There is a verse that I lean on whenever I find myself in such a situation.
Colossians 3:23. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Whenever I find myself having to take a short-term (hopefully short-term) setback, I have to remind myself of my greater motivation and purpose. Even though you may find yourself in a situation that is not enjoyable, you can still enjoy the situation (seriously).
There are countless stories of people pulling victory from the jaws of defeat. Among some of the more common is the story of Steve Jobs. After Apple forced Jobs to resign in 1985, he started neXT Inc. and Pixar. While you may not know who neXT Inc. is, I am confident you know who Pixar is. Pixar is the animation company that created the revolutionary movie, Toy Story (and made a lot of money doing it). And even though you may not know who neXT is, you know some of their work. It was purchased by Apple in 1996 and many of the neXT projects were integrated into future Apple products.
Shorty after the purchase of neXT by Apple, Jobs returned to his leadership position within the company. He then oversaw the development of groundbreaking products like the iPhone and iPad.
Do you think that Jobs wanted to be in the computer animation business when he purchased the graphics division from Lucas Films? I don’t and that is probably why he sold it so quickly to Disney. Nevertheless, Jobs knew he needed to generate an income to fund his passion.
I have three takeaways from Steve Jobs’ story?
1. Make the best out of every situation and the best is more likely to happen. A loss is not a loss until you give up. Even if you are not always motivated to continue, it is the only way to change your situation. Optimism is the in the DNA of all great agents of change.
2. You don’t need external validation to follow your dream. Jobs wanted to build computers and he was going to do pursue that goal whether working at Apple or somewhere else. Whatever position you want, find a way to take positive steps toward that goal. Stay up later and work in the evening or wake up earlier and work in the morning. Get a certification or go to networking events; just make sure you are concentrating all your personal-time on realizing your goal.
3. You must take risks. Steve Jobs was forced to resign from Apple because they were losing market share to Microsoft. The Macintosh was as unique then as the MacBook is today. As a result, the market needed to be educated on the premium price and benefits of the product. Educating the market takes time and people are going to doubt your ability to succeed. Your passion may require a similar amount of time and you will need to bet on yourself (even if no one else will) somewhere along the journey.
To conclude, you stay motivated by working for something greater than the situation you are facing. If you allow each success to increase your effort and each failure to deter your effort, you are not going to achieve your goal.
The trick is to be content in all situations, without being complacent in any. Keep developing your skills and be willing to sacrifice convenience in the short-term to better position yourself for success in the long-term.
Continued blessings,
Undre Griggs | Be More | Forecast Hope
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