Failure
I have never been a big fan of motivational books,speakers or any of the motivational aids. I have always found them to be quite annoyingly patronizing to say the least. Motivational and inspirational as they are,the problem i have always had with them is that they seem to not take into consideration that sometimes people fail not because they are not putting in the effort or not doing something right but simply because failure is a part of life which we sometimes have no control whatsoever over. In short,they never allow the audience to "leave room for failure" as that's considered to be a loser mentality.Let me try to explain.
We have all come across motivational aids before,be it books or TV shows or speakers. The inspirational stories about some guy who used to travel 30 kilometers to school everyday on his bare feet with no jersey but ended up owning a million dollar company. Inspirational and motivational as these stories are, the problem i have with them is that they all center around the same notion that effort = success but fail to show the other reality which is that sometimes in life,no matter how much effort you put in,you are still going to fail. That is just simply how life works. These motivational aids,most of them,make the audience believe that the sole reason they are not a success in life is because they are simply not putting in enough effort.
Although it is true that sometimes when you put in the effort,success follows suit, the two are not always directly proportional. Life works in ways which sometimes cannot be explained. It is not always black and white,as a matter of fact,its an entire kaleidoscope. Not everything is always straight forward. Sometimes you put in all the necessary effort that you possibly can into something that you are pursuing and still fail. Not because you are "working hard and not working smart",which is a phrase i see in a lot of these motivational aids,but simply because it is just not meant to be. Sometimes it just so happens that you are a victim of circumstance. This simply means the reason you failed is not something that can directly be attributed to you,but is something that is entirely out of your control. I do not want to use the phrase "bad luck" because then i would be bringing superstitious factors into it but for this particular context, think of victim of circumstance as something like bad luck. You totally have no control over your "luck",it is just something that happens to you. Same as being a victim of circumstance. You are not stupid because you worked hard for something but still failed.Sometimes the universe doesn't give us what we desire,its all part of the beauty of this thing we call life.
Now this blog post is not saying that you should throw away that copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad or unfollow that business guy on Facebook/Twitter whom you look up to so much.No.Motivational aids sometimes work as they can help motivate and inspire you to pursue your dreams with more zeal.What it is simply saying is that failure is a part of life which unfortunately is always painted as avoidable by motivational aids. You have absolutely no control on how the universe decides to orchestrate your luck,on when you are going to get a good hand and when you are going to get dealt a terrible hand. The only thing you can do is pick up those cards and play the best game you possibly can. If it works out then yaaay,if it doesn't, do not think of yourself as a dummy or failure,go back to the drawing board and understand that,as cliche as it sounds,you win some,you lose some.
We have all come across motivational aids before,be it books or TV shows or speakers. The inspirational stories about some guy who used to travel 30 kilometers to school everyday on his bare feet with no jersey but ended up owning a million dollar company. Inspirational and motivational as these stories are, the problem i have with them is that they all center around the same notion that effort = success but fail to show the other reality which is that sometimes in life,no matter how much effort you put in,you are still going to fail. That is just simply how life works. These motivational aids,most of them,make the audience believe that the sole reason they are not a success in life is because they are simply not putting in enough effort.
Although it is true that sometimes when you put in the effort,success follows suit, the two are not always directly proportional. Life works in ways which sometimes cannot be explained. It is not always black and white,as a matter of fact,its an entire kaleidoscope. Not everything is always straight forward. Sometimes you put in all the necessary effort that you possibly can into something that you are pursuing and still fail. Not because you are "working hard and not working smart",which is a phrase i see in a lot of these motivational aids,but simply because it is just not meant to be. Sometimes it just so happens that you are a victim of circumstance. This simply means the reason you failed is not something that can directly be attributed to you,but is something that is entirely out of your control. I do not want to use the phrase "bad luck" because then i would be bringing superstitious factors into it but for this particular context, think of victim of circumstance as something like bad luck. You totally have no control over your "luck",it is just something that happens to you. Same as being a victim of circumstance. You are not stupid because you worked hard for something but still failed.Sometimes the universe doesn't give us what we desire,its all part of the beauty of this thing we call life.
Now this blog post is not saying that you should throw away that copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad or unfollow that business guy on Facebook/Twitter whom you look up to so much.No.Motivational aids sometimes work as they can help motivate and inspire you to pursue your dreams with more zeal.What it is simply saying is that failure is a part of life which unfortunately is always painted as avoidable by motivational aids. You have absolutely no control on how the universe decides to orchestrate your luck,on when you are going to get a good hand and when you are going to get dealt a terrible hand. The only thing you can do is pick up those cards and play the best game you possibly can. If it works out then yaaay,if it doesn't, do not think of yourself as a dummy or failure,go back to the drawing board and understand that,as cliche as it sounds,you win some,you lose some.
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