Odd title, but things that come to you in dreams about being a 60’s record producer, and you’re wearing bright red flares, tend to not be particularly normal.
But I’m awake now, and yes, I look awful in red polyester.
Aaaaaanyway, my first waking thought was that as negative as the title may seem, it’s actually all about opportunity. How many people really look back at a spectacular fail in their lives, and accept 100% of the responsibility for it? Too few I suspect, and they have missed a tremendous opportunity to improve their lives going forward.
It’s human nature to blame someone, or something else initially: bad timing, the market crashed, stiff competition, moron boss and a whole multitude of other excuses. I chose the word excuses carefully, because that’s exactly what they are.
I’m not saying it’s always your fault, and I’m not talking about blame here, but accepting the RESPONSIBILITY for ALL of your failures is the only way to both move on, and learn from them.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”, George Santayana.
You get fired for mouthing off to your boss, and blame the boss? Guess what’s going to happen next time? You may have even been right, but you really only had two choices; stay where you are and try another angle to get what you want, or leave. Mouthing off was not an option, at least not for that boss who held your career in their hands. Or the next one probably.
Like it or not, as long as you ARE an employee, there will be people and situations in your life that frustrate you. Quite often, the exact opposite of what you normally do might be the best next step; If you’re very aggressive, try being reasonable, if you’re passive, try being a little more assertive, and if you’re a lot better at your job than your boss (and they know it), try considering THEIR ego for a while.
If you can’t do these things – and I am a perfect example – you have no choice BUT to accept full responsibility. For the good AND for the bad mind you.
And never, I mean NEVER go after revenge! As tempting as it may be, and as satisfied as you will feel at the moment of ‘triumph’, you have just created an enemy, one who will have no problem exacting THEIR revenge at some point down the road. They may also be better at it than you.
After all, the best revenge really is becoming more successful (in whatever way YOU measure success) than those you left behind.
I would be an incredible hypocrite if was to lecture anyone on being a saint, but I can at least accept full responsibility for everything that’s ever happened to me. I take pride in my successes, and laugh at my abject failures …eventually.
I could list a thousand trite quotes like; The Chinese word for crisis is also the word for opportunity , blah, blah, blah…. this isn’t even true by the way
I prefer the much simpler; Accept it, and move on.
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