“Get out of your own way.” — U2
Last week, my mind got temporarily blown when I learned that the humble lemon — gastronomic garnisher, housekeeping must-have, and Tequila’s favourite friend — is actually a hybrid of bitter orange and citron.
Because you know what this means now, good people:
Life never gave us lemons;
we invented them all by ourselves.
(Bada-boom-chh.)
I did get to thinking about how we’re sometimes our own worst enemy. Whether it’s deliberate busyness (“I think I’ll Marie Kondo my underwear drawer instead…”) or that horrid inner monologue of doom (“You’re going to fail, they’re going to laugh, you’ll lose all your money.”), we get really inventive when it comes to staging our own stumbling blocks. Part of it is possibly due to the lack of courage, maybe the lack of planning, and definitely inertia. But we don’t do ourselves any favours when we invent our own reasons to fail spectacularly before we begin.
Here’s the thing — just as we are usually the architects of our own failures, we are also the architects of our happiness and success. “Positive thinking” can sound really trite today, but studies have shown that 50% of our success is due to genetics (natural talents, instincts. etc), 10% due to circumstances, and a whopping 40% due to our personal choices.
Forty percent. That is a lot. That is make or break.
So choose to “get out of your own way”. And as they say, it’s simple, but it ain’t easy. But even if it all begins with something as fundamental as a crucial shift in your attitude and mindset, at least you’re headed in a better direction.
