Dan Lier

With the current world uncertainty, the current Economic Summit and even Occupy Wall Street , it can be natural to find yourself temporarily distracted from what you want to achieve and disconnected from your path to success.

As we all know, life is a journey… filled with highs and lows; ups and downs, victories and defeats; yet when you are in the experience, it is easy to get fixated on what’s right in front of your face… meaning the media and talk on the streets.  My goal today is to get you reconnected to YOUR success and on the path to reaching your goals.

We Happen to Life

You know that saying… “Life Happens.”  My challenge to you is to understand the concept and adopt the belief that life doesn’t just happen to us; we happen to life.  We are in control of the meaning of what happens around us.  In one of my recent newsletters, we discussed events and occurrences that are out of our control deserve no worry or focus, as we are not able to change them.  What we can change is how we respond to life.

In Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” his famous quote sums up my thoughts perfectly: “Everything can be taken from a man but… the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.”

So no matter what the current circumstances around us, we can choose our attitudes, our thoughts and our actions – thus the direction of our progress.

Reconnect in Relationships

Reconnecting to success is not just about reaching your next level, it’s about existing on a higher level in life.  Reconnecting to relationships both in business and in our personal lives is essential for our success.  Martin Buber, the twentieth-century philosopher insisted that we can have two opposite attitudes towards others, leading to two very different types of relationships. Buber labeled the two types of relationships as the “I – It” relationship and the “I – Thou” relationship.  In the “I – It relationship, we treat other people as objects and expect something back from each relationship.  In the “I – Thou” relationship, we relate to others out of respect, friendship and love.  In other words, we either see others as objects to use for our selfish purposes or we honor them for their own sake.  Just the understanding of this concept can assist you connect on a different level to your business and personal relationships.

Action Steps

First and foremost, make the decision that life doesn’t happen to you; YOU happen to life.  Take control of how you experience the events around you and get refocused on your goals.  Secondly, make a conscious effort to relate to both business and personal relationships from Buber’s “I – Thou” frame… give them respect and friendship and just by the law of reciprocation, you will get closer to what you want.

Keep Believing  -  Dan