The Paradox of Why Success Is Only Rented and Never Owned

In a sales job with quota, every month the scoreboard gets reset to zero.

If you’re having a bad month, you can’t wait for the calendar to roll over and start fresh. If you had a great month, the glory is ever so fleeting before you have to do it all over again. In a broader sense, the world we live in is very much oriented toward “what have you done for me lately?”

Success isn’t owned, it’s rented; and rent is due every month.

In that sense, momentum can be a real bitch sometimes. One moment we’re flying high and the next its like we’ve never known happiness before. This past month was a rough one for my team, and I felt defeated by taking it on the chin.

But there are encouraging signs.

I used to make a lot of excuses. I used to complain a lot. As a result, I used to come up short a lot.

I used to want the rewards immediately. And if they didn’t come quickly, I’d quit. I guess used to do (and not do) a lot of things.

Not anymore. Getting healthy again and writing every day have brought incredible clarity to my life. And I now know that while these are all markers along the path, greatness really lies not in where we are, but rather in what direction we are going.

So when we find ourselves in the dark forest, all we can do is take the next step.

Stay on the path. Stay in the fight. Keep getting better.

And live triumphantly.