Is What is Meant to be Really Meant to Be?

Is What is Meant to be Really Meant to Be?

Rags to riches stories are those stories that Hollywood screenwriters dream of. We love them. They make us feel good and on a subconscious level they do make us believe it can happen to us.

Operating at the margins seems to be where most us live. At least in our thoughts. Most of us are usually too far to one side than the other. Middle ground doesn't exist. This is perhaps a cultural thing. Conditioning we've succumb to as a direct result of all these films.

We tend to over estimate what we know and how good we are at something. At the same time, we tend to underestimate how great we can be. We all have incredible untapped potential. How is this possible? Bill Gates says it best. He once said, "People tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in ten." The other sage Warren Buffet has his own saying with reference to time. When asked why more people don't follow his investment advice considering it will definitely yield  results, he stated, "Because people don't want to get rich slow."

One thing is certain and this was probably the case even before technology had us wanting things at warp speed, we tend to believe things that are supposed to happen will just simply happen, if they were meant to be.

This is something heard frequently in many circles of varying disciplines. What tends to get lost frequently in the noise is the grind. People don't scale Mount Everest because they were born to. There is a small segment of the population that believe they can will things to happen. Athletes, entrepreneurs, and some others. The thing is, these types have this confidence because they put in the work.

 Work is a term used in physics. It is the transference of energy from one place to another. A force is acting and upon application creates a point of displacement in the direction of the force. How many of us are truly putting in the work to move energy?

Back when I had an interest in acting I had the privilege of hearing Steven Soderbergh speak and he said something that still resonates with me twenty some odd years later.

He said, "Randomness and luck determine when you get your break, but your work and development of your skills keeps you working. There are loads of people who have had their break that have gotten lost."

I know for a very long time I had the lottery mindset. The fast track mindset. The want it right away mindset. The I will bust my ass once it happens mindset. I have luckily been able to change mindsets and now believe the inverse to be true. Put the work in, bust your ass and watch as things fall into place as your create what is meant to be.

Technology makes us lazy. It just does. The television remote control should have foretold this when it first came out decades ago. Getting things quickly without work eliminates both anticipation and appreciation. When these are lost we can't help but become entitled and this creates and even nastier cycle of wanting things without working. Its almost a technological welfare mindset. Only by rolling up those proverbial sleeves and getting dirty will be able to build skills and mastery and be ready for our break when it happens. What is meant to be will be only if we put in the work.  



#elliotyi
#paradigmleft
#habits
#mindset