You Were Created to Thrive – Not Be a Victim

There is a big difference between a victim and a winner. Victims see things the way they are and think they will always be that way, because uncontrollable forces are acting upon them. But winners have a different attitude, especially about failure and trying something new to see if it works better. They know one of the most important things we can ever know: they know that they can learn.

If your hope lies in your abilities, then you are on precarious ground. If your dream works out because you are able to accomplish it successfully, then all is well. But if you put everything you have into your dream, and it doesn’t turn out well, where is your hope then? You have come to the end of your ability, and there is nothing there but failure.

But if you have in your toolkit another instrument of hope – your ability to learn – then nothing seems hopeless. If you can’t accomplish your dream now, you can learn how to do it. Winners think this way every day, and it is not just some form of self-esteem jargon; it’s something much deeper than that. It is hope in the very nature of the way the universe was created and our relationship to it. It’s like having hope in gravity.

Humans were created with the ability to learn in a more complex way than any other creature. We can observe what we need to know to accomplish a goal, and then we can pursue that knowledge. We can learn with a purpose in mind. You were given the ability not only to achieve the purpose, but also the ability to actually do the learning required to achieve it. You can learn to do what you need to do.

A couple can learn to communicate.

A depressed person can learn to overcome depression.

A parent with a child out of control can learn how to discipline effectively.

A person without a career can learn a new skill.

A person with a weight problem can learn how to lose weight and keep it off.

A person who gets a bad job review can learn to do better.

A person with a pattern of failed relationships can learn the relationship skills that are needed.

A person who picks bad people over and over can learn why that happens and how to spot the bad ones.

When you know that you can learn, you don’t need to feel stuck. You can see failure as a step in getting to the end point because it shows you that there is some kind of information or skill or wisdom or knowledge that you need to learn in order to get there. And because you believe you can learn, you’re not hopeless, but empowered.

If you believe that finding the wisdom needed for a certain situation will reveal an answer, then you will always have hope in the power of learning. It’s a lesson that will serve you for the rest of your life.