In The Slight Edge, Jeff Olson says his greatest secret to success is to be here one year from now. We can apply that to every area of our lives where we may be striving for more or better—our health, our relationships, or our work.
As long as we’re keeping our heads and bodies in the game, learning the lessons and persevering consistently, we will seldom fail. For most things, failure can only occur if we quit. Many of the greatest successes over the centuries were preceded by numerous failures that did not deter the person from trying one last time. All their efforts, not just the last try, led to huge success.
I love that advice and I believe it. I also would have to add that one of the greatest tips for success is to be here now. We’re not promised tomorrow anyway. If I live for an outcome in the future, I can miss what’s happening in the daily process. I can miss the joys and disappointments along the way.
In Finding the Gift, I share the realization that most of our lives are spent on the way to various mountaintops. Rarely do we stay at any peak for long before the next goal, obstacle or challenge forces us to continue our journeys in search of a new mountaintop.
We might say, “Well of course I don’t want to miss out on any of the joy, but why would I want to be fully present for the disappointments?” Life serves us lessons, often the same ones over and over to give us the opportunity to really get it. If I’m disconnected from all that is happening now because I'm narrowly focused on my destination, I won’t fully grasp all the lessons at hand.
I heard a compelling metaphor recently about how a car battery has a positive and negative charge. Can it run on just a positive charge? No. The power comes when both charges are working together. We can’t deny the power that a negative charge brings. We can deny it, but denying it doesn’t make it not true. I find it works better to look for the lesson in what appears to be a negative and ask myself how it's fueling my next phase of growth.
Getting and staying present is a gift that we give ourselves and the people in our lives. To truly get all of the gifts today has, I must make an agreement with myself to be present, to be here now.
A day fully present in reality, receiving my blessings and lessons, and adding value to other people’s blessings and lessons are my secrets to success. Have I achieved that success? That’s a day at a time question, but it’s a great question to ask ourselves at the end of each day.
Being present, being here right now is my highest goal. Everything else is secondary because if I don’t achieve that one, I’ll miss the fullness of anything else.
