How can you say you’re successful if you’re at least somewhat wrong half of the time? It’s hurricane season for the USA and other parts of the world, and over the weekend several parts of the eastern US experienced some serious rain and other weather related to one of these seasonal storms. But in the days leading up to and since then when one checked the weather apps and sites and watched the coverage, the predictions and reality were sometimes far different. And I think many people take the weather reports, to use a phrase, with a grain of salt, because they’re not really all that accurate. Sure they’re great to give you a genearl idea of what the weather might be the next day or warn that it might be a good idea to prepare for possible storm activity, but they’re not right every day or all the time. And yet there are people around the world who get paid to be just as right as they can be when it comes to the weather. I do understand that we’re talking about something that’s definitly unpredictable in Mother Nature, but no one is getting fired over poor predictions from this past weekend.
Another great example of this situation is with science, especially in the medical fields where people are trying to come up with understanding and cures for all kinds of illnesses adn conditions. I don’t know how many tries it took to come up with the vaccines that the world is using right now as part of fighting this pandemic, and they’re not even 100% effective at preventing people from getting ill or catching it, which means that they’re not as fully successful as they could be. Not to mention they’ve been looking for cures to the various cancers for decades and they still aren’t able to help people heal all the time, and some cancers are more likely to be fatal than they can be cured.
I agree that it’s helpful to have a general idea of the upcoming weather and to be mostly protected against serious illness and death from a virus, but why aren’t we as forgiving and flexible in other areas? Why isn’t an “A” for effort calculated into the definition of success in areas of school and relationships and careers? Yes, some things require us to be more careful, precise and give focused attention like surgery, driving, and handling weapons, but even in these situations it’s not too likely that things go 100% wrong.
So today we’re looking at two very different sides of the success story. First, to choose to patience, forgiveness and flexibility over being right or perfect every time because life is messy and isn’t always lived in a straight line. And second, to commit to being more accurate because with all the technology, resources, collaboration opportunities and advances that have happened, we shouldn’t [need to] fail as often, especially in big ways that cost lots of people their lives. What parts of your life need more accuracy of success or patience in success?