Success: The Topic that’s been beaten to Death…
Oh no! Not another blog about success. It seems every time we flip the page, turn the dial, or move the mouse, we come across yet another writer, yet another commentator, and yet another blogger, all pontificating on success. Endless books lecture about it; countless T.V. shows chatter about it, and limitless bloggers blog about it. And the more they write, talk, and blog, the more it seems the less we understand.
Among the deluge of cliches, the spate of sayings and the torrent of affirmations, it’s as if the world has become one big fat ball of PMA (positive mental attitude) outcries. Wherever we go, whatever we do, the bombardment is incessant: what makes for a successful life? How does one achieve success in business? Why aren’t more relationships successful? And on and on it goes.
Now there’s no disputing that positive reinforcement is a good thing, but when does the touchy-feely gushing end and the action begin (see Take Action and ‘Spring’ into New Beginnings…)? Anybody witnessing social media today (and that’s pretty much anyone with a pulse not living under a rock) would think that one has passed into a nirvana of ceaseless platitudes attempting to graduate a class of self-help gurus, yours truly included. The business of social media has become the fountain of success.
But there’s a problem, and that problem is that without action, there can be no success. We can spew as much positive gobbledygook as our heart’s desire, but without action, without living what we’re spewing, it’s absurd to even fathom a modicum of success. Great deeds never come of sharing another bromide on social media; great deeds come from doing those bromides we share. After all, how many times do we have to read something, before it becomes clear that we have to act upon it to make it our reality (see Perception is Reality: Really?)? Last time I checked nobody else will do it for us, so what are we waiting for?
Herein lays the true essence of a successful life: it’s not about what we say that matters; it’s about what we do. Do we back our words up? Do we deliver on our promises? Do we stand by our commitments? Do live what we spew, or do we just live to spew? It may not always be easy to abide by what we say, but surely we must make the effort, and by effort that means more than some lackadaisical half-hearted attempt. It means going the extra mile when others have long since called it a day. This, and only this, is the true measure of success.
And here we have it, yet more words beating the topic of success to death…now to get out and achieve it…
For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and a Nominee for the Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2016 Global Ebook Awards.
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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
2015 & 2016 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook