Written by: Andrew David McDowell, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Your stomach starts growling and you look at your watch. Dinner time your mind says. You get up from your couch and run to the refrigerator and open the door. Your heart sinks as you stare into an empty abyss…damn…have to go to the grocery store and restock. You grab your car keys and head for your vehicle to make the 2-mile drive to the grocery store.
Life is Full of Obstacles
You get about a mile down the road when you see a sea of red lights stopped before you. Something has happened that is causing the road to be congested and not moving…keeping you from your goal. You have reached a decision point. Do I keep pursuing my goal or do I give up, turn around, go home, and starve for some period of time? If I keep pursuing my goal, do I wait out this obstacle or do I consider taking a different path to the grocery store? This is an oversimplified analogy, but I want to bring up the point that way too often when working on our goals, we get fixated on what we believe is that only one path exists to success.
The Most Powerful Human Tool is Choice
We set ourselves up better for success when we can establish a mindset from the beginning of our efforts that there are multiple paths to success. What we usually do as humans is to try our first (and only one in our minds) path to our goal and if we don’t succeed, throw our arms up in disgust and start calling it a failure. Soon followed by the negative self-talk about labeling ourselves a failure.
If You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again
We, fortunately, live in a world where a road system has been created that allows for a traveler to have choices about their path to a destination. Some are fast and short, some are long and winding. But you know what? They all get you to your destination! Next time you find yourself establishing a goal for yourself, think about what might be the various paths that can get you to your goal. From this group, pick the path you want to try first. If it doesn’t lead you to the successful achievement of your goal, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try your next choice of a path you thought of earlier. Don’t label it a failure. Label it a learning experience and an elimination of a path. Stay positive in your thoughts and keep your focus on your goal. The only item that was not successful was the path, not you. The only time you should label it a failure is when you give up trying. It is then that you have zero chance of success.
Life is a Journey…Are You Ready?
Life is tough and we often find ourselves with obstacles in our way to our goals and dreams. The best way to success starts at the beginning of our quest for success. It starts with a mindset that there is more than one path to our destination. That failure only exists when we stop working to achieve our dreams…you can’t hit a home run until you step up to the plate and swing at the ball...
Andrew David McDowell, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Andy is an engineer by trade and a creative by nature. He spent 22 years with the Boeing Company, where he always felt more like a life coach than a boss. In 2002, he began his journey into entrepreneurship within a Corporation when he was asked to develop an Airspace Design Consulting business from scratch that would serve the global government market. Andy has a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgia Tech in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Computer Information Systems from Georgia State. Naturally, his aviation work took him around the world and enabled him to work on high-profile projects ‒ such as preparing the Beijing and Sochi Airports for their respective Olympic Games.
