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Risks on the Road Between You and the Emerald City

Written by: Chellie Campbell

Article Overview: If you aren’t winning enough in your life, it’s because you aren’t losing enough

Risks on the Road Between You and the Emerald City

“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake somebody.”—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


If you aren’t winning enough in your life, it’s because you aren’t losing enough.

“What?!” you may be thinking. “I’m losing plenty, thanks. That can’t be right.”

It is right. You have to take risks to win. And you don’t win every time you take a risk. Success is a percentage game—and it’s not even a big percentage. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people are willing to fail more often than unsuccessful people. They are willing to hear “no” and get rejected. Millionaire baseball players bat .300—that means they only hit three balls out of ten. But they make millions because most people can’t even hit that many.

The difference is that winners have an intense, laser-focused attention on the goal—and on winning the goal. They don’t see the goal as out of reach, they believe that they will attain it if they just do the right things. If they don’t know exactly what the right things are, they are willing to experiment, pay for lessons, workshops, coaches, and try different things until they happen upon the things that work, and then they do those things over and over and over, ad infinitum, until the goal is achieved. They send out a ship, and then they send out another one. And another one. And another and another and another. It doesn’t matter how many ships sink, how many people say no to you; it only matters how many people say yes. So keep on going until enough people say yes. You have to have this kind of determination not to quit and to keep going until the yeses arrive like the next ship on the next wave. Or the one after that.

So how do you remain undefeated in the face of lost ships? How do you garner the strength—mental, physical, and spiritual—to build another? And the one after that? How do you face mounting losses, over and over again?

It takes passion, determination, and single-minded devotedness to purpose. When you're Dorothy and your goal is the Emerald City, you are willing to take any path to get there - your goal is all that matters. Determination is like an iron fist in your gut. You will not be dissuaded from your dream because there's a wicked witch on the road, or flying monkeys overhead, or a guard at the gate who denies you entrance between you and the Emerald City. You will never be one of those small people who are content to stay forever in Munchkinland. You will get to the Emerald City or die on the road to the Emerald City. And because you keep on moving down the road, life helps you out by sending you a Glinda, a Tin Man, a Scarecrow, and a Lion to give you encouragement and help you succeed.

Losing fires up winners. Their response when someone tells them they aren’t good enough, they can’t do it, or they’re a loser, is “Oh, yeah? Watch this!” They use the rejection as an energetic launching pad to redouble their efforts, sharpen their creativity, and prove the naysayers wrong.

Let me give you a tip: There’s no “there” there. There is no place to get to where you stay put “happily ever after.” Because after you reach your Emerald City, it isn’t long before you’re making plans for the Ruby City next. And the Diamond City after that. As soon as you get one goal, you just set another goal. Goals are not ends in themselves – they are just there to get you out on the road, meeting people, and experiencing life. Be passionate, follow your bliss, and the worst that can happen is you live a life full of great adventures. It’s all good.

It’s a New Year. The yellow brick road beckons you onward. Where are you headed next?

Go for it! Do it! Yes, you can!

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Article Tags: balls, baseball players, different things, element, henry wadsworth longfellow, losses, millionaire, next wave, percentage game, perseverance, risk, ships, yeses



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