Succeed Or Fail… Which Is The Better Choice For You?

Most of the time, failure is realized in the mind before it is realized in reality. What I mean is that one must acknowledge failure before failure can exist in that person. If you do not accept failure, no matter what anyone suggests, then you are one step closer to understanding how succeeding fundamentally works.

Over the years, I have learned to avoid being influenced by minds that readily accept defeat. The more you expose your own mind to minds that believe in failure more than they do success, the more you risk seeing the world as those minds do.

It doesn’t matter how unique you look on the outside, but a person can tell where you are from by the way you speak and behave. Your character is shaped by what your mind is exposed to… not your skin.

This is why before I talk to anyone younger than me interested in succeeding or pursuing success, I first advise them to “hang around” success. They should stop following the advice of those that have very little success in the field they wish to pursue and they should start emulating those that have succeeded in that very same industry.

Most people have not been properly informed about the power their own minds have in leading them towards success. They wrongly believe that success and pursuing success have to start from some external source. Whether that be money, education, family background… etc.

This isn’t true. Those are nothing more than tools the same way that a tractor is a tool for the farmer. Can a farmer become successful without a tractor? Yes. Whether it will be harder or not isn’t the point… but yes… he or she can.

You psychologically condemn yourself to failure when you refuse to believe that you ARE capable of being whatever it is you wish to become. But do not be naïve as to think that success can come to you without effort that you can’t even readily imagine right now.

Whether it is through schooling, parental guidance, or community influence we have been conditioned to believe that the hardest work, the biggest setbacks, or the lowest scores are indications of worthlessness, hopelessness, and failure.

But the truth is that they are indicators of where we currently lie between the starting and finishing lines.

In short, they are indicators of progress made so far.

When we fail a college exam paper on a particular subject for the first time… we are made to believe that we are not very intelligent students. But what would happen if we were made to do the same paper over and over for 10 years? No doubt that we would increase our chances of getting perfect scores on that paper.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

If you fail to become a billionaire after only 1 year of running your new business… why would you conclude that you are incapable of succeeding in business?

How many years of succeeding at running a business qualifies you to come to that conclusion?

We know more about the success of a business than we do about the building of a business as people who probably don’t even own businesses.

Surely a finance major will think there is no future in pursuing computer science the same way a computer science major will think there is no future in pursuing finance. But place each of these people in the other’s industry for 10 years and they will have a different story to tell.

The conversations around success by those that have never truly experienced it are almost always going to be misinformed. They are going to be based on assumptions made by what people notice on the “outer shell” of the successful.

To truly understand success from its core, you need to spend your time with those that have attained it. Not only do they apply the principles of success but they live them as well.

I am sincerely surprised about the lack of interest most who desire success have in studying the people they would like to be like.

We happen to know more about our co-workers' lives than we do the lives of those we say we want to be like.

This should tell you what information your mind has and currently insisting on recording regularly.

Most people studying the same subject will have a lot in common to talk about regarding that subject. Computer Science majors will often talk about related topics. They will even know a lot about the people in the industry.

When I sit and talk to my Computer Science friends who did programming, whenever we talk about things like successful people in the apps world… we find ourselves talking about the underlying technology behind the apps… that regular people seem to get confused by.

However, on the subject of success… this is rarely the case.

It is very common to find out that a person pursuing success knows just as much about the topic as a person not pursuing success.

I was once asked by a kid why we don’t have anyone from our community studying to become astronauts. She then proceeded to blame the community leaders for not creating programs for children to take up that interest.

I asked her whether she was interested in becoming one.

She said she was.

I asked her if she had access to television and channels that show programs about science and space.

She said she had.

I asked her if she could read and had access to the library and the internet.

“Of course I do”, she replied.

Then I asked her to tell me something about space that I didn’t know.

At first, she struggled (because I know a few things about space)… but she eventually told me something about time travel that I’m yet to verify.

I then told her to keep it up. That we have to first become astronauts before we become astronauts.

Learn and practice all that you can with all that you have… before you can call out for help or guidance to take you even further.

That is the mindset of progress.

Here I am today a game developer having never gone to a college for game development.

I run a business having never studied business, finance, or management-related subjects in college.

What we make ourselves believe is responsible for the outcomes we get in life.

When we tell ourselves that we cannot be like that successful person because they are rich, talented, geniuses or whatever we credit their success to… let us remember that it is not that person that came up to us to say to our faces that we cannot be like them.

It is us who labeled ourselves.

It is us who said that we cannot code, sing, dance, write, draw or succeed.

More importantly… it is us who said we cannot learn, dedicate time, associate with the like-minded, or simply try.

It all begins with a choice.

#makeProgressNotExcuses