Face the mighty "SELF"

One of the characteristics I believe is at the heart of success, is an ability to keep working in the face of failure and an ability to force ourself to be productive when we don’t feel like it. It’s very hard to be confident of success when we have yet to seriously experience it. In many ways, at this stage of our career, faith and fake-it-till-you-make-it confidence in our idea has to carry us through the self doubt, the set-backs and the slow growth.

Nothing goes right all the time and along with that one of the greatest challenges we face is our battle with self doubt. Others around us will scoff at our attempt, our own results will come slowly and for a long time we will have to work every day for little reward. Patience and willpower are necessary. In hindsight faith in an outcome is easy because the experience is had, before this, we’re playing with chance and believing in the possibility of success without tasting it.

One of the things we should do when we feel less than enthusiastic is to focus on output, rather than the external elements that bring us down. We might feel utterly crushed, but if we create something or take any productive action, we continue towards our goals.

The great thing about output is the power it has over our mood. Negative emotion breeds negative actions or a lack of any action at all. If we focus on creating something and just take one little forward step, the physical effort we exert effects our inner emotional state. Our ability to soldier on in the face of emotional dissonance can carry us through the darkness and return you to a state of congruent activity and thought.

Sometimes we question whether the work we put in will ever bring the desired outcomes. Usually it is simply a case of patience and dedication to the process. It needs time to get to where we want to go and we needed to believe that our actions day-in and day-out would take us there.

Along the journey we should enjoy every small success and focus on the commitment towards a goal, with at times blind faith. That motivation and commitment, even when we felt less than excited about our progress. This is not something every person can replicate. Regardless of life situation, resources or any external variable, simply put the willpower to finish the race.

There is a point where we need to take stock of progress and make changes or even quit altogether. Unfortunately most people take the exit door all too early and this lack of action merely reinforces the already prevalent lack of results. It’s not rocket science, but as moody and imperfect human beings, there is a challenge to overcome oneself. This is, and always will be, our greatest challenge in life.

If we truly want to realize an outcome and taste success, then we must complete the necessary steps to get there. Not some of them and not just during our best days. This needs to be congruent and forceful effort regardless of external circumstances or internal turmoil.