Wednesday, May 17, 2017

How To Enjoy Success In The Midst Of Failure!



Is the line between your work and personal life so blurred that you can't distinguish between the two? 

Do you have a hard time "getting away from it all" or just feel like you can never recharge?  

Does life ever feel like a never-ending struggle of failures with very little success? 


Perhaps it's time to create balance?

Our world is filled with a constant fascination of improvement.  We are expected everywhere we go to find ways to be better, to strive for more, to acquire things, to compete and to win.  This philosophy has been so ingrained in us that we sacrifice things in order to say we've moved the needle of "success".  We rationalize lack of sleep, strained relationships, dreams thrown away and sometimes even declining health to be able to say we've moved the needle closer to what we are told is "success".

We end up feeling overwhelmed, devoid of joy, mentally drained and even physically exhausted when that vision of success doesn't come to fruition despite our best efforts.

But what use is any amount of success if we feel like we've failed in other parts of our life to achieve it?  Does money, power or fame make you feel complete when you lack family, relationships and passion?  OF COURSE NOT!

And what use is failure if it leads us to tell ourselves that we aren't good enough, don't have the talent/ability or that it was never meant to be in the first place? 

Here's a few different ways to look at success and failure: 


Failure is Transition...nothing MORE!

It will always be very difficult and some may say impossible to achieve anything great in life without balance.  The concept of balance is perhaps best described by the Taoist concept of Yin and Yang. The concept is simple.  We must have good and bad (bright and dark) in order to be whole.  Rather than viewing good and bad as opposing forces, Yin and Yang suggests that the two must interact and coexist in order to achieve the power and greatness that neither alone can possess.  

It's hard to accept for many of us but it can be true that bad things happen to allow a way for good things to also happen!

Even the Stoics believed that bad things were a part of the natural order of life and inevitably happen despite the pain or frustration they create.  They believed that we should look at our problems logically and never let our emotions get the best of us because doing so would cloud our good judgement of what to do next.

Rather than go to that extreme I'd like to challenge you to look at "failures" in life as a key that opens a door to a new path.  That path can always lead in multiple directions, SUCCESS being one of them!

Dark days are ALWAYS followed by brighter days but we can never be sure when each will come.  Sometimes we have to push thru the darkness with our head held high and just tell ourselves "This is necessary in order to have good things also happen for me".


The success you create doesn't have to be yours alone!

We won't always have good things happening to us at all times but there are always good things to look at.  

One way to deal with creating balance in your life is to look outside yourself.  We tend to focus so much on what's happening to us personally that we get bogged down every time something bad happens.  BUT, you ALWAYS have the power to contribute to success ANYWHERE.  It's a simpler task than it sounds but it takes some mindfulness and benevolence on your part.

If you have a friend who's having great success in life, support them, show them that you're proud of them, help them to make that experience even better.  Share in their bright days and they'll remember you during the dark ones.  One day the tables will turn, the yin will become yang and they will need you.  Be their inspiration!

You'll find that focusing on contributing to success anywhere means that even though you occasionally don't see success in your own life you still have the power to create it!  That's incredibly empowering!

Contribute good to the world in whatever you do and you always have something good to look at even if life seems to be a struggle for you personally.

Remember that the dark days you're experiencing now are always followed by bright ones, so do your best to accept what you cannot change and create success where you are able to.  It may not always benefit you personally but you can always create your own light to shine on others!


One more thought:
If something is disrupting balance in your life, always be open to the idea of clearing out that roadblock to your own success.  If we aren't healthy mentally it will eventually show in our relationships, our work and even our physical health. Doing anything that drains your energy and eats away at your passion is not time well spent.