Both percieved failure and success are not absolute. If you live in a place like Hollywood where a large population lives in the freelance-nature of the Entertainment Industry that has more high-profile hits and bombs in feature films, TV and Internet endeavors than any place I’ve ever lives, there is a quality I’ve seen in the people who have longevity. In fact… if you look a the career of every actor, musician, artist, producer or director, you’ll see most of the time that there is no absolute track-record of success. Even A-list actors make movies that don’t sell lots of tickets and the greatest artists can fall in and out of favor.
I learned early on, having a front-row seat to a whole lot of artists and celebrated talent when I first got to town, that the people who build careers tend to be the ones who stick with it and love it, even if it’s not all falling in their favor. It’s not the fame or acclaim as much as the process and the art that are the drive.
It’s never- or hardly ever- a road paved with apparent perfection.
So, why do some people fade out after a loss and why do some people come back stronger?
What is it that makes success for some despite it all…?
You can look at some people and say they’ve had luck, or they’ve been blessed, or they are connected or anything else, but on a personal level when you look at the trajectory of their lives, they have grit.
Angela Lee Duckworth :
“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Notice that there is work involved. There’s a quality of showing up and deeply practicing. There’s a sense of the long-game instead of just the the short-gain.
I’m sure that lots of people who have grit also have a strong personal vision for the future, I imagine many of them (as it’s always anecdotally told) spend time visualizing their dreams, I bet they do what they can to optimize life for themselves at times…
But, this isn’t really mystical.
Grit is showing up and throwing down. It’s not looking for the faster way to get there at all costs and not making a move till you find it… it’s finding the best ways as you go.
I wonder if we’re draining the grit from society by starting to back off of the idea that it’s worth working hard?
While I love more than anything to share ways to work smarter, to bring more ease into every day, to be more balanced, to support your dreams with your feng shui’d environment and to even eat, breathe and move in ways that allow life to feel far more magical… I am a believer in action.
At the very best of productivity— I spend lots of time eating great food, seeing friends, taking long walks with Bob, doing yoga, and practicing Buddhism. But those days are also packed with reading, writing like mad, designing, talking risks, creating new things, experimenting with ideas, answering tons of emails and pitching things to move life forward. To know me is to know that while I love what I do, I also do more of it than anyone might expect… and I’m just starting in my mind.
When I’ve tried to dip my toes in the philosophy that you should hang out on a beach all day or avoid all unpleasant things (like my day today waiting 7 hours in a city I don’t know for my car maintenance to be done!) and simply stay in high vibes and then – woo hoo- magic will manifest, nothing really awesome “manifests.”
I just lose momentum and feel the interest draining out of life.
I’m not advocating becoming a workaholic or a “super-busy” person for the sake of being busy. I am very certainly advocating the very important quality of plaing the long game and giving a whole lot of passion to your work and dreams, whatever they may be.
First, this quick + awesome TED Talk with lots of observation on the quality of grit can illuminate things. I didn’t realize that this was such a big thing! :
Now, to the simplicity of becoming a little more gritty.
Take some steps onto your path, or any path that calls you. And keep taking steps…
I had ZERO grit when I was living other people’s dreams for my future. After all, if you’re going to dive into a dream and take all the risks and do all the learning, you better feel excited about it… or… at the very least, feel it’s leading you into exciting arenas! It was only when I decided that my feng shui “interest” would be my long game (even though there was no industry for this subject 10 years ago) that I took a job that simply paid the bills and started on the road to all that I do now… and all that I hope for the future.
It was all a series of steps, not a straight line and not even close to a sure thing.
Which leads me to the next idea on grit…
The only “sure things” are things people decide are going to be that way and work to make sure-things.
If I never did anything like this with feng shui- who knew what the future would hold for wellness?- I knew I’d take what I built in knowledge and experience and bring it someplace else and keep going.
That was the only thing I knew for sure— this would lead somewhere.
Everyone I know who is really a model of endurance with a long-track-record of moving forward and sticking with what they love or what they’ve decided is a study in the certainly that all the work would lead somewhere… even if it wasn’t the place it was intented at the start!
All the tools of manifesting and joy-making and living balanced and mindfully… they are all AWESOME… but you still have to show up.
If you want The Law of Attraction to pay your bills or create your career without your actually doing anything, more power to you. If you pull that off, I will be the first to celebrate you!!!
The Law of Attraction is real. If you feel as if things have happened, it will help bring them to life in brilliant ways! But… it’s not complete without action, persistence, feeling every single emotion and doing the work in life…!
It’s funny, I spent a season listening to some Abraham Hicks audios. There’s a lot of fun and humor and interesting perspective in this Law of Attraction philosophy. People ask questions about how to manifest things. Most often, in my observation, people seem to ask how to “manifest” money without doing anything, or by only doing exactly what they want. They hear so much from Abraham (a supposed collection of spirits channeled through a woman named Esther) about needing to stay absolutely the happiest ever or else nothing will manifest that soon they fear the rest of their emotions. They apologize for doubt, they feel guilty talking about feeling bad about things…
Taken to the extreme, if you get too deep in this philosophy dogmatically:
A bad day means… whoa… you’re pushing away money. (this is not true, or there would be no billionaires)
Emotions that fall short of bliss mean that you’re in resistance to the good.
Working isn’t as valuable as purely feeling awesome every day.
If things are a mess, it’s your “vibration”, and not your actions, that need to be looked at…
Can you see how too much of this philosophy can turn life into a fantasy rather than a creation?
Keep going, step-by-step, no matter what… and see what happens!
I prefer to stay in that attractive energy of excitement – and any other emotion, and any other feeling that I could ever feel – and still get out and do things all day, every day.
My perspective that maybe can help you spark more grit and persistence:
Making life happen is a form of art.
Art is super-high-vibe energy, and there’s art in everything we do if we are actively creating it all and not robotically going through the motions.
Creativity is active & it’s awesome!!!
Engage it. Work throught it. Feel it all. Play the long game and invest in building things that matter. Step by step is always awesome.
Create a home – an office- a car- a yard- a patio— that supports your dreams.
Create a lifestyle that supports your dreams.
And keep on going out and making them happen…!
xoxo Dana
P.S.: If you want to make much more abundance-making a big part of your life, The Cash Camp is coming in June , and the FREE 3-video intro series is all about wealth-building in profound and amazing ways. It’s nearly an hour of exercises to shore up your energy, focus and presence to start building more prosperity in every way…!
You can sign to the free video series right HERE!
I’m so excited to share this with you!!!
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