This is a true story. Today, I attempted to put on socks. As I sat on the bed, I brought the opening of the first sock to the toes on my right foot, and dropped the sock. I sat on the edge of the bed and cried for two hours.
Okay, it was true until the crying part. I didn’t cry, or would never admit it. YOU CAN’T PROVE ANYTHING.
Why is it that it’s so easy to pick up a dropped sock and not as easy to apply for another job, to go on another date, to live another day with health problems, and so on?
Stupid example. Stupid question. I know. But sometimes the truth is most evident in the most asinine examples.
Within this socky scenario is a useful truth. We pick up dropped socks because we know success is inevitable. Even if we drop it a second time (GASP), we know we can put our socks on. We aren’t so assured with some of life’s other challenges, but shouldn’t we be?
Is it so unrealistic to expect that you’ll ever have the success you’re fighting for? If you put all of your focus, energy, and time towards something, you are very unlikely to fail. There are exceptions, of course, such as becoming the next Tom Cruise, as that entails so many exclusive hoops to jump through. But most aims are absolutely achievable in time with effort.
Success… in the Hands of Others?
Unpopular opinion: Success is not directly up to us. To get any job means you must get selected by someone else. Promotion? Same thing. Even in my career as an independent, work-for-myself author, my books must be selected by readers for me to succeed. If nobody chooses to buy my books, I have no career.
I’ve never liked this about the world, but it is what it is. It’s not going to change. All it means is that positioning and persistence are the keys to success. You have to pick your spots, and then persist until you achieve your aim. Positioning is just as important as persistence, but let’s talk about persistence first.
Persistence Works… Usually
Steven Spielberg was so passionate and persistent as a young boy that Universal let him hang around the studio and eventually gave him a job. Well, after I graduated college, and armed with Spielberg’s inspiring story in mind, I really liked a company and decided I was going to be super persistent about working for them. They rejected me. Even after my “are you suuuuuuure?” follow up. Huh. Persistence is not always a fairy tale, I suppose. My story, of the boy who persisted and failed to convince a small company to hire him, might only survive three generations.
Persistence, however, is glorified for good reason. So many good things in life require multiple attempts, and more of them than you might think! In the writing world, there are countless examples of persistence paying off. The two most famous ones:
- Stephen King nailed rejection slips to his wall. When the stack became too weighty for the nail, he used a spike. He did alright in time, selling over 350 million books.
- Harry Potter was rejected a dozen times by publishers before it was accepted. It’s now the best-selling book series in history.
The point is… other people will fail to see your potential. Other people will make judgement errors and promote the wrong people. This is why we must persist. If you get recognized and rewarded for your potential immediately, you are lucky. That’s not normal. If you are unrecognized, underappreciated, and totally underrated, you are living a normal human life.
This brings me to the next critical point.
Positioning Matters… A Lot
When my post-college plans kept getting smashed, I had to reposition. I applied for a greater variety of jobs to see what I could get. I didn’t get anything I wanted. Long story short, I kept trying different paths until things clicked as a writer.
Persistence alone is often not enough. If I persisted to live on Venus, I would fail. We don’t have the means to even reach Venus yet. Let’s say I got there somehow. Great! But… the temperature is over 800 degrees Fahrenheit, the atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide, and there’s not a single Chipotle on the entire planet. Talk about inhospitable…. yikes. Persistence for Venus living is very poor positioning for me, as I can’t live without carne asada.
Think about your pursuits. Do they line up well with your interests and skills? When I look back, I was never a good fit for the corporate workplace as a fiercely independent individual. Maybe they could sense that. Here are 3 reasons why poor positioning is fatal to success.
When you are poorly positioned, you will exert less effort. I could have applied for more jobs than I did, but few of them interested or excited me (except that one). It’s like trying to breathe on Venus—what’s the point in trying?
When you are poorly positioned, your weaknesses are emphasized as your strengths are muted. There I was, trying to talk to them about being a team player and staying with the company for 35 years when I was super independent and never had stayed at a job for more than a year. My strengths of creativity and independence were mostly irrelevant.
When you are poorly positioned, you miss great opportunities. As I think about my experience in college and job-seeking, it feels like a giant waste of time. Not only did I literally waste a lot of time in college (Halo 3) and afterwards (Guitar Hero), but I arguably wasted time while actively working towards that degree and job.
I’m not one to be critical of the past, as it is the conduit that brings us to all we enjoy in the present, but poor positioning means that you’re missing opportunities elsewhere. If I could do it all over again, I would have explored my options more.
Look at your life today. How are you positioned? Or, what direction are you headed? If you know it’s the right direction that emphasizes your interests and strengths, persist and you’ll find success. If it’s possibly the wrong direction, it’s time to explore. Try new things. Reposition until you find that spark, and that spark will help you persist through many trials.