Success from Opportunity
You may be familiar with NATURE vs. NURTURE?
The continual conversation of nature vs. nurture or the naturally-gifted vs. the manufactured.
Are the naturally-talented less likely to work hard to achieve success? Will hard work bring success, talent or not? I have said many times, “Hard work pays off. Always.” Perhaps to merely convince myself.
But does it really pay off?
How about the student who works harder than anyone else to barely achieve a C+ average compared to the student who never studies and maintains a 4.0, or better? I studied endlessly and in my case, my hard work paid off - in subjects I liked. The case could be made that it was my natural inclination toward those subjects I studied or maybe it was the hard work which resulted in good grades? Or perhaps, and most likely, it was the combination of both.
We can argue endlessly about how and why success is attained. Personal success is a personal endeavor. Winston Churchill said, “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Though, I believe it is more of a horrible hike than a leisurely walk. The work – the struggle - helped me more greatly appreciate the sweetness of success.
Failure doesn’t represent anything other than another opportunity. Opportunity waits patiently for those who never give up – those who have learned the art of picking themselves up and dusting themselves off. Searching endlessly for perfection is just a haunting reminder of what we are not, instead of who we are and what more we can achieve.
Less than Perfect...
We crave perfection – so much so that we fail to understand that less than perfect is where we grow and meet challenges. Our less than perfect colleagues/peers and our less than perfect selves achieve success every day in our less than perfect jobs. There will always be difficult lessons to learn in life and work – these lessons are nothing more than stepping stones to success. I consistently remind myself of this fact when life has its way with me or I feel ill-prepared to face the work before me.
Churchill relentlessly calls my name when his words, “no loss of enthusiasm” echo relentlessly in my ears.
Opportunity is Everywhere
But nowhere is it more present than in the fleeting and easily broken grasp of failure.
Be thankful for the opportunities failure creates. Stay uncomfortable enough to shun the behavior or thinking that led you there. This is how to grow, develop, and ultimately succeed. This is how to climb.
“Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam