A common characteristic of high achievers is they are very much attached to the outcome. They bring 100% of their focus, time, and energy – essentially all of who they are – to the vision. This is an important ingredient in creating big, impressive, transformational things.
And yet, setbacks are inevitable, and things rarely work according to plan. This creates a lot of frustration and stress along the way.
This begs a powerful question:
How do you attach to an outcome, often necessary to bring a vision into fruition, without becoming rigid and failing to adapt when things don’t go according to plan?
I was discussing this with one of my mentors recently because I was struggling with my mindset around a recent setback. He reminded me how important it is to recognize the impermanence of everything. Recognizing that, he said, is the key to peaceful co-existence with my ambition.
Unpacking that a little bit: Initially, the thought that everything is impermanent, and therefore nothing (good or bad) lasts for very long, is disheartening. The longer you sit with the idea, though, the more freeing it becomes. Have a bad month, a slow start to the year, or a big setback? Just wait. It will shift the other way.
For those of you who think this feels a little like passive fence-sitting and are wondering, isn’t the vitality of life expressed through the high highs and low lows? Yes. I think so.
Though I believe happiness is achieved by recognizing, even embracing, the universal truth.
This too shall pass.