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Obstacles Actually Help You on Your Career Success Journey


Obstacles Actually Help You on Your Career Success JourneyI’m an online career mentor.

I send my subscribers daily success quotes. I don’t explain the quotes. Instead, I ask readers to think about the quote and how it applies to their lives and careers, and then to do something to put the advice in the quote to work to help them create their life and career success.

For several months now, Annie has been asking me to explain my quotes in blog posts on Jenningswire. I can’t explain every quote, but I will do regular posts in which I share a quote and then give you my thoughts on it.

The quote for April 22, 2014 came from Booker T. Washington…

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”

Tweet 37 in my career mentor book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less says, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Don’t dwell on the negative, use it as a springboard to action and creativity.”

About a million years ago when I was a kid, there was a popular song.  I believe it was a show tune.  A couple of the lines went like this…

You’ve got to ac – cen – tu – ate the positive, and

 e — lim — in – ate the negative

I don’t know the show. If you do, please leave a comment letting us know. I’ll give a free copy of the eBook version of my latest career mentor book, Climbing the Corporate Ladder to everybody who knows the name of the show and shares it in a comment.

I bring up this song because the other day, I came across some S M A R T ideas for managing your life and career that reminded me of it.

  • S          Smash the negative.
  • M         Maximize the positive.
  • A          Act.
  • R          Relax.
  • T          Target your next action.

Sounds a lot like the advice in the song. It doesn’t matter whether you “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative,” or “smash the negative and maximize the positive,” you’ll be on your way to managing your stress and becoming a life and career success.

Stuff happens as you go through life; positive stuff, negative stuff, happy stuff, sad stuff, frustrating stuff.

To Booker T. Washington’s point, you’re going to encounter some obstacles on the road to success. The important thing is not what happens, or the obstacles you encounter but how you react to what happens.

In other words, smash your negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones. Don’t dwell on the obstacles or the negative stuff that happens, use them as a springboard to action and creativity. Maximize the positive in your life by creating positive habits and routines. When something goes well, take the time to celebrate. You deserve it. And, small celebrations when you succeed are a positive habit that will put you in a positive frame of mind, which in turn, will help you create more life and career successes.

I have given away almost 10,000 copies of the eBook version of Success Tweets. I mention this because I’m celebrating. I want to get the positive message in Success Tweets into the hands of as many people as I can. I’m accentuating and maximizing the positive.

The career mentor point here is simple common sense. Successful people follow the advice in Tweet 37 in Success Tweets.  “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Don’t dwell on the negative, use it as a springboard to action and creativity.” Successful people overcome the obstacles life throws at them. React positively to negative people and events and you’ll be on the road to the life and career success you deserve.

Celebrating your small victories is a good way to accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative.

These mini celebrations will help you keep things in perspective and build the resilience necessary for dealing with the tough times and obstacles that will inevitably come your way.

That’s how Booker T. Washington’s quote applies to me, my life and career.  How does it apply to you?  Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.

And, you can receive a free copy of Success Tweets, and my daily success quotes by going to www.SuccessTweets.com and entering your name and email address.

Read more posts by Bud Bilanich, Ed.D., The Common Sense Guy, a career success coach, leadership consultant, motivational speaker, bestselling author and influential blogger for JenningsWire.

 

JenningsWire.com is created by National Publicity Firm, Annie Jennings PR that specializes in providing book marketing strategies to self-published and traditionally published authors. Annie Jennings PR books authors, speakers and experts on major top city radio talk shows that broadcast to the heart of the market, on local, regionally syndicated and national TV shows and on influential online media and in prestigious print magazines and newspapers.