Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”.
Think about the meaning of that statement for a moment. Really.
Imagine pouring hours upon hours of effort and hope into something important to you – then giving it all up when you hit that certain level of discouragement.
Imagine what sort of stories of denial and rationalization you might create in order to explain the whole effort away to yourself and others: to minimize its weight in order to save you from embarrassment. Or of the dreadful feelings of precious time wasted. Or of the realization that you were wrong – that you were not as competent as you had hoped. Or of the feelings of frustration, depression, and loss…
Or maybe you’ve already done this. The truth is that people do it all the time.
But what if we were destined to reach our goal the very next day after we decided to quit? It’s impossible to ever know, of course, but it is a very real possibility.
We all know the story of Thomas Edison’s failures, perseverance, and ultimate successes – but, unfortunately, stories like these often tend to inspire us for the moment but have no real lasting impact (or worse yet, we become desensitized to them so that they carry no real impact for us at all anymore).
So, again, think seriously about this quote for a moment. What could it mean for your life and your journey? What do you really want? When have you quit and (falsely) rationalized the whole effort away? Where do sometimes feel like just throwing in the towel? Or where do you keep justifying your decision to not get started on that one special thing?
The good news is that we can avoid the pain of failure by never ceasing to try.
And even if we were to die trying, then at least we’d have died on a path to success. And isn’t that better than looking back at the end of it all and saying, “what if”?
Sep 26, 2009
Sep 12, 2009
Know Thyself - And Adjust Accordingly
My son had a bowl of Mini Wheats this morning, and he was absolutely off the wall. My kind, gentle soul of a child turned into a raving lunatic within minutes.
Now Mini Wheats are certainly a somewhat-nutritious breakfast, but one of its ingredients apparently did not agree with his little system. I believe the culprit was artificial colouring (we’ve begun to notice this trend with a variety of foods).
The thing is that this was not very difficult detective work: food in, beast unleashed.
But as adults, we have so many more layers of complexity: when you’re feeling a little off during the day, is it because of that conflict with your co-worker? Is it because you have a thousand impossible deadlines to meet? Or is it simply because you had Mini Wheats for breakfast?
The truth is that what affects our emotional and physical balance is multifactoral: lots of different pieces of the puzzle adding up to the whole picture.
But some pieces are bigger than others, and carry more weight on our sense of well-being or dis-ease.
So when you’re doing your detective work, experiment on all levels: have the difficult conversation you need to have. Go to bed instead of watching that last movie. Learn some better time-management skills. Forego the Mini Wheats tomorrow morning.
Experiment and identify the big pieces of your puzzle. Keep a journal and record your foods, activities, energy levels, and moods – and see what themes arise. You may be surprised at how one simple change can have a domino-effect on the rest of your life!
Now Mini Wheats are certainly a somewhat-nutritious breakfast, but one of its ingredients apparently did not agree with his little system. I believe the culprit was artificial colouring (we’ve begun to notice this trend with a variety of foods).
The thing is that this was not very difficult detective work: food in, beast unleashed.
But as adults, we have so many more layers of complexity: when you’re feeling a little off during the day, is it because of that conflict with your co-worker? Is it because you have a thousand impossible deadlines to meet? Or is it simply because you had Mini Wheats for breakfast?
The truth is that what affects our emotional and physical balance is multifactoral: lots of different pieces of the puzzle adding up to the whole picture.
But some pieces are bigger than others, and carry more weight on our sense of well-being or dis-ease.
So when you’re doing your detective work, experiment on all levels: have the difficult conversation you need to have. Go to bed instead of watching that last movie. Learn some better time-management skills. Forego the Mini Wheats tomorrow morning.
Experiment and identify the big pieces of your puzzle. Keep a journal and record your foods, activities, energy levels, and moods – and see what themes arise. You may be surprised at how one simple change can have a domino-effect on the rest of your life!
Sep 4, 2009
Leadership, Life, and the Year 2012
I am not a Scientist, an Ancient Mayan, or an Astrologer – and I don’t know what’s going to happen in December of 2012. (If you haven’t yet heard the controversy surrounding this date, you soon will. And you’ll probably hear about it at an increasingly frequent rate until then).
What I do know is that there seems to be an awful lot of fear-mongering around it; and that a lot of the ‘mongerers’ out there are earning a pretty penny for their efforts.
On one hand this makes me angry. On the other I see it as a blessing in disguise.
Two main thoughts come to mind when I think about this topic: the first is that it scares the hell out of me (until my rational mind takes over again). The information floating around about 2012 is enough to invoke at least a little stress in the best of us.
But what makes me angry about these people is how their predictions might affect our children. We’ll need to have accurate information to share with them to help alleviate their anxieties. Again, there’s a lot of fear-based information out there, but if you do a little searching you’ll also find a few voices of reason.
Try Googling ‘The truth about 2012’ and bookmark a good article to reference when your kids ask.
My second thought has to do with leadership – and that if the predictions about 2012 cause enough people to reflect on how fragile and helpless we really are, then perhaps the fear-mongerers have served us well. When the immediacy of our own mortality is ‘in our face’, and our deepest anxieties are aroused, we desperately want to do something about it!
Aside from the new-age predictions and vague interpretations of what’s to come, much of the writing on the topic of 2012 does contain some very real truths about what we’ve already done to our planet and where it’s headed if we continue. So over the next few years, as the subject comes at us with increasing force, let’s do our best to separate fact from fiction, and let’s make the choice to act on the areas in which we actually do have some control.
Let’s hope that people’s anxieties translate into increased awareness, and become the catalyst for finding more solutions to the global crisis. Become a champion of one of the positive initiatives already in motion. Be a leader by sharing information, instilling hope in others, and setting the example!
What I do know is that there seems to be an awful lot of fear-mongering around it; and that a lot of the ‘mongerers’ out there are earning a pretty penny for their efforts.
On one hand this makes me angry. On the other I see it as a blessing in disguise.
Two main thoughts come to mind when I think about this topic: the first is that it scares the hell out of me (until my rational mind takes over again). The information floating around about 2012 is enough to invoke at least a little stress in the best of us.
But what makes me angry about these people is how their predictions might affect our children. We’ll need to have accurate information to share with them to help alleviate their anxieties. Again, there’s a lot of fear-based information out there, but if you do a little searching you’ll also find a few voices of reason.
Try Googling ‘The truth about 2012’ and bookmark a good article to reference when your kids ask.
My second thought has to do with leadership – and that if the predictions about 2012 cause enough people to reflect on how fragile and helpless we really are, then perhaps the fear-mongerers have served us well. When the immediacy of our own mortality is ‘in our face’, and our deepest anxieties are aroused, we desperately want to do something about it!
Aside from the new-age predictions and vague interpretations of what’s to come, much of the writing on the topic of 2012 does contain some very real truths about what we’ve already done to our planet and where it’s headed if we continue. So over the next few years, as the subject comes at us with increasing force, let’s do our best to separate fact from fiction, and let’s make the choice to act on the areas in which we actually do have some control.
Let’s hope that people’s anxieties translate into increased awareness, and become the catalyst for finding more solutions to the global crisis. Become a champion of one of the positive initiatives already in motion. Be a leader by sharing information, instilling hope in others, and setting the example!
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