John was a brilliant engineer and inventor.  His company, a start-up in Silicon Valley hired him to create a semi-conductor product that would significantly beat the competition. He had been a super star inventor at another company in a different industry and the new company figured he could create great things for them as well.

There was a problem, however.  He had done so well with his former company, that when it was time to perform in his new job, he seemed to have lost his edge. He thought that the answers were going to come as easily as they had before, and they hadn’t. His new ideas were met with resistance from the owners. Nobody liked what he came up with, and he, too, realized that what he was coming up with was just no good.

So what did he do? He quit trying. Oh, he kept working at his job, but he began to settle. The other engineers in the department kept working at creating new products, and soon, they outperformed John. John just watched them move ahead as he resented their success. He lost interest. His passion was gone.

Let’s face it — Life is a challenge. Life isn’t about winning. Life is about growth. When we are constantly working with our talents and strengths, we are growing. We go to the gym to make our bodies strong. We take classes to exercise our minds. We practice our skills over and over again in order to get better. When we realize that all growth opportunities are within ourselves, then we never need accept defeat.

“Failure is a state of mind,” says U.S. Anderson, author of the great book, The Magic In Your Mind. So what if you’ve sent in 100 job resumes and you’ve gotten rejected 100 times? Send another 100, but this time change something. So what if you are on your 10th relationship and it still isn’t working? Figure out what hasn’t worked and change yourself for the next one.

Don’t worry about your present life. If you don’t like it, find a way to change it. Just keep growing. That, ultimately, is what life is all about!

Step 5 – Do What Prospers You!

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