Preparing for Success

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week about success, and how we reach that point where we feel successful.  (Also, there’s a difference between feeling successful and being successful, but that’s another post entirely.)

Say we have a goal in mind. And it’s a tough one that will require a lot of hard work and dedication. And sometimes your goal requires extra efforts that don’t really seem to have a purpose other than that it feels like something you should be doing.

So we do these things, probably wondering why we try so hard, and hoping that someday we’ll understand the purpose behind all our efforts. Hoping that someday, everything we’ve worked for will pay off. We do it to stretch ourselves farther, to widen our boundaries, to make our personal selves better.

And then…

Something comes up. Success falls on your head (with a little help from effort, obviously). And suddenly you see the purpose of all the other things you didn’t know would come back to you. Because, as James Owen once said in a keynote address, our choices are cumulative.

More and more lately, I’m seeing people gain the payoffs for their extra-hard work. And all that unnecessary stuff? Eventually it does become relevant. People remember. Training becomes useful. And even when the brass ring of success moves, you still find a way to reach it.

All you have to do is stretch yourself a little further. 

How are you stretching this week?