Excerpt from Failing Early & Failing Often: How to Turn Your Adversity Into Advantage
If you are going to stand your ground, you need to know what you stand for. You are what you believe. Believe me, there are times when all you will have are your beliefs. In this section, I share with you the thinkers and philosophers whose ideas are critical to turning adversity into advantage.
Philosophy is meant to be consumed in small sips over numerous days, years and months. You must grow along with the philosophy you are reading and come back to passages over and over again as you make progress on your personal journey turning adversity into advantage. Developing your own system
of thought is not an end goal; rather, it is an ever-evolving process that is guided by your experiences in life. As you conquer one adversity after another, you can put notches into your belt.
In fact, you should never achieve your goals in life. Goals create tension that give you a reason to live. As soon as you achieve a goal— and, in fact, turn that adversity into advantage—the most important word is “next.” What is your next goal? My 81-year-old father told me recently that he is just waiting around to die. This is painful to hear. I wish for him and everyone to find passion and purpose at every age.
Accepting the status quo of your life is dangerous. It holds you back and gives you a false sense of security. Yes, you feel comfort from your status in society. Yes, you feel insulated from struggle. But ultimately, it’s a dangerous mirage. You have let society determine your goals before you own goal has
entered your conscience with the force of law. And, if you let society determine your goals, ultimately, society can take away its approval. Perhaps you will be “canceled” for bad behavior, or perhaps you will be falsely accused and sent to prison. Then, where are you?
As Nietzsche wrote, “To adapt ourselves too early to the tasks, societies, everyday life and everyday work, in which chance has placed us, at a time when neither our strength nor our goal has yet entered our consciousness with the force of law; the all-too-early certainty of conscience, comfortableness, sociability thus achieved, this premature resignation that insinuates itself into our feelings as a release from inner and outer unrest, pampers and holds one back in the most dangerous fashion.”
Failing Early & Failing Often: How to Turn Your Adversity Into Advantage is available on Amazon.com
