Nothing succeeds like success. And nothing misleads like success. I refer to the endless streaming content on success and on successful people.
Why do I say mislead? It is not the success stories that mislead. It is what we focus on in those stories that is unhelpful to our present context. We focus on the habits and practices of successful people. ‘Already’ successful people, if I may say so. That is, the habits and practices of people for whom success is a foregone conclusion. And of people who continue being successful.
The habits and practices do not seem like those of people locked into the struggles of their life. They do not ring true as habits and practices of people at their most vulnerable. Of course, not all habits and practices come across that way. The successful have a few habits and practices, both before, and after success.
In our present context, we are locked into struggles of our own. The already successful inspire me, no doubt. What is more helpful is to feel in my gut the desperation as well as the inspiration of successful people in the defining struggles of their life.
I am vulnerable. Show me how they were too! And share the habits and practices of their most persevering times. What they thought, what they believed, what they felt, and what they did. Just to know that they too walked through the darkness before they saw the light. This will pull me through.
Why are the persevering times skimped over? By most writers and readers. What do you think?