How a Bucket of Chicken Can Help Achieve Any Goals We Have (Part 3)

The next time you see a bucket of chicken, I hope it reminds you of my absolute favorite mnemonic device and how you can begin to work toward any goal you set out to achieve. Fortunately, this acronym is easy to remember and seen all over the world on the signs of global food franchise Kentucky Fried Chicken, otherwise known as KFC.

Globally, KFC is one of the most recognizable consumer brands. But KFC stands for more than Kentucky Fried Chicken. The KFC Principal is as follows:

• Know what you want.
• Find out what you have to do to get it.
• Change what you are doing until you get it.

In this third and final article of a special three-part series, I will go into detail with the C in KFC. This is preceded by the K and F in KFC, about knowing what you want and finding out what you have to do to get it. Committing yourself to each and following these guidelines will help propel you to whatever it is that you call success.

Change what you are doing until you get it.

You have done your soul-searching. You have done your due diligence and perhaps even found someone who can help you on your path. The third and final piece of the KFC triad is the hardest part. It often involves a lot of failure. As the fictional but legendary Rocky Balboa said, “It ain’t how hard you hit … It’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It's about how much you can take and keep moving forward.” Failure is just an inevitable part of success. Failing and falling down come often in our pursuits. It is important to learn from these occurrences and keep getting up and moving on. Whether you didn't land the job you wanted or did not get accepted into the graduate program to which you applied, it is essential to keep getting back up.

Two of my favorite failure-to-success stories relate to KFC, the global food franchise.

The first story is about Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a family of successful Internet-based businesses. He is the first mainland Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes and is the richest person in China, with an estimated net worth of more than $20 billion. In an interview, Ma described some of his career failures, including failing a college entrance exam 3 times, being rejected by a job with the police department, and getting rejected from 30 different jobs, one of which included KFC. "I even went to KFC when it came to my city. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were accepted ... " he said. Yes, Ma, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, was the one applicant of that 24 that rejected by KFC.

The second failure-to-success story involves the founder of KFC himself. Colonel Harland David Sanders was an American businessman, whose name and image are still symbols of the company. But his fame and success did not come easily and certainly not quickly. Sanders' working career was marked by many failures, and he didn't become a professional chef until he was 40, didn't franchise Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was 62, and didn't become an icon until after he sold his company at 75. His successes, in spite of his numerous failures, are particularly inspiring, and I encourage you to look him up.

To sum up this three-part series, if success was easy, everyone would have it and it would not be special. What makes reaching our goals and succeeding special is the process and obstacles we face. Not to say that we wish we had more obstacles, but they are an inevitable part of our journeys to success.

Always remember the KFC triad, and use this in your approach to reaching your goals.