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Results: Don’t Ever Marry Them…
Our entire lives revolve around results. It’s not money that makes the world go round, but results. Without them there’s no money, no love, no joy; with them the human race flourishes. But as much as life is dependent upon them, it’s also critical that we never become dependent upon any desired result. We must respect them and work towards them, but we must never become married to them.
To be bound by a desired result is to risk who we are. We jeopardize that which makes us unique when we stake our identity on an extraneous outcome, which may or may not happen (see The Worst Kind of Identity Theft…). And either way, only a fool, or a lost soul, ever lets something external dictate who they are.
Results do not create self-worth; self-worth creates results. Given life’s proclivity for failure as a prerequisite to success, we’d be remiss to tie our fate to a result never achieved. Our strength derives not from any result, but derives from our ability to overcome any and all obstacles in our path to achieve it. If we allow the missed target to destroy our sense of self, then any chance of redemption will be lost upon us, and life will be but a downward spiral of failure. And just the same, if we become stronger with each failed attempt then results have a wondrous way of appearing. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) alluded to this when he wrote, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”
Those not paying heed risk being caught in the fray. How else can we explain the self-destruction of many stalwart characters? In their mad rush to achieve, they forget the ingredient that keeps them grounded, namely their sense of self. Even those who’ve achieved momentous success are susceptible to a feeling of complete emptiness. They’ve become a product of the result as opposed to the result being a product of them. Remove the fancy car, over-sized mansion and sleek jet, and what’s left is nothing but an empty soul (see Self-Respect and the Empty Soul…).
It’s the wise person who understands that life isn’t so much about the end result as it’s about the journey. We mustn’t lose sight of the necessity to create results; however we mustn’t let them determine who we are. A day doesn’t go by when we witness someone metamorphosed whether by failure or success. It’s as if their entire being is at the mercy of a roulette wheel, and God forbid it lands on the wrong color!
We must go forward and accomplish results, but we must never lose sight of what truly matters. Just as the boat with a deep keel rarely capsizes, so must we ensure that we stay anchored to who we are. And then, and only then, will we be the driver of results, and results not the driver of us…
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.
A 2015 & 2016 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook