OVERCOMING OBSTACLES —WORKTHROUGHS & WORKAROUNDS

ARE YOU ON THE PATH TO SUCCESS?
The American Heritage Dictionary defines "Success" as "the attainment of something planned, desired or attempted." Thus by definition, you cannot have success without having first planned, desired, or attempted something. We all desire things—that comes naturally. From basic needs to extravagant luxuries, we are all, as humans, familiar with the experience of desire. Occasionally, even without plans or directed effort on our part, something happens along that fulfills one of our desires.
When this occurs, we consider it a successful event—or, if we recognize that it occurred randomly despite our lack of planning and effort, we more accurately call it a "lucky event." Most of us, however, are not satisfied with the random satisfaction of occasional desires dependent upon luck.
We want to take our fate into our own hands, at least to some extent, and thus we make plans and expend effort attempting to obtain the things that we need and desire. Without planning and effort there can be no real success—only occasional luck. Thus, to be on the path to success, you must have a plan and you must expend effort. You must set goals and you must plan the efforts you will invest to obtain those goals. How carefully you plan and how faithfully you direct your efforts in accordance with your plans determines how successful you will be. This is as true in Internet marketing as it is in any aspect of life.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXPECTATION AND FRUSTRATION

Frustration, in this context, is the feeling of discouragement that we experience when our expectations are not met. Frustration is an unhappy feeling of helplessness when our actions are not leading to our goals. Frustration saps our motivation. It makes us less likely to continue our efforts to reach our goals, whatever those goals may be.
We set our expectations when we set our goals. If we set our expectations unreasonably high, we are setting ourselves up for frustration. If we set our expectations based upon what we expect others to do for us, rather than upon what we intend to do for ourselves, we are also setting ourselves up for frustration.

While we have no real control over what other people do or don't do, we can control our own actions. Thus, we should set our goals based upon reasonable expectations of what we can expect to achieve for ourselves through our own efforts and our own determination. As we achieve these reasonable goals through our own self-reliance, we gain confidence. With this confidence, we can then set higher and higher goals. Ultimately, it is truly astounding what can be accomplished when this path is followed.

ENJOYING THE CHALLENGE

While it is beyond the scope of this nuts-and-bolts course on Internet marketing to delve much into philosophy, psychology, or spirituality; a couple of additional points do merit brief mention here: First and foremost, you should have fun with your challenges! Life without challenges would be thoroughly boring. However, we don't have to worry about that because there will never be a time as long as you are in this world when the challenges stop coming. Eliminating obstacles and challenges from ever arising again is not the secret to success—no one ever accomplishes that.
If you are waiting for the obstacles and challenges to stop coming so that you can be successful and happy, you will always be waiting...and will never be successful or happy. When you learn to find success and happiness despite constant obstacles and challenges, you have indeed found the secret.

POSITIVE THINKING

The other "secret" to success is to understand the power of positive thought. The first step to successful action is thought. If you can succeed in your mind, you can succeed in the world. If you believe you can overcome your obstacles and challenges, you will overcome them. If you believe there are opportunities for you, you will find opportunities—even in the worst of situations. The secret to success is to think successfully. Use the power of your thoughts to plan your success. Then, use the power of your thoughts to fortify your belief in your plan. Anticipate obstacles and challenges. Enjoy the efforts involved in overcoming them. Never give up. Make it happen!