There is a critical overarching element that is not expressed in the majority of “how to get X” genre of self-help literature. To accomplish lasting change one must internalize and understand that success is achieved the quickest by doing more things right than fewer things wrong.

There are many books about becoming successful – getting a promotion, discovering a more lucrative career, growing one’s social network or finding that elusive perfect romantic partner. Some are targeted at succeeding in a specific industry or job; others concentrate on guiding an individual or a group through the process of self-discovery in order to arrive at a place where better relationships in all facets of life are possible, more value is offered to the world, and better overall circumstances are realized for oneself and their families.

Together, all such guides for achieving what one would want are based on a principle that is never expressed outright. If you’ve perused books and guides to help you achieve a certain goal you will instantly recognize this principle as fundamental:

Success is achieved the quickest by doing more things right than fewer things wrong.

Note that this doesn’t say that to achieve success any execution must be perfect, flawless and expertly performed. All that is required to assure long-term success in an endeavor is to concentrate on doing more things correctly and let the incorrect details take care of themselves. Stopping smoking could be one of the steps in improving one’s overall health but only giving up smoking isn’t a thorough campaign without a diet beyond Diet Coke and Doritos.

This counterintuitive but at the same time critical mode of behavior is what any successful person who is able to maintain and grow the fruits of their labor arrives at; usually by discovering this on their own. This is also a part of the success mindset that is rarely passed from the teacher to his or her students.

Often the only thing that prevents people from achieving great success is the drive for perfection. An individual would concentrate so much on doing nothing wrong that they forget about all the right things that must also happen and because of that fail to make progress. Progress is made not by eliminating any wrongdoing and is instead driven by doing more things correctly. The people who are able to make progress faster than their peers and who are able to ultimately achieve whatever goal they set for themselves are those who are able to increase the number of things that move them in the direction of their goal first and foremost.

Unfortunately such mode of behavior is unnatural to the majority; most of the human population is driven by a desire to escape away from their circumstances instead of being drawn towards a better, happier future.

Psychologists have known for some time now that motivating forces separate people into two categories: the “from” and the “to.”

The “from” individuals are driven to escape unhappy environments. For example a successful businessman whose temperament falls into this category might be driven to escape poverty over someone in the “to” category who would instead be driven towards greater financial freedom and material acquisitions, you can learn more about business success by checking Paystubs.net. The result of increased income might be the same while each individual’s internal perception of their actions differ greatly.

There is no inherent disadvantage to being in one group over the other, however because success depends largely on ability to maximize beneficial behaviors and responses over eliminating detrimental ones those in the “to” camp are more successful on average because their attention is concentrated on their goal instead of on the myriad of other things that could distract them from the correct path. You might also find yourself recognizing this pattern of internal dialogue similar to what is advocated by the “Law of Attraction” movement.

Some people might say that it’s imperative to keep an eye on the non-constructive behaviors in order to replace them with more beneficial actions – as a requirement in order to get to a set goal more quickly and with least number of detours. But achieving success can also be a result of discovering and learning to apply behaviors that others have used in the past to achieve the same or similar outcomes.

There is no need to concentrate explicitly on reducing undesirable behavior so long as people can concentrate instead on wholeheartedly pursuing the goal by consistently taking actions in line with getting them closer to what they want.