There are so many alternatives today and the personal lives and business lives of people become so complicated over time that it seems almost impossible to chose the right path or much less maintain one. A good percentage of the people I talk with in these days are trying to get away from something: a too heavy familial routine, a job that has become too burdensome, a difficult financial situation, a bad personal experience, and so on.
When I meet somebody who has a plan and who is actually convinced it is the right one, I know I am talking with a potentially successful person and that I want to associate with her. Yet no matter how much care we place in selecting our correct path, there is a definite challenge in not abandoning it.
In the world of marketing and Internet marketing they use mostly numbers and testing procedures to establish whether they are going North or South. In normal life there are not always numbers we can add up and when we have them we seldom take the time to bother.
In his book “The Art of Money Getting” P.T. Barnum gives twenty golden rules for becoming rich, and the number four of these rules is about persevering and I quote: “It is this go-aheaditiveness, this determination not to let the “horrors” or the “blues” take possession of you, so as to make you relax your energies in the struggle for independence, which you must cultivate.”
More than one hundred years ago, Barnum already recognized that there some people who “borrow trouble”, who hesitate and that give up much before accomplishing anything or when they are just about to reach their goal.
Yesterday I heard a story from a person who had a background in the military and she was telling about the conundrum of those who need to decide whether to leave or to stay another term (I think it is 8 years or 18 years, or whatever). I am not an expert in military matters, but I was struck by the fact that it is such a final decision and that very few persons, she told, know how to really tackle it and sometimes just take the apparent easier route for then regretting it all of their life.
In fact, here are people who feel completely lost when they drop the uniform and others who feel completely enslaved into a life that don’t belong to them after they have decided to stay (maybe just they are addicted to a pay check). What is the difference between these dissatisfied people and those who are quite happy of their decision to stay or to leave?
It is the determination that is behind that decision and the perseverance in believing you are on the right track that you have chose yourself.
There is always a point when we know what is best for us and then there is a point when we need to chose between doing what we know its right, even though painful in the short term, or doing what is easy. And I close with P.T. Barnum again: “If you hesitate, some bolder hand will stretch out before you and get the prize”.
Roberto Mazzoni
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Roberto,
You highlight a key challenge to achieving success — making difficult choices. Frequently “it’s the leap not the landing.” In other words, several different possible options may be workable if you have confidence in your choice. To make your selection workable you must make the choice — the leap — with thorough analysis, careful reflection and thoughtful consideration. This, in turn, requires an open mind, a willingness to challenge assumptions and conventional wisdom and admit your own truest feelings. Reflexive choices are easier. But considered choices lead to satisfying results.
Nice post! GA is also my biggest earning. However, it