Sarah Conner
As I left work today, stepped out the door and into the night a line from Terminator 2 crept from somewhere in the back of my mind and slipped from my lips. I said it not once, not twice, but three times. Each iteration resonating stronger and stronger. Where it came from I don’t know, but why it came I know quite well.
‘No fate but what we make.’
Our lives are in our own hands. We don’t choose whether or not we are going to be successful, we chose whether or not we are going to make the sacrifices and work to get what we want. Success is a product of effort.
Unfortunately this is not all you need to ‘make your fate.’ You need some kind of plan, a direction, a goal. All the effort in the world won’t get you anywhere unless you know where you want to go.
No where have I seen this exemplified better then my company. For almost two years I have worked with, watched, and tried to help my company make its fate successful but to no avail. Our products are fantastic and once witnessed are able to sell themselves but there is something keeping us back, something very important.
Our guiding light, ‘SELL!’ Do we have a goal in which to attain, no. Is there some destination we are trying to reach, not that I have seen. Do we have a plan to get there, very doubtful. Two years of watching dedicated people try and ice skate uphill has put some wisdom in my head.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in the ‘bad plans carried out with great gusto have a good chance of succeeding’ but the key is that you need a plan.
‘No fate but what we make’ means knowing what you want, what you are willing to do for it, and then putting in the work to get it.
My company has been a great example to me, a fantastic place to see what I should and should not do. I am sure there are many people out there with similar experiences, slapping your foreheads in frustration watching the cogs turn endlessly but don’t give up, learn from it and move on.
I know that I will.
Only in Japan.
