Sweet Success!
Written on 7:28 PM by O
I buy Starbucks coffee for the quotes on the cups. Most people don’t even know they are there but the first thing I look at when I receive my cup of Macchiato is the little quote right above the warning: “Caution: The beverage you are about to enjoy is extremely hot” or something along those lines. One of my favorite Starbucks collected quotes says: “Failure’s hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you’re successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever.”-
I thought about it when I saw it and remembered a poem from high school that started: “Success is counted sweetest by those who know the least.” The imagination of success especially that which is within your grasp is a blissful thought. But sometimes, this fore-taste becomes a hindrance to the real deal. Even worse is the fate of being successful at the wrong thing and allowing other people’s ideas of what you could be drive you to make choices in which you will excel but find no fulfillment. And like the quote, the enjoyment of the sounds of applause from yesterday’s accomplishments can cause one to lack motivation for today’s work.
Today, like many other Monday mornings, many woke up and were motivated to go to work only by the adverse consequences of not going. Bills stacked high and buried in debt, one settles into a routine that he is forever bound by. And perhaps the pop band Switchfoot says it best when they say: “We were meant to live for so much more, have we lost ourselves?” Perhaps we can blame fear for the choices we make, and for me, perhaps the fear of not succeeding is hardest. Question is: what if I do? I know there’s more to life and I’m reaching for it at all costs. My small success: studying for my MCAT consistently.
How much is today’s applause worth to you tomorrow?
