What You Should Do When Success Knocks On Your Door

For most people, success dresses like a stranger.  They don't recognize him through the peep hole.  He wears many disguises.  I have a stack of his calling cards filed away from previous encounters.  Here are some of his aliases:

1. Job layoffs.
2. Illness.
3. Injuries.
4. Poor economic conditions.
5. Challenging bosses.
6. Unemployment.
7. Bad weather.
8. Accidents.
9. Poor forecasts for the future.
10. Uncertainty.

The easy thing to do when the stranger from the school of hard knocks calls on you is to pretend no one is home and hide.  You feel safe under your blankets.  The problem with this choice is that you will be haunted by what could have been if you opened the door and let success come in, take off his coat and stay a while.  Every successful person I know chose to spend time with the stranger.  They learned a lesson that helped them become successful.  It's really simple — Adapt.

Successful people embrace the pink slip.  They make a decision to change careers, start new businesses or go back to school and learn about new opportunities.  When they get sick, they don't give up.  They make lifestyle changes to get healthy again.  The same thing with injuries.  They go to rehab and do what it takes to make their bodies stronger.  Successful people find a way to embrace the stranger knocking on the front door.  They refuse to give up.

Success knocked on my door so many times that I decided to prepare a guest room for him in my home.  I'm not afraid to invite him in because I know the more I get to know him the better I can learn to adapt to all his offerings.  Maybe this year I'll send him a Christmas card and thank him for all he taught me.  What about you?  Are you going to answer the door the next time success knocks?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.