Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking forit.Henry David Thoreau.
Success is dependent upon many factors, among them continuous learning which, in turn, is directed linked to having an inquiring mind. And not being afraid to ask questions when you don’t know something.
Questions are essential to growth. Many think that they have all the answers. For them, their sense of security and self-image depends upon they’re thinking that they know it all and, worse still, are never wrong.
They try to understand everything in terms of what they already know, but what they already know is rooted in the past.
But here’s the thing: When you think you know it all, when you stop inquiring and learning, you cut off growth that eventually leads to the future.
To embrace what you don’t know means that you have to give up your fear about not already knowing the answers. Learning and improvement, then, only occurs when you are open to new possibilities and courageous enough to ask questions.
Questions like, “What if?” Or, “Why can’t we do it this way or that?” Or, saying, I never that about that. Tell me more.”
You get the idea. The path to success lies ahead and it isn’t easy.
Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. Rumi.
In our COVID-19, changing, challenging world, many today are looking for purpose, something ‘to latch on to,’ something that makes sense with what they’re doing in their daily lives, at home and in the work place.
But here’s the thing. Inherently, there is no purpose in our lives – we have to find it ourselves.
Very few of us are Mozarts. We’ve got to become explorers if we are to find our individual answers. Finding your purpose is not a one-off event. It’s a process of trial and error, a personal inquiry that leads to a continual search until you find it, however long that may take.
But it’s important because meaning or purpose gives you courage. It fires up your imagination and fosters the energy you need to “get out there” every morning.
Regardless of what triggers the inquiry or wherever you happen to be on your journey, something happens to awaken your consciousness to the fact you realize that you are all caught up in a life that is no longer yours.
For any number of reasons, you find your experience, education and observation have started to converge, and life is suddenly coming together in a manner it never had before. You sense the need to take a fresh look at your life, to take stock about what you’re doing and who you are.
There’s no simple answer to this search. I wish I could say there is, but there isn’t.
It all starts with listening. In her book, In America, Susan Sontag wrote that “Each of us carries a room within ourselves, waiting to be furnished and peopled and, if you listen closely, you may need to silence everything in your own room, you can hear the sounds of that other room inside your head.”
Seeking silence involves finding a place and time where you be quiet, where you can just sit for a period of time and have a honest talk with your soul…. and ask yourself a number of serious questions: Start with these:
Am I being honest with myself about the direction of my life?
Am I proud of myself?
What value am I bringing – to my relationships, my work, and any other areas where I need to show up and contribute?
Am I living up to my full potential or sting on my laurels?
Is what I’m doing right now moving me away from or towards my highest aspirations?
These are serious questions. No one but you can answer them, but over time, you’ll arrive at something that just feels right. When you find it, grab it! Run with it!
Living on purpose is a game changer. It isn’t for everybody but you’re not everybody. Keep believing in yourself. Trust yourself. Undoubtedly there will be some trying days. And it won’t always be easy, (no body ever promised that) but when you do, you’ll never look back.
Even if you are a majority of one, the truth is the truth. Mahatma Gandhi.
Last week, as many of you know, John Lewis was buried after a powerful commemorative service and and a tearful, well-deserved hero’s send-off at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
His last act of heroism, shortly before his death, was to write an essay to the American nation and to thoughtful, caring people around the world, to be published upon the day of his funeral. It was printed on July 30, 2020 in the New York Times.
“Though I am gone,” he began, “I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.” If you are reading this, you’ll want to read the entire essay. You’ll get it. NYT Article: Together, You Can Redeem the Soul Of Our Nation.
We are living is a very difficult time, made dangerous by the COVID-19 virus, outrageous greed, violence, injustice social and economic inequality and the impending disruption of climate change. We’re just way, way over the top.
Solutions abound, answers Lewis contends, but only if each of us will stand up, to do our part and get into good trouble, determined to help right the wrongs and build a better world. We’ve done it before, he reminds us. And we can do it again.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. Martin Luther King Jr.
John Lewis, a prominent black activist, a 30 year member of the US Congress and an unwavering, courageous civil rights leader died last week at the age of 80. He will be buried at a private, family ceremony in the cemetery of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia on Thursday.
From his early 20’s, when he was seriously injured while on a protest march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Martin Luther King, he never stopped fighting against the social inequality and racial injustice directed towards young black men and indeed, against all people of colour. He was continually in good trouble. There is a new documentary about John. (Click here to watch the trailer)
It could not have been an easy journey, I’m sure, but he continued to speak out. Just last June, accompanied by the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bower, another brave soul, he walked a section of Pennsylvania Avenue emblazoned with huge yellow letters, a “powerful work of art” he exclaimed, that read Black Lives Matter.
With his passing America has lost another of the country’s heroes.
“If you see something, he used to say, “do something”. The huge yellow letters painted on the street was a sure sign directed to the White House that America is faltering.
America’s position as the leader of the free Western world was never called into question. Now not so much. At this time particularly, wracked by COVID-19 with 149,000 dead and increasing daily and millions of lives threatened by the looming economic upheaval, the country desperately needs a new generation of altruistic leaders, men and woman who are willing, when they see something, to do something.
To get into ‘Good Trouble’ and start putting the country back together again.
Fingers crossed…
Stay safe. Stay strong. Stay connected.
NEWS! My new book Dare To Be You, Five Bold Steps to Power Up Your Life, is successfully launched and I’m now a best selling Amazon author. If personal transformation is on your agenda, I encourage you to read the introduction.
If that is resonating, pick up a copy of the Dare To Be You eBook. It is packed with many helpful hints to help you find your path in this new world we’re all living in now. Order here. Or to purchase a personally signed copy of the Soft Cover Edition, or order bulk quantities for your team members, business associates or even family and friends, email info@drewsimmie.com for information.
The roller coaster is my life; life is a fast, dizzying game; life is a parachute jump: it’s taking chances, falling over and getting up again; it’s mountaineering, it’s wanting to the very top of yourself and to feel angry and dissatisfied when you don’t manage. Paulo Coelho.
Along life’s path, at one time or another, we all face barriers, challenges and fears of one kind or another. Today, of course, Covid-19 has brought everything to halt, forced each of us to examine our lives and how we are living each day.
Many of are looking for new ways to improve their current situation and step up their performance. Others, unhappy with their current prospects, find themselves forced into transition, searching for another path forward.
Change is the new currency.
We’re in an era where the winners are coming from the ranks of those willing to creatively step out in front of the crowd, even when the odds seem daunting.
To continue to grow your current business or start out in a different direction, in the Covid-19 pandemic, you’ve got to be open to change and be absolutely clear about who you are what you’re all about.
But whatever is next, as you continue to press forward, if you’re up for it, the future is there for the taking.
In times like this, there is no middle ground.
You are either in or you are out.
Stay safe. Stay strong. Stay connected.
NEWS! My new book Dare To Be You, Five Bold Steps to Power Up Your Life, is successfully launched and and I’m now a best selling Amazon author. If personal transformation is on your agenda, I encourage you to read the introduction.
If that is resonating, pick up a copy of the Dare To Be You eBook. It is packed with many helpful hints to help you find your path in this new world we’re all living in now. Order here. Or to purchase a personally signed copy of the Soft Cover Edition, or order bulk quantities for your team members, business associates or even family and friends, email info@drewsimmie.com for information.
