You may read lots of self-help books. You might be a proponent of the law of attraction. You might be a personal development junkie. But it begs the question: why am I not successful?
photo credit: Mdrewe
Here are a few questions for you to clarify your thinking a little bit.
- Whose benchmark of success are you choosing? In many cases, someone else’s idea of success, no matter how appealing, may not be suitable for you.
- Does your idea of achievement of success require you to ‘do’ things? A lot of the time, we get caught up in ‘doing’ so that we can ‘be’. Very often, it is the core of the person that determines their actions: behaviors themselves don’t necessary equate to the person. You can do all the things Steve Jobs or Bill Gates do, but ultimately it is their beliefs, perspective on life, values and experience that makes them who they are.
- Have you taken action to test the extent of success? Like they say – think big but start by creating small successes. If you’re an armchair self-help person, you’ll be a little disappointed. It’s like wanting to brush your teeth by thinking about the philosophy of brushing instead of actually reaching results.
“Difficulties increase the nearer we approach the goal.”
~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
photo credit: ieshraq
Has it ever occurred to you that people seldom tell you how good their life is? the only people I know who are truly satisfied with their life are those who have gone through lots of personal trials that have affected them, and they learn to be grateful for what they have.
I recently heard of a young lady who was having some trouble with dealing with her emotions. She had a quick temper and this caused her boyfriend to decide to leave her. At this point, she felt upset and emotionally betrayed and of course, there were a few men who came into her life but she never accepted them because she was still nursing this pain.
For most people, the fastest way to self-help would be to take the difficult moment as a way to sharpen ourselves and strengthen us. She didn’t learn how to appreciate her significant other, and it would have been difficult if she believed that she was betrayed. Consequently, the fastest way to deal with such a situation is to run away.
Oddly enough, this is a pattern of behavior which does not bode well for future development of relationships!
In fact, I’d suggest that you don’t expect to have a life without difficulty. Rather, welcome the difficulty and take it on as a challenge you have to face to bring yourself to the next level of personal fulfillment.
