In your quest to achieve your goals, you will have some temporary disappointments. Not failures, as we so readily misidentify those matters that do not meet our expectations. In our quest to achieve our goals, there are no failures. There are only temporary satisfactory and unsatisfactory outcomes based on our expectations. Whatever we attempt to achieve in life is based on the assumption that we are prepared to achieve it. We approach those events with the expectation that we will satisfactorily accomplish them, but, when we do not, we have been trained to believe we have failed. That false concept of "failure" detracts from the lessons that each unsatisfactory situation shows us: the state of our preparedness.
As mentioned previously, when you consciously embark on your quest to achieve your goals , you must prepare yourself for your achievements. That means, in practical terms, developing yourself to overcome whatever level of ignorance and inexperience you currently have. Your Life is ultimately a series of tests with only multiple-choice questions. Your self-determined goals have multiple ways of achievement and every aspect of pursuing them will require preparation in mind and body. As an old saying goes,"There's more than one way to skin a cat." Despite the crudeness of this statement, it alludes to some fundamental truths. In your quest to achieve your goals, there are many paths available to your goals....but the choice is entirely yours which path you take!
Life Gives You Do-oversWe humans learn best from our personal heroes and each one of us has a "hero" in our life. Unconsciously you gravitate towards the hero in your life and try to act like him (her). What you are unaware of, at first, is the degree of preparation it takes to be as proficient as your hero is. This is where "expectation" comes into the picture. Without sufficient preparedness, your performance may be sub-par and may deal a deflating blow to your confidence. You will mistakenly feel you have failed...in your performance. What this false idea does is hinder you from realizing that your poor performance was due to insufficient preparation! The "disappointment" you feel is due to false expectations about your readiness to perform at your hero's level of competence, not yours. Fortunately, life gives us unlimited "do-overs". With sufficient preparation, you will do better at each attempt until you achieve a level of performance which satisfies you.
The Value Of Accumulated Performance
One grave mistake we humans make is that we do not truly recognize the value of accumulated performance and experience. Contemporary society is fascinated with "modern" science. The very idea of calling accumulated performance "past" shows the level of contempt we have for this treasure trove of experience. Our entire life is built on accumulated performance. Our current developments are based on accumulated experience. Our knowledge systems are built on what we have experienced throughout our existence. And yet we fail to see the value of accumulated performance in today's society. But in your quest to achieve your goals, you will use your accumulated experience and pair it with the best of your newly-acquired experiences to create the tools you need to solve your challenges along the way. The fact that you have accumulated experience will enable you to quickly determine the required skills that you currently lack to achieve your current goal. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water! Just another way of saying, don't ignore your past experience, abilities and know-how. Coupled with your new experiences, you can craft more efficient tools to achieve your goals.
But what about the Disappointments Along the Way?
Like everything else you encounter along your path, you decide how to react. If the goal is truly worth it to you, you will put up with the criticisms, accept your demonstrated level of unpreparedness, and study your topic harder. You will not be "disappointed" because you will know that each unaccomplished task shows you where your preparation is lacking. It tells you clearly what you need to study a bit more. Like the toddler, your ability to move yourself forward isn't finished until you can walk upright. And until the art of walking is mastered, nothing else matters; there can be no room for disappointment. The cure for disappointment is determination. But unless this ability is injected into your achievements then nothing worthwhile happens. Determination makes you blind to false "failure" in achieving your goals.
The Story Of The Lion And The Ant
To illustrate the power of determination in achieving your goals, reference the story of a lion and an ant that met under a bush one stormy day. The ant asked the lion what had brought him out on such a blustery day. The lion roared, "I am looking to catch me a rabbit." Turning to the tiny ant, he asked,"What are you doing here?" Without hesitation, the tiny ant said, "I am hunting me an elephant!" Shocked, the Lion said, "But how are you going to eat that?" To which the ant answered, "One bite at a time!" Note that the lion did not doubt the ant's ability to accomplish it's goal. It did not know which of the many methods the ant was going to use to accomplish its goal. The ant, on the other hand, knew, without a doubt, what his accomplishment would mean to him. Now he simply had to choose the method which works best for him. And that's another story.
