Success with Success

by phil on Tuesday Sep 2, 2003 11:25 AM
success lessons

How does one "think for oneself?" Buckminster Fuller suggests a modified reflection, one that eliminates the influences and suggestions of everyone else, and focuses on learning from personal experience.

From my personal experience, then, I'd say I haven't had much success with success. Not that I haven't had any success--I've had tremendous "success." I've won awards, gotten accepted to good schools, made money etc. But the results of such accomplishments haven't really given me true success, which can be loosley defined as happiness.

Why?

Well, I'd say it has to do with the amount I used to sacrifice myself for some future reward. I'd discipline myself to death for months in order to get to the top of the mountain. And when I'd get there, the view would never be as great as I had expected; plus I'd be so exhausted that I couldn't enjoy it. I'd tell myself, well, at least you won; but meditating on that thought has never been a long-lasting high.

So, I'm going to experiment with a new policy: NO BLOOD. I will not pursue any reward, destination, or relationship that requires me to bleed. Self-sacrifice is rarely worth it when it comes to petty things such as money, that new car, school, or your silly boyfriend/girlfriend.

I'm not against effort; getting your hands dirty is acceptable, even desired. But bloody knuckles and near-miss survivals are not what I want to riddle my life with.

Even in the long-term, being stained will ruin you in the end. People will meet you as Bloody Mary, and will treat you as such. You'll construct your relationships and environment around assumptions derived from your tattered soul, until you've made for yourself a prison of bandages and thorns. Breaking free will then eventually require only the most serious trauma.

At some point, you have to say, "This is enough."

If anything requires you to bleed in order to suceed, then you must surrender.

Let's play with this rule and see how it goes.

UPDATE
Question: How can you tell a thorn from just a complex situational factors?
Answer: if it HURTS... A LOT!