90% Success rate? How?
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." — Albert Einstein
When a lot is riding on a decision, what I really want isn't just a good outcome . I want assurance I'm not about to make a mistake.
That certainty rarely comes. And not having it stops some people cold. It's the same way a menu with 50 entrées affects me: more options, more chances to choose wrong.
I don't like being wrong. Most of us don't. So we hesitate.
But here's something I've discovered: whether your decision turns out to be a good one is a lot more within your control than you might think.
Here’s What Matters
Every decision has variables beyond your control. Stuff happens. That's not going to change.
But there are a handful of factors that, when present, tilt the odds of a good outcome sharply in your favor. In the work I do, I've found the biggest one isn't willpower, resources, or whether you’ve bottomed out yet.
It's readiness.
When I talk with a potential client for the first time, this is what I'm actually listening for: how ready is this person for things to be different?
Three Questions That Predict Success
I spent years working with people coming out of incarceration, and I often told them this: the biggest question you'll face isn't whether you can change. It's whether you're willing to ask for help.
That question really breaks down into three:
Are you ready for things to be different?
Are you willing to ask for help?
Will you actually apply the help you get?
If you can answer yes to all three, even if it’s a really shaky yes, the odds move dramatically in your favor. Asking for help takes humility, and that’s proof you're not just ready for change, you're ready to do the work change requires.
Why Asking for Help Changes Everything
Once you're tired enough of where you are to actually seek help, you walk in differently.
Asking for help is a lot like trying new options and new ways of doing things. Your personal track record and everything that hasn't worked before, suddenly matters less. Ideas that never clicked start to make sense on a new level, because you’ve become a listener. You’re open.
And openness is what lets someone else's perspective actually land. You need someone who cares, who's safe to be honest with, and is willing to go with you. When you can find that person, your odds go through the roof.
With this combination of factors present in readiness, my success rate with clients who genuinely want to regain control is 90%.
My success rate with people who aren't quite ready? Not so good.
That's no knock on them. Not quite ready is just where someone is, until they’re not. Taking someone on who’s not quite ready is a failure on my part, usually due to my poor assessment of their readiness.
So Which Group Are You In?
Your outcome depends less on your past ability to change and more on which of these two groups you're in.
If you're tired of where you are, willing to ask for help, and willing to actually use it — you're already most of the way there.
If you're not sure you're ready then that's worth sitting with honestly, but don’t judge yourself.
You don't have to have it all figured out before you reach out. You just have to be honest about where you stand.
Whenever you're ready, let's go to work.
BTW…A simple conversation can help you figure out where you stand. Pressure never helps, and it doesn't improve anyone's odds of success. So none here — just an open door whenever you're ready to walk through it.
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