This past week I was fortunate to be invited to work with the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Global Team. During the conference Wolfgang shared his first experience working at a restaurant, and it was a total failure. The head chef told him to leave and never come back and that he would never make it in the culinary world. Of course he was devastated, but instead of quitting, he showed up for work the very next day. Again the head chef kicked him out, but he showed up again and again until finally he was given a job at another restaurant where the head chef simply told him to work hard and do his job.
Wolfgang Puck’s message to the team was success doesn’t always come easy and you will suffer a few setbacks along your journey. The obstacles you face are there to help you decide how bad you really want it.
So many people I come into contact are completely focused on success. They read books about it, attend conferences, conduct seminars, watch videos and essentially do all the can to figure out how to become successful. What’s most interesting to me is that very few are actually willing to do what it takes to be successful…struggle.
It seems that everyone is looking for some secret path or magic formula to achieve their goals and outcomes. Yet if you ask any successful person or someone that has actually achieved amazing things, the first thing they will tell you is that they had to endure an endless amount or failure and struggle in order to get there.
Think about it for a minute. Everyone wants to get the promotion, but most don’t want to put in the extra amount of work required get it. A lot of people want to get out of debt, yet most do not want to sacrifice their caramel lattes to do so. People say they want a fulfilling marriage or relationship, yet many aren’t willing to learn to skills to communicate their needs in order to obtain it.
With success comes a certain amount of struggle. The amount of success you achieve is directly related to the amount of struggle you are willing to endure and ultimately overcome.
Think about a baseball player for a minute. A player that consistently bats 300 is considered to be among the best in the game. Yet being a 300 hitter means you are only successful 30% of the time. That means the other 70% of the time this person will fail. Only those that can struggle through a 70% failure ratio get to be among the elite in the game.
Our lives are exactly the same, yet most of us aren’t willing to struggle through our failures even 10% of the time. When we struggle to achieve or move forward our internal doubter or ass-kicking mechanism shifts into overdrive. We start telling ourselves we aren’t good enough, or things never work out and ultimately talk ourselves out of achieving greatness before we even give it a chance to get started. Sound familiar anyone?
Do yourself a favor and start looking at your struggle as an amazing opportunity to learn something new. Failure is only failing if you fail to learn something in the process. My first business coach said “You never learn anything in this life until you get your head handed to you a couple of times!” So get out there and get your head handed to you.
Believe that you are destined to become a success in every aspect of your life, and welcome the struggle as part of the process that will get you there.
Thoughts for the week:
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. -African Proverb
Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional. -Roger Crawford
Obstacles do not block the path, they are the path. – Unknown
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. -Albert Einstein
You see a mousetrap- I see free cheese and a big problem. -Scroobius Pip
You never learn anything in this life until you get your head handed to you a few times. -Robert Bohlen
Life’s challenges aren’t supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are. –Bernice Johnson Reagon
Looking forward to our next connection
Coach Tim
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