I was advised that my last blog post was a bit of a downer and on inspection perhaps it doesn’t reflect entirely where things are at the moment. As I said the post was purely a therapeutic exercise written at the spur of the moment right after a particular thing. It served its purpose and I have very much moved on and things have started falling into place. So, success? What is that?
There is that old adage that life is all about balance. I don’t really like that. In a way I get it, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. When I hear that I hear “Yes things are good at the minute but next week, inevitably they’ll be bad. Why? Why not put your foot down and say no! That’s not acceptable. I want things to go this way. I want it done this way. I believe that I can achieve this. Of course things go awry but let us not dwell on them. Let us not talk of balance for if we do then surely every little victory we achieve in our lives is, or at least we expect it will be, counterbalanced by an equal “F” word (No not that word, the other one, I refuse to even type it in the context of this post).
For once, let’s leave science behind. That surely is not happiness. Achievement, happiness and success should be just that, without the ever-present spectre of our Irish tendencies to expect the bad if we’re having a particularly good run of it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with striving for happiness and security and even success in life and if that is the case for you, and it should be, then why should you be constantly looking around the corner for the inevitable downer after a good run? Enjoy your run. Be proud of it and celebrate it and if there is something to counter that, then learn from it. Use it to better yourself, but don’t always be expecting it and dreading it. Treat it like a road bump. Slow down, take heed and then just drive right over it. That’s success. To enjoy the benefits of hard work and treat other things as mere cautionary bumps or lessons learned.
Let’s delve a little deeper. I’ve mentioned in a previous post also how we Irish people tend to go about our business. This ideology if you could call it such of countering the good with the bad seems to be ingrained in our psyche.
“How are you?”
“Not too bad.”
“How is Robert?”
“Ah, surviving.”
“The weather isn’t too bad?”
“It could be worse.”
You recognise these answers right? Notice the pattern!?
“How are you?”
“Not too bad.”
Ok, if you’re not too bad then, you must be good right? Then say you’re good!?
“Grand” is another word we tend to use a lot. “Grand” is “Not too bad” in disguise. From its very utterance you might think, it pertains to a very lofty elevation in one’s mood but it doesn’t really. It’s an almost throwaway answer that covers both, “Yes, I’m fine but not brilliant” and “Please don’t ask me any more regarding the status of things.”
Anyway to tie all this back somehow, things are good for my business at the minute. See, “Good”, not “Grand” or “Not too bad” or “Could be worse”. I’m currently in the middle of several big web design projects. I’m working with some very interesting new clients and there is the possibility of some further clients and projects in the near future if I keep pushing. That is the key however, to keep pushing. I read somewhere recently, buried of course in the mire of social media bluster, that a person should do at least one thing they fear every day. Think about that for a moment. I did, upon reading. It stood out to me and I seriously thought about it. I try to apply it to the business but I won’t lie, it’s difficult. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So I guess in summary, go forth unafraid and be better than “Not too bad.” Be “Good” and then enjoy the benefits of hard work and success.
