to reach the top.
What happens when we get there though, and our sense of satisfaction erodes away? When we sit atop whatever ladder we climbed, and begin to tire of the view. Or what happens if the top of the ladder seems ever out of reach, and we are left climbing towards an impossible achievement? Growing disdained with our life, thinking we will never accomplish anything because the top just seems always out of reach.
These ideas—and others—are what Dr. Tyler Vallario sets out to challenge in his new book “Get off the Ladder: How to Rethink Success and find Satisfaction in everyday life”. It introduces a new way to think about how we reach success and where we should derive satisfaction in our accomplishment. Bending the old ideas of a single linear path, to a new one that is cyclical, and will sustain growth over a lifetime. With critical steps along the way to frame up efforts, and turn motivation into action. All while empowering you to maintain ownership of the process, and your own definition of success.
Available now in e-book, paperback and hardcover.
The New Method Of Success
We can break the cycle into five steps, each leading into the next, to sustain our growth and make the entire process more manageable. Each step has aspects to help us understand what it will take to achieve what we set out to do and the key elements we must complete before moving on to the next step. We book explores the intricacies of each step further, and delves into the psychologically backed reasoning for each step. The steps themselves and their key elements are as follows…
Step 1: Define Success
The first step comes whenever we decide to take ownership of our lives and define success. Whether it is because our needs are no longer being met or our current level of success is no longer giving us a sense of overall satisfaction. This is our opportunity to redefine what success is and what the next level would be. The most possible and probable level for us to reach. This is an accomplishment that will still push our abilities and require us to develop new skills in order to make it a reality while still remaining attainable. Here, we need to understand our strengths as they pertain to what we perceive to be the next level.
Step 2: Identify Obstacles and Needs
In the second step, we have to think through the needs to reach the next level. In particular, what are the obstacles currently preventing us from reaching it. Because before we can devise a plan to achieve it, we have to understand exactly what is in our way. Once we do, we know our needs significantly better. Our needs largely will fall into two categories: the need for learning and the need for support. Both of these take on different forms and will set up the baseline for our planning.
Step 3: Create a Plan
Once we know what is preventing us from reaching success, we can create a plan to overcome it, which is the third step. Planning and deciding on the best course of action to gain the skills needed to accomplish it. This step will have just as many external influences. It is essential to rely heavily on certain principles to ensure the plan is truly ours and that we are the ultimate decider in which plan we follow. This is where we will set our goals and break them down in a way that makes everyday accomplishments a part of our plan.
Step 4: Execute
Once the plan is decided on, we move to the fourth step. Executing the plan. This step is where most of the time is spent, and we need to think about time differently in order to complete it fully. Success and fulfillment don’t just happen overnight. It takes work, it takes effort, and we are the ones who need to put the work in to actually make something happen. If we do not set ourselves up correctly and adhere to the principles in the first three steps, this step becomes increasingly difficult.
Step 5: Achieve Success, and Plateau (or fall short)
If we do put the work in, then the fifth step will become an eventuality. We reach that new level of success we defined for ourselves and once again feel that sense of satisfaction in our abilities. We have an overall feeling of accomplishment in the work we put in, and our proverbial cup is once more, full. Of course, we know this feeling won’t last forever. And we will begin to lose that sense of satisfaction at our current level over time. We plateau. Like all other steps, this is based on our own perception of satisfaction and success and has no time restriction or expectation. It is the signal for us to once again take that moment for self-reflection, identify the next level, and start the cycle once more. We also need to consider what happens if we miss the mark, and how it is okay even when we fall short because we just continue to follow the cycle.
How Did We Get Here?
This idea was the foundational principle of Dr. Vallario’s “Theory of Performance Excellence”, which was the subject of his Doctoral Dissertation. The idea was intentionally meant for practitioners to utilize a cyclical process when working with clients in high performance settings. That they didn’t need to view their development as a linear path, but rather a continuous process that can be used over and over again, regardless of what it was they were trying to accomplish. This method would sustain growth and enable them to continuously increase their capabilities.
It was built on years of research and real world application across the military and civilian workforce. It became apparent that it was relevant to more than just job performance, and could be utilized in everyday life to enable people to gain a sense of fulfillment in their actions and accomplishment.
The first version of the model, and first draft of Dr. Vallario’s Dissertation.