You are what you believe

When you feel as though you're mistreated or overlooked, you have choices about how to view what has happened and how to feel inside. Depending on how you perceive how you are treated you determine if its urgent to act or whether it is more prudent to bide your time.

I know a guy who was struggling to ascend the corporate ladder. He felt that he met obstacles every step of the way. Although he was known to do more than was expected, he was criticized by superiors for not achieving enough. Although he was conscientious and significantly increased his sales, he was repeatedly snubbed by co-workers who nabbed some of his clients. Although he was diligent and submitted reports on-time, computers would crash and digest precious documents before his big presentations. Still, he kept a cool head, remained open to learning, and told himself all his hard work would pay off. He didn't harbor pain or negative feelings. He decided every experience was meant to reveal useful things.

Time passed, some of his dishonest peers were promoted to the next level but he wasn't. Still, he refused to be discouraged. He simply told himself that he was meant for something more suitable and had to be patient. Rather than dwell on what he wasn't doing, he focused on what he was doing, only better than before. He decided reasons exist for everything and if he wasn't ready to understand why he was where he was, then he wouldn't have opportunities to go anywhere else. It made sense. He accepted he had more learning to do and focused on that.

When directors decided to organize a huge company expansion, they were prepared to take calculated risks.  He was approached personally to head a brand new division. Directors were taking a leap of faith with their business projections, but they also had faith this was an appropriate role for their promoted employee.  He had waited and opportunity knocked.  The responsibility he was given rewarded the energy and attention he had devoted to previous posts.

Rather than rest on his laurels, he chose to give regular motivational talks on the side.  He reasoned that being open to learning what we do wrong is actually an opportunity to get better. He chose to believe it’s a blessing to be told what we're not meant to do, because that brings us that much closer to discovering what we are.  He learned that wasting energy complaining about what you're not is actually distracting you from getting-to-know who you are.  Fulfillment is innate. Think positively and how you view your life changes.  After all, you are what you believe.