Are You Allergic to Success?

(An adaptation from a business article) Success allergy? How can that be? Success is a concept, not something you eat, drink, wear or come into a physical contact with. Even so, it does appear that a large number of people just may be allergic to success. Perhaps, not in the sense that you have physical presentation like a rash, stuffy nose, watery eyes, swelling or inflammation when you come in contact with success. An allergic reaction to success is much more subtle. Success is an abstract concept and has a different meaning for every individual. The most common measure of success is dollars and cents. Money is concrete. You can see it, feel it, touch it, hear it, smell it and taste it, if you really wanted to, but most importantly, you can count it. How much money you have, how many "things" you own or how many people you can influence are generally considered determinants of success. For those on the life recovery journey, the measurable may include money, but go way beyond. When you think about success and what it means to you, pay attention to the type of reaction that you have. Allergies have been defined as: - an abnormal reaction to something that is normally harmless. Because success is a concept the symptoms of an allergic reaction present in very subtle ways. Think of a success allergy as an irritant that is holding you back and preventing you from achieving your concept of success. Let's take a look at a few success "allergens":nnGoals Obscure goals like "I want to make a lot of money" can never be reached. "A lot" means something different to everyone. $5 is a lot to someone who has nothing and $1 million is never enough. Obscure goal foil success.nnKnowledge I don't know how to do that, nobody told me what to do, I don't know where to look, I don't understand, I can't write. Yet you can seek knowledge.nnConfidence I could never do that, it's too hard. There is too much to learn. Why does this have to be so hard? Lack of self confidence blocks success.nnTask Management Does your heart race and your palms sweat when you think about asking for help? Do you put off doing tasks that would move you forward? Not addressing tasks ruins success.nnTime Management At the end of the day you look at all the things you didn't do, but you had time to watch TV. Not managing time, and understanding time takes time, will foil success.nnResponsibility Who is building your life? Blaming others for poor results, not learning what you need to learn won't help. Not responsible for you? You fail.nnCommitment You say you are going to do one thing and either don't do it or do something different. You make promises that you can't, don't or won't keep. You fail to meet your commitments to you. There is no success without commitment. An abnormal reaction to something that is normally harmless! Each of the previous points are not only harmless they are essential to success if you have the correct reaction. When you hear yourself saying or doing any of these examples, you may be suffering from an insidious success allergy. Time to pull up your boot straps and start taking your life journey seriously. Take control and stamp out your success allergies. Generally a brick and mortar business can take between 2 - 5 years to turn a profit and statistics show that most traditional business ventures do not even make it to two years. (Sound like traditional recovery?). Can you reasonably expect to build the life you truly want any faster? Expect to spend 2-5 years building your life. It takes time to build a skill base and new habits. It rarely, if ever, happens ove ight. Take responsibility for your action or inaction. Strategies are emerging online. Instead of isolating yourself, you can align yourself with a team that has the same goals as you do. Working with a team can enhance all of your life building strategies and speed up your learning curve. Do not confuse working with a team dedicated to your success to mean that everything will be done for you. There are no free rides in life. There are no teams who will support you unless you participate and do your part to support the team. It makes sense to pool your talents and resources to maximize everyone's efforts. It is a key to fully appreciate that you have talent! To work effectively within a team there has to be trust. If you don't trust the people that you are working with then you are probably on the wrong team. Open communications and an atmosphere where team members can ask questions, give or get feedback about the goals of the journey is essential. The Creative Theory of Life Recovery builds on what is there now and working for some. In addition, by giving you a holistic plan and wide ranging new habits, it will help you overcome your allergy to success over the long haul.