Traits of Success

It has always seemed strange to me ... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system.  And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success.  And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.  John Steinbeck

Success is portrayed as a very difficult climb up a ladder, knocking others down on the way up.  The business world is highly competitive and 'dog eat dog'.  Winners are driven and admired by many.  This attitude never sat well with me.  I much preferred to think of accomplishment as moving not up a ladder, but riding in a train.  At some points of our life, we are in the caboose while other times we may be the engineer of the train.  The bulk of life is spent passing back and forth between the cars, learning with everyone on our own level.  Competition is replaced by respect for diversity and encouragement for each other.  Everyone riding the train enjoys the ride rather than one person sitting on the top looking down upon others.

This morning I caught a glimpse of an article about Phil Mickelson written by Jay Busbee.  I have watched Phil Mickelson both on and off the links.  Anyone can easily see that he is a family man and loves children.  I watched him with a tournament early in his career.  If he made his last putt, he would wear a green jacket, but if he missed, he would lose the championship.  The putt barely made it in and Mr. Mickelson would later credit his grandfather (who had just passesd after years of supporting Phil in the game) for nudging the ball into the hole.  In another championship there was a playoff that would involve extra holes.  Phil walked over to the crowd and asked a young boy if he and his father would like to have front row seats to a professional sports event that night, as he, now, would not be able to attend.  He gives things away to the crowd randomly, and whether in success or defeat, he greets others with a goofy but endearing smile.

In Jay Busbee's article, he says that 'we want those we admire to be laser-focused and monomaniacol.'  He mentions Woods, Jordan, Bryant  have 'raging egos, disconnected reality' and have been publically knocked from their and up on a pedestal.  These examples are in comparison to Phil Mickelson who jokes, smiles, displays compassion ... signs of weakness.    The above mentioned men have fallen off pedestals while Phil has never placed himself up on one. 

Moral of story?  We are our own composers of the life we lead.  We get to choose how we navigate and the atmosphere best supporting us.   We all face challenge and we individually decide whether to climb the ladder or ride the train.