The media is constantly reporting story about people who have overcome tremendous hardship and succeeded in the face of adversity. Throughout history we have made it a point use these examples to show that if they can overcome these tremendous obstacles than anyone can. People have come out on the other side of some of the worst situations imaginable: Think slavery (Frederick Douglass), sexism (Amelia Earhart), drug addiction (Eric Clapton), lack of education (Henry Ford),extreme poverty (Bill Clinton), unstable politics (Abraham Lincoln), physical disabilities (Helen Keller), mental disabilities (Temple Grandin), abuse (Oprah Winfrey).
These stories can be inspiring and thought-provoking. They give us a feeling that we want to jump out of our seats and go accomplish something…but often this inspiration wears off pretty quickly. We become addicted to hearing about others overcoming these objections, feigning for the inspiration. But it becomes pretty obvious that a lot of the time it doesn’t make a substantial difference in our lives. Why is this?
The Affluent Handicap. In an effort to provide a blanket-statement for a generation, we are living in a time when we rarely face extreme adversity and live mostly soft, nerfy lives, cushioned from harm. We are never forced to face these dire circumstances. We are drifting silently through mediocrity without anything pulling us very hard in one direction or the other. Looking at these ‘idols’ we think of how incredibly they pulled themselves out of their situations, however, maybe in the grand scheme of things they had it easy.
It became clear to them that they had to make a choice. It was either do something drastic or live a miserable existence, and they couldn’t stand for that. They had tremendous pressure bearing down on them to change and that gave them the energy and persistence to overcome the resistance and opposition that they constantly confronted.
But in the words of Tyler Durden, we have no Great Depression.
We are living in a society that allows us to settle for mediocre jobs with mediocre pay. Bosses we despise and co-workers we force smiles at. There is nothing laying out the black and white options, excel or perish. We are trained to follow orders and stay in line. Don’t ruffle any feathers or make yourself noticed.
Maybe it wasn’t that in spite of these grand obstacles that our ‘heros’ succeeded butbecause of them.
If that’s the case, if it is the opposition in our lives that leads to success, than maybe we need to find a way to manufacture adversity in our lives.
Maybe we need to quit that job, move away from home, break up with that person, drop out of school. Not to do these things for no reason, but to understand that maybe they are holding us back from reaching our potential. We will ultimately learn a lot more about ourselves by breaking out of these chains of bondage that are restricting our movement and momentum.
While these people faced adversities that lead them to freedom, we are going in the other direction, allowing our freedom to transform into adversity. We are slaves to our jobs, never attaining true wealth or a rich life, allowing our bodies to decay from cubicle life, mental attrition from lack of stimulation, becoming addicted to drunken debauchery on the weekends to distract us, abusing our lives
The real crux of the issues is that it is an internal mindset, not an external factor that is the driving force in these situations. However, for the vast majority of us it takes an outside for in order for us to remodel our inside mental software. So if you have the capacity to upgrade your mindset in a way that enables you to channel your energies towards a positive outcome all the more power to you. But it is rarely as easy as it seems, hence why so many of us are destined for quite lives of desperation, as Thoreau eloquently put it.
Motivation can come from many sources but we are almost always influenced by impending doom bearing down on us from an outside force. When we are put in a situation where we are required to act in order to survive, our minds adapt. We rise to whatever level we are forced to compete at. Our physiology affects psychology; we will take action when action is required and because of that we will begin to think like someone who acts boldly and courageously.
Sometimes we need to burn our ships, eliminate all methods of escape and retreat, force ourselves into a corner, pressure us to either fight or die, only then can we know our true power to achieve.
Manufacture adversity if you don’t have it already and compel yourself to fight back against it.
These stories can be inspiring and thought-provoking. They give us a feeling that we want to jump out of our seats and go accomplish something…but often this inspiration wears off pretty quickly. We become addicted to hearing about others overcoming these objections, feigning for the inspiration. But it becomes pretty obvious that a lot of the time it doesn’t make a substantial difference in our lives. Why is this?
The Affluent Handicap. In an effort to provide a blanket-statement for a generation, we are living in a time when we rarely face extreme adversity and live mostly soft, nerfy lives, cushioned from harm. We are never forced to face these dire circumstances. We are drifting silently through mediocrity without anything pulling us very hard in one direction or the other. Looking at these ‘idols’ we think of how incredibly they pulled themselves out of their situations, however, maybe in the grand scheme of things they had it easy.
It became clear to them that they had to make a choice. It was either do something drastic or live a miserable existence, and they couldn’t stand for that. They had tremendous pressure bearing down on them to change and that gave them the energy and persistence to overcome the resistance and opposition that they constantly confronted.
But in the words of Tyler Durden, we have no Great Depression.
We are living in a society that allows us to settle for mediocre jobs with mediocre pay. Bosses we despise and co-workers we force smiles at. There is nothing laying out the black and white options, excel or perish. We are trained to follow orders and stay in line. Don’t ruffle any feathers or make yourself noticed.
Maybe it wasn’t that in spite of these grand obstacles that our ‘heros’ succeeded butbecause of them.
If that’s the case, if it is the opposition in our lives that leads to success, than maybe we need to find a way to manufacture adversity in our lives.
Maybe we need to quit that job, move away from home, break up with that person, drop out of school. Not to do these things for no reason, but to understand that maybe they are holding us back from reaching our potential. We will ultimately learn a lot more about ourselves by breaking out of these chains of bondage that are restricting our movement and momentum.
While these people faced adversities that lead them to freedom, we are going in the other direction, allowing our freedom to transform into adversity. We are slaves to our jobs, never attaining true wealth or a rich life, allowing our bodies to decay from cubicle life, mental attrition from lack of stimulation, becoming addicted to drunken debauchery on the weekends to distract us, abusing our lives
The real crux of the issues is that it is an internal mindset, not an external factor that is the driving force in these situations. However, for the vast majority of us it takes an outside for in order for us to remodel our inside mental software. So if you have the capacity to upgrade your mindset in a way that enables you to channel your energies towards a positive outcome all the more power to you. But it is rarely as easy as it seems, hence why so many of us are destined for quite lives of desperation, as Thoreau eloquently put it.
Motivation can come from many sources but we are almost always influenced by impending doom bearing down on us from an outside force. When we are put in a situation where we are required to act in order to survive, our minds adapt. We rise to whatever level we are forced to compete at. Our physiology affects psychology; we will take action when action is required and because of that we will begin to think like someone who acts boldly and courageously.
Sometimes we need to burn our ships, eliminate all methods of escape and retreat, force ourselves into a corner, pressure us to either fight or die, only then can we know our true power to achieve.
Manufacture adversity if you don’t have it already and compel yourself to fight back against it.