Everything in Life is Relative Except Effort

Winston Churchill who suffered from lifelong bouts of depression failed at just about everything he attempted. He was an unhealthy child, very nearly flunked out of Sandhurst where he was regarded as hardly bright enough to become a cavalry officer. As Minister of War during WWI he sent the British Army to the Dardanelles where the troops met with a military failure of enormous proportions. When he was Chancellor of the Exchequer he helped precipitate the world monetary crisis by returning England to the gold standard.

With bulldog determination to fight back from depression and failure Churchill inspired Great Britain to withstand Germany's constant bombardment when he became Prime Minister during WW II. Churchill who because of his rhetoric and leadership was most responsible for the eventual allied victory said, "Most of the days work is done by those who do not feel very good."

Successful people are often as scared, depressed and frustrated as everybody else. They just don't let their emotions and disappointments get in the way of their steady pursuit of worthwhile goals. There exists plenty of sweat and fear in every success story.

Here are some techniques that fulfilled people use to manage their emotions:

• They turn fear into energy.  Get rid of power draining fear by asking, "What is worst that could happen?"After vividly imagining the abysmal, we can work on preventing a bad result. Instead of focusing what we don't want we can concentrate our time and energy on what it takes to successfully complete a task.
• They act. Because most things worth doing require expanding our comfort zone winners don't wait for everything to be perfect before acting. When we list our ten greatest achievements we often find that most of them---bicycle riding, going to school, skiing, playing a sport, going to college, joining the military, getting a job, moving to a new city, having children---involved overcoming a fear. As the cliche' says, "Just do it." 
• They fake it until they make it. If we wait until we overcome fear, develop a good attitude or gain self confidence we will fail to accomplish anything. We can learn from our mistakes. Try again. Keep trying until we get the results we want.
• They enjoy what they are doing. Enjoyment gives us an energy surge that propels our best effort. Use the Head-on-the-Pillow test. Each night we can ask ourselves, "I just traded 18 hours of my life on what I did today: Am I happy with the trade?  
• They are effort directed. Winners simply put their very best effort into becoming the best they can be. I exercise with two Goliaths who lift four times more weight than I. They put 100% effort into their workouts. I do too. I might lift less but I work just as hard. It's all relative. Everything in life is relative except effort.