A recent conversation I had really made me think about what was different about those people who are successful and those that are not. If you ask 10 people you are bound to get 10 different answers. But the chances are none of them are going to really be the difference between the two. In fact you will probably hear a few answers that come right out of a motivational speaker’s latest book, it’s their power to manifest, it’s their superior attitude, it’s their ability to work smarter not harder. While these may be true it’s not the reason they are successful. You will also inevitably hit the comments such as, “They are just lucky” or “They were privileged” or the inverse, ”They never faced oppression or adversity” These aren’t the main difference either. In truth these later responses aren’t even in the ball park, they are simply the noxious ideas of those who cannot admit that others have done what they could not.
No the real difference between those who are successful and those who are not is their willingness to remain open to possibility and seize opportunities that present themselves. There are countless stories of people who have come from tremendous disadvantage only to lift themselves up and achieve an incredible amount of success. One popular TV personality arrived in the U.S. as an illegal immigrant who didn’t speak the language; today “The Dog Whisperer” can be seen several days a week on the National Geographic Channel showing people how to deal with their dogs. You might be tempted to think that this is an isolated example, not likely to happen again, but if you search you can find people coming from all over the world and becoming successful. Some of these people have escaped war, imprisonment, or persecution but today they stand as examples of what is possible if one only takes advantage of the opportunity that is all around us.
Attributing these people’s stories to luck is a disservice to them and their struggle. If you listen to their stories what you will find instead is a willingness to take a chance, and a tenacity to keep trying to make their lives better. They are not worried about not getting the breaks others may have had, they are not concerned that with the obstacles they must face. They simply saw an opportunity to make their lives better and they took it. Some working in conditions and against obstacles that the modern American would turn their nose up too and decide it wasn’t worth it. The trouble is these same people go on to spread their poisonous views about success not only to strangers but their children and thus create another generation of people unwilling to see the opportunity right before their eyes.
Whether it’s the person who took a popular packaged food item, printed instructions in Spanish on the package and sent it to Mexico creating an annual income in the millions, or the immigrant from Iran who came to America with nothing but end up making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in the financial services industry, they all have similar stories. They saw an opportunity and they took it.
There is a reason why America is called “The Land of Opportunity” and each day immigrants are taking advantage of this opportunity. Even people as far away as India and China have found that they can share in the opportunity of the US, in fact are beginning to create that opportunity in their own countries. The sad thing is that right here in America people would rather complain and curse about others success than simply take the initiative to grasp the opportunity right in front of them and make something of themselves.
It is my sincere hope that you do not allow this false reality to distract you from the opportunity that you are bound see if you only look for it.
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