The Pursuit of Success
A man was talking with his life coach about his desire to be successful and how it just wasn’t happening. No matter what he tried, the man just never seemed to reach the goals he set for himself.
The life coach asked, “How badly do you want to be successful?” To which, the man replied “I’d do anything!”.
The life coach said, “Great, then meet me at the beach tomorrow morning, 4 am.”
The man hesitated and with a puzzled look asked, “At the beach? Why? Why so early?”
The life coach responded, “You’d do anything to be successful right?”
“Yes,” the man said.
“Then, I’ll see you at the beach tomorrow at 4 am, sharp.”
The next morning, the man awoke, earlier than necessary, just to ensure he was on time. He wore his best business suit; he was dressed for success. At 4 am, the life coach walked up and said,
“Good morning! Walk out into the water…”
The man stared at the life coach, then looked down at his suit. “Are you serious? he asked.
The life coach himself nodded, and started walking out into the water himself. “Are you coming?”
The man hesitantly followed until the water was waist deep. “This tie is silk…” he said to the life coach.
“Anything, right?” the life coach reminded the man, and they both continued deeper, until the water was up to their shoulders. “Keep going,” said the life coach.
The man turned around to walk back to shore, “You are crazy!” he shouted at the coach.
“Giving up over some water? I thought you wanted to be successful…” the life coach challenged.
The man turned back and looked at the life coach, who patiently waited. He then huffed and walked back to where he was, then took another step forward.
The life coach suddenly grabbed the man by his hair and held his head down, into the water. The man fought, swinging his arms and scratching at the life coach until he drew blood. The life coach held the man under until right before the point of losing him to unconsciousness, then pulled him up.
The man became belligerent and aggressive, charging the life coach – who held his hand up and shouted , “I have 1 question. What was the one thing you wanted to do as I held you under the water?”
The man stopped… “I wanted to breathe,” he said.
“You wanted to breathe… You wanted to breathe so bad you fought for it. You drew blood for it, yes? And after, you were willing to fight me for getting in the way of it, right?”
“Yes,” the man replied.
“Until you want success as badly as you want to breathe… as naturally as you want to breathe, you will always and only be chasing success. We don’t BECOME successful… we ARE successful. We don’t contemplate breathing… we breathe because we must… Until you want success as badly as you want to breathe, you won’t be successful…..
Now, turn around and enjoy this sunrise,” the life coach said, then walked away.
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