What’s Worth Doing?
“If I’d known this was how it would turn out, I’d never have done it.”
In one day, two clients and a friend said exactly the same thing. Although each of their situations was different, they’d each had an incredibly disappointing outcome after big investments of time, energy, and in one case, money.
We’ve all been there: that stomach-sinking moment when you realize events are not playing out the way you’d hoped. The promotion, relationship, business success, whatever it you’re striving for, isn’t happening. The time invested, sacrifices made, believing it’s worth it, believing that if you work hard, play by the rules, have faith, do the right things, watch The Secret, bend over backwards (fill in your favorite), you’ll reach your goal.
Except sometimes that’s not the way things work out.
And that’s why you don’t want to wait until after the fact to declare you weren’t really willing to take the risk or make those sacrifices.
Things outside your control happen.
My client Margaret spent fifteen months working her tail off for an unreasonably demanding boss who painted lovely pictures of all he would do for her. Bordering on burnout, with virtually no personal life, she was convinced the big promotion and exciting opportunities would make it all worthwhile.
We’ll never know if her boss would have delivered.
As she was eyeing her future and sacrificing her present, her boss left for another job, taking his promises right out the door with him.
Margaret was stunned. “He never even suggested he might leave.”
You never know what the future holds.
That’s part of the adventure, and avoiding risk won’t keep you safe from hurt or disappointment.
But before you trade off today for tomorrow, consider all the outcomes and be sure you’re willing to say, “Whether or not it works out as hoped, this is worth doing.” And that will help you live your day the way you want to live your life.
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” ~ Don Williams, Jr., American novelist and poet
