In order to succeed....

Bill Cosby made the statement, “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

It sounds simple and easy to do. “I want to be a successful doctor”, “I want that job so, bad”,,,, the list goes on. How many times have we all said things like that, believing that our desires are so great that we WILL be successful at this quest? How many of us have achieved our dreams? How often when we haven’t gotten there had we been unable to figure out why? How many times did we figure the other person “must have been better than me”, or “I just have bad luck”? How many times did we ask ourselves what our role was in preventing the outcome from going our way? Could it be that many of those times we didn’t exert enough of the effort needed to succeed because we were afraid of not succeeding? I know I have.

Through a variety of recent life changes, I have begun to take a different look at myself and my life. I am learning to accept the facts that my parents, while truly trying to make me a better person out of their love for me, actually had the reverse effect. I heard often, in an attempt to motivate me, that I wasn’t working to my potential, or I could do better. They were right! A lot of things came easy for me, so I taught myself, unknowingly, to take the path of least resistance. Never did I realize that subconsciously, I was learning that I was a failure. Subconsciously I developed the attitude of “why try hard? You’ll probably not do it good enough anyway.”

Now I am trying to forgive myself. I am adopting a new attitude, one that includes not forgetting my past, but not living it either. I have been working essentially entry level jobs over the past several years. I made some major mistakes, had a bad car accident, and other similar negative events. I just realized that I am accepting these positions because I am afraid of failing if I try to build a better career. I use the excuses of the reviewers using check lists and my age and being over qualified as reasons for not achieving or Failing to Work up to My Potential. My attitude is being adjusted!

If I took the advice I give to others, I’d be better off in many ways. The main issue is, “I can’t be told no if I don’t ask the question. If I am told no, I’m no worse off than before I asked. But if I am told yes….” I must overcome the power of the fear of failing and increase my desire to succeed, or at least try!

This is my first attempt at writing a blog. I hope I’ve triggered some thought in others. I hope this blogging gets better too!

Thanks for reading!