I Wish You Bad Luck – Adversity Builds Character

While failing typically feels undesirable, most seasoned goal achievers appreciate it as a necessary component in helping you better understand what you need to do to succeed. Expecting to succeed in the pursuit of a goal while hoping to never run into a challenge… can be compared to expecting to win a tournament final having never faced any opponent prior to that moment. What are the odds of succeeding in that?

If you truly want to succeed in whatever your mind is set on accomplishing… then you have to redefine challenges. Never think of them as indicators that you aren’t talented, qualified, or special enough to attain your goals.

Instead, look at them as new pieces of the necessary information in disguise.

Necessary to help you learn more about how you can better accomplish your goals.

This often feels like a hard concept to grasp for the inexperienced dreamer. Mostly because society seems to not care about the dreamer until he/she has attained great financial wealth or something equivalent.

But you as a dreamer should never see the world the way the general public sees it.

A player on the field should never focus on the opinions of the spectator if he/she is to maintain the focus required to perform at their best.

When you stumble across an obstacle, your immediate reaction is most likely to be a disappointment. Train yourself to replace this reaction with the need to investigate how and why you have encountered this obstacle.

There is always a reason. ALWAYS.

Find out what it is and you will very quickly realize just how important learning that information was.

Continuous learning of this rare type of information that only the truly determined get exposed to… will help develop you into a better and more effective pursuer.

It is rare because it can only be truly understood when experiencing a setback.

Even during this period, expect no applause or recognition from the general public or those around you who aren’t experienced dreamers themselves. They are more focused on the outcome than they are on the cause of the outcome.

To the spectator, the team that gets knocked out at the semi-finals is seen as just one of the many failures in the entire tournament.

To the player, the experience to have made it to the finals and to have faced the team's toughest opponent yet… is one of the greatest blessings for the player's entire career. Much can be learned from that experience.

If you are going to feel sorry for the blacksmith that works long and hard in the hottest work environment there is… surely you can also appreciate the strong arm that he develops.

With this arm, the blacksmith can do that which we can never do without having to go through the same hardship of developing such an arm. A hardship that many believe to not be worth the pain and time required to develop. And at the end of the day, we have fewer blacksmiths than we do non-blacksmiths.

We have fewer pro-footballers than we have non-footballers. We have fewer successful business people than we have business people.

While many suggest it is talent and luck that creates this difference… it is only the blacksmiths that know the real reason why they are who they are… and why the rest aren’t like them.

Many men and women who desire to become successful but end up giving up… have succumbed to the hardship of their pursuits.

But if you are to truly succeed, your desire to win must overpower the ever-looming temptation to give up.

There’s something interesting about the successful people you and I admire. Something that sometimes draws us closer to them…making us have that much more respect and admiration for them.

The way they deal with challenges and setbacks.

Think about all the leaders and professionals that you look up to. Some of their most remarkable qualities are a result of how they have handled situations that would have left the rest of us crippled by indecision.

Think about all the decisions they had to make that many criticize but few would have had the courage to make.

Do we really admire those who boast of their success or those who continuously tackle challenges that get thrown their way?

Think about parents.

Many parents seem to have the answer to any hard and negative questions about life their children have.

Imagine how that makes a child feel, knowing that their parents are ready to carry them through both the good and tough times. From toddler to adult, many parents are a source of wisdom and guidance to their children.

Why though?

Chances are, they had to overcome those very challenges the child now faces. The very same questions their children face, they once asked. Probably never had anyone to have to answer them. They learned first-hand, survived the challenges, and can now help guide those that follow.

Adversity builds character. Adversity can develop great leadership.

While many choose to treat problems and hardships as signs that one must quit… only a few looks at those problems as stepping stones towards building a better future for themselves and the ones around them.

Survive and thrive from your encounters with failure and hardship. Learn from them. Be proactive when winning and failing. You gain value from both experiences.

And if you understand what I’m trying to say about all this… then I wish you all the bad luck you need… to toughen you up for the success you desire to attain.

#makeProgressNotExcuses