Pray. Don't Eat. Fail.Try Again.

We've heard it, read it, thought it, shared it, and known it for most of our lives. It takes time to be successful at anything. A lot of time. And work. No one gets to be successful without scars to prove their journey. We all get smacked on the side of the head when we least expect it and life isn't always chocolates and rainbows.

It took you a while to get good at what you do now. But are you doing what you truly love? Are you doing something that you love more than you love yourself? Have you found your purpose? How do you define what success means to you?

Imagine your work becomes world renowned

You could become Barton Fink – the fictional character who suffers debilitating writer’s block trying to recreate your success – or you could be Elizabeth Gilbert.

In 2006, Gilbert wrote Eat Pray Love that spent 199 weeks on the New York Times best seller list, became a movie in 2010, and made her a success beyond the dreams of most writers. Then she had two choices and explains how failure can mean success.


__________________________________________________________________

Fail. Create. Succeed.

We've heard it, read it, thought it, shared it, and known it for most of our lives. It takes time to be successful at anything. A lot of time. And work.

It took you a while to get good at what you do now. But are you doing what you truly love? Are you doing something that you love more than you love yourself? Have you found your purpose? How do you define what success means to you?

Imagine your work becomes world renowned

You could become Barton Fink – the fictional character who suffers debilitating writer’s block trying to recreate your success – or you could be Elizabeth Gilbert.

In 2006, Gilbert wrote Eat Pray Love that spent 199 weeks on the New York Times best seller list, became a movie in 2010, and made her a success beyond the dreams of most writers. Then she had two choices and explains how failure can mean success.


__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

TED | Elizabeth Gilbert

Radiohead or Barton Fink?

Elizabeth Gilbert who authored the wildly successful Eat Pray Love admits that she may never replicate that accomplishment for the rest of her life. She adds that it doesn't mean she won't find satisfaction and passion from the rest of her work.

Playwright Barton Fink had some success but fell apart when he was forced to create the next great American work. The Coen Brothers' story gets weird from there (no surprise) but Fink personifies the fear every writer has within. Will he write another successful work? Is her biggest success behind her?

OK Computer or The Bends?

Music purists argue over Radiohead’s finest hour. All measurements of commercial success point to the fact that the band has never reached the level of achievement they had with two iconic albums.  Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief are also fine works and I'm certainly glad the band didn't decide to pack it in and measure success with metrics from earlier milestones.

And when you can look at your successes, perhaps you worry if the good times will continue. Companies attempt to recapture former glory all the time and few achieve it. But the bigger question is, why do we do it? Why do we point to a single event in our careers or businesses and use it as a barometer for the rest of our work? Why do we think that future success - though different - can't be just as or even more satisfying?

Dump and Roll

One of my mentors once explained that he would toss early. He knew himself well enough that if an idea was struggling after a few passes, he’d leave it to fend for itself. Some came back, some went away.

When you’re experiencing business or leadership best sellers, celebrate them. But understand that to replicate the past will require a time machine and a bunch of luck. It’s how we grow with wins and losses that make us stronger.

Try Learn Grow

There are negative events in your past that you can point to as leadership growth spurts. They may not have felt so at the time but with reflection you can see that you needed them to get closer to your next win.

Any great leader will have a long list of events that didn’t go their way. That’s why they can navigate through the set backs and successes we all experience. That’s why they are leaders. And the essence of leadership is helping people who are flawed, make mistakes and find solutions just like you.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, best sellers and writer’s block come with the territory. It's what you do with them that counts.

Kneale Mann

threehundredpages

Creativity and Making a Difference

There is a theory that states we do things for one of three reasons: to make a living, to make a name for ourselves, and to make a difference. It is possible to do all three. We can all make a difference in our lives and the lives of others far beyond the grand gestures we measure on the world stage.

Success is a strange beast. We strive for it yet we fear it won’t return. When things don’t seem to go our way, we feel success may be unattainable yet when we experience it, we worry it won’t replicate.

Elizabeth Gilbert is a gifted writer who gained worldwide notoriety after toiling with her passion for two decades. Three years ago, she reflected on the success of her book "Eat Pray Love" during her TEDTalk and how she felt about whether it would return. Her perspective may surprise you.


Kneale Mann

TED | Elizabeth Glbert
Click here to book an initial complimentary 30-minute consultation