What standard do successful people hold themselves to? Well, it might depend on how they’re judged in their professional game. Athletes might look at their box scores. CEOs might look at their balance sheet. In the case of media professionals, they as well as advertisers will look at the Nielsen results.

Steve Harvey is doing the same. He wants to bump his ratings and raise his grade to the next level by increasing his Nielsen numbers in the millions. Without getting too technical, he wants to increase his average daily viewers by almost a full percentage point. This will put his talk show in a higher ad bracket.

He did give hints of one or two actions he’d take. If this were us, the usual response that we might have is ‘work smarter not just harder.’ Beyond that there’s a bigger picture success-minded people use for motivation that brings more ‘joy and juice’ as a result of applying imagination, insight and instinct.

It’s like how our kids might play video games. After powering-up the console they grab a chair and put their hands to the wheel or joy stick. As the game unfolds their skill-set is more engaged and attuned to the degree of difficulty. They eventually get in a groove to keep the score climbing and adrenalin rushing.

Boosting their video game score takes a sense of imagination. They see things not just for what they are but for what they can become. As they grow in skill they gain new insights about how to beat the enemy or avoid making mistakes. But they also see gains in advancement by playing the game out of instinct.

Most of us might not be video game gurus but the same is true for boosting our career ratings or taking our dreams to the next level. This means adding a sense of imagination to the situation. We might also fine-tune our game with winning insight. We’ll get to the point of operating ‘in the zone’ based on instinct.

Not only will our performance rating rise but we’ll also get to reap the benefits at the next level. It’s a lot like what happens when breakout scores are achieved on the video game. New games become unlocked or new features become unsealed. Professionally, new skills are unlocked and new perks unsealed.

So at the end of day which comes first, ‘acting like a success or thinking like a success?” Maybe that’s for the ‘Ask Steve’ segment. Walt Disney used imagination for his wildest dreams. Stephen Covey turned ‘7 Habits’ into universal insight. And Bishop TD Jakes says instinct is how we roll to our unlocked potential.

Footnote: Imagination is a ramp to our wildest dreams. Insight is a highway on our road to greatness.  And instinct is how we roll to the next level of our unlocked potential.