The Enemy Of Success

It never ceases to amaze me how things just "seem" to come along in my life just when I need it the most. You cannot convince me there is no such thing as Divine Intervention. There is no way this can be coincidental, at least not time after time after time after.....well, you get the point. Most recently, in the last few days in fact, as my business partners and close friends are aware, I have been sidelined with some back trouble. Not new, I have known for a few years now, that I have degenerative disc disease. I can thank my lineage for that. Anyway so as not to digress, it's been rather tough going through it.

The business is at a very critical juncture, a number of new and very green downline, the coming together of several very powerful advertising campaigns, culminating in a nationally televised infomercial which kicks off in just a few days. This is NOT the time to be knocked out of commission. But since when does timing ever care whose favor it works in? As I have said before, I don't believe in luck and I don't. At least I don't a it make habit of counting on it. If it comes and things go my way, fine. But I don't hold my breath. Besides, Lady Luck is schizophrenic, she's up one day, down the next! Or is that Manic Depressive. Perhaps both. Either way, I'm not in the habit of counting on crazy people.

Well, in the last three days, while down with my back and feeling down on my luck (there's that word again) I watched three movies that, and there is no other way to put this, have changed my whole frame of mind. They are, in order, "October Sky," "The Great Debaters" and "Gifted Hands, The Ben Carson Story." I highly recommend all three of them. In each story, someone had to find the inner courage and strength (and in two of the three God gets most of the credit for putting it there) to overcome personal demons and seemingly insurmountable odds in order to reach their true potential and realize incredible achievement and success.

In "October Sky," Dr. Homer Hickam who lived in the poverty stricken coal mine region of West Virginia grew up to become one of the greatest NASA scientists of all time. In "The Great Debaters," a debate team from tiny Wiley College in circa 1935 Texas fought racism, poverty, personal struggles on the way to defeating national power Harvard University and becoming what many consider to be the best debate team that has ever been. In "Gifted Hands," Ben Carson rose from poverty, racial prejudice, a single parent childhood to become one of the finest Pediatric Neurosurgeons that has ever graced the halls of a hospital. In each story the road to success was paved with struggle, with blood, sweat and tears and what I like to call "sweat equity." None of these individuals were perfect. In fact all of them were quite flawed. But all were equally determined to not let anything deter them from realizing their dream.

As you can imagine, these three stories had a profound effect on me. Did my back suddenly and miraculously get better? Did I jump right up, rush out and immediately sponsor that superstar who in no time is going to take me and my business to the next level and bring in thousands of dollars? No, to both. My back still hurts and I am still several levels lower than I want to be, but that doesn't matter. It's just part of the deal. Besides, if we never have to struggle to get where we want to be, we never really are able to appreciate it when we arrive! Case in point, the three movies I have pointed out. In all three stories there were plenty of opportunities to give up. None, no, not one of them EVER gave up! Sure they all experienced setbacks, weak moments, and they all faced the temptation to throw in the towel and just quit.

No one would have blamed any of them if they had given up. But that's usually the way. To quit, that's the easy road, the least obstructed. It's even socially acceptable. No one questions you when you do. Most people when faced with adversity, take that road, at least the unsuccessful and even the marginally successful, do. After all the odds were stacked, no piled higher than the ceiling against them. It's OK. But to these individuals, to any individual who has ever achieved greatness NO, IT IS NOT! Success and struggle are bound together by both natural and spiritual law. They are inseparable. Therefore there is nothing inherently good about success nor inherently bad about struggle. One lies on the road to the other. It cannot be avoided.

I hope this piece serves to inspire someone else, perhaps someone who may be struggling with their home business, even thinking about giving up. For those people, please allow me to conclude with these two final thoughts. The greatest enemy of success is not failure. In fact failure is essential to achieving success. No, the enemy of success is compromise, a willingness to settle for less than the best. One can no more avoid failure on the road to success than one can go swimming without getting wet. And the greatest enemy of greatness is not bad, it's mediocrity. I encourage you, never settle for mediocrity when greatness is beckoning to you. Fight on!