Despite your best endeavours, you may never reach the pinnacle.
You may never become the best in the world.
Your work may escape the attention of others.
The impact and influence of your life may not quite meet your expectations.
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I was coaching a young staff member today and as a part of the conversation, she explained that she and her partner had a 5-year plan.
Firstly, for someone so young, this was an impressive moment. I’m sure that when I was her age, I didn’t know what I was going to be doing in the next five minutes, never mind five years.
But then as we discussed it more, she said, “Of course, some things may change, but at least we have something to work towards.”
She was right.
A rocket isn’t meant to stay on the ground.
It’s meant to be launched.
A book isn’t meant to stay with the printer.
It’s meant to be launched.
Don’t feel like it?
Do it anyway.
Scared?
Do it anyway.
Not sure if you will succeed or fail?
Do it anyway.
Look around.
At your work colleagues or class-mates.
At your fellow train commuters.
At your family and friends
You are different.
Legend has it that Gene Simmons was being criticised for the latest KISS album and he responded by saying,
“Guess whose album we’re not talking about? Yours!”
Here’s the deal.
If you’re out there doing something meaningful with your life, you will attract criticism.
If you’re leading, creating or innovating, there will be people who will have a negative opinion about your work.
So as I see it, we have a handful of choices.
The survivor feels relief when the battle is over.
The warrior can’t wait for the next one.
The survivor tries to avoid the challenge.
The warrior embraces it.
Every now and then, someone I know or work with stumbles across this blog.
In that moment, I’m both gratified and terrified.
I hope that they find it helpful or inspiring, but what if they don’t?
What if they hate it?
A busy CEO with staff in multiple states and countries.
A harangued mother with four kids under the age of five.
An aspiring writer who still has a full-time job.
An underachieving middle manager with a low performing team.
A lethargic university student who spends most of his time playing PlayStation.
This week, I sat across from a young lady in the train who seemed flustered.
As the train rumbled along, she took a pack of tarot cards out from her bag and began to shuffle them.
She dealt them out to herself and screwed up her nose at the result, clearly disappointed.
My guess is that she thought that she wasn’t going to have a very good day as a consequence of what she had read.
