the lukewarm blog: Success Versus Failure

Or it is it a contest between

optimists and pessimists,

in truth...?

They say that it is all about perception

and so this is how you define your level of success.

Is it about being a good honest person

or is every aspect of life to be measured

by pure (sarcasm fully intended here) materialistic gain?

www.exposingthetruth.com

sought the answers to that time-honored one

- and the answers they found,

via vox populis,

kinda sucked eggs indeed...

But not entirely...

Excerpts of FB shares -

totally ad libbed

and totally under the

Fair Use amendment too...!

C. Dawson, a 'Share Information and Data' specialist, commented:

Oh yep just a bit of subliminal bullshitting in there eh?? Unsuccessful people Hoard Info and Data. So if we don't sell out to the corporate machine and tell more powerful people everything we know, we're gonna be unsuccessful. Maybe true, but that's not because of the type of people we are, it's because of the state of the machine. This is crap.

A. Boggs (any relation to great success Wade, I wonder?) added:

I found it very hard to make sense of this myself,

it's certainly contradictory in most aspects to the point that it's confusing.

A. Braksator said something uplifting, in retort:

Pessimists assume the worst outcome first. Open your mind, son. Be optimistic.

R. Neal seconded that - or did he - with this bit:

of course, this is in a "perfect world"

C. H. Ryan ironized:

not in a 'perfect world' just in the manual for trainee human resource workers..

trust me.. as someone who was 'taught' this kinda shit, it's all bollocks.

M. K. I. (initials only - by request) had a LOT to say on this:

I get what you mean, but it's not about selling out. So you have some great idea, of course you don't want it stollen and corrupted. But that doesn't mean you should hoard it. What's the point in having a great idea if you're just going to let it collect dust while you sit there, all anxious and defensive?

Too many great ideas have died that way, with their creators. There's no success in that.

And yes, it does suck that our world today is so corrupt that we have to worry about protecting even the unrealized stuff in our heads. There will always be a readily available population of jerks on the planet. But great ideas? They get rarer every day.

And maybe they'll go extinct, if things keep going as they are.

You just have to be smart about who you share with. That goes for every aspect of life, work, personal etc. I know too many musicians who refused to share their melodies with people out of fear they'd be stolen, even to the point that they never wrote them down.

And then they forgot the songs. Such a waste.

And sure, this may be a 'perfect world' scenario. Like world peace and such, Dalai Lama on how inner calm can save the world. But that doesn't mean you have to try and prove it isn't possible. That's what makes it impossible, people who choose to deny the possibilities. People who are so locked into 'the system' that they spend their lives peeking miserably out of the window

at the sun without ever attempting to open it.

C. Dawson came back to the front for the first of many times:

Yeah I see what you mean, but wouldn't your examples fall under the 'talk about ideas' heading above it? Share Information and (importantnly) Data. Coming from an IT background, this to me is exactly the way I saw it! Sharing data between corporates and marketing mobs to indoctrinate the consumer.

To which all Y. Maranello could add was a succinct...

fuckin A

Then a certain King Drake gave us this:

I think they mean as in networking with those with similar goals and interests... letting others know "Hey! This is what I do, and what I'm into, and if you have any ideas I can help with let me know, and can I count on you for help developing my own ideas? Thanks!" That kind of shit. Not giving out your personal information or giving away your trade secrets.

to which A. Ryan replied with this:

It's a generalization on how to be successful as a human being.

Not something to get all trivial about :|.

You can find contradictions or trivial disputes in just about anything

if you're truly looking for it.

Take note of the picture, try to learn and master yourself.

If you can't do that because of "contradictions" etc..

Then you need to relax, take a step back

and look again with a more open minded minded perspective.

K. DiFiore was next at bat:

Pessimists dont get blind sided by the truth or others as in,,,

"I'm sure he has the best intentions",,,hey where did my watch go?

C. Dawson chimed in again:

lol Kenny good call. In many ways Pessimists do have the upper hand. In many we (yeah, I admit it I'm a pessimistic misanthrope) fail miserably.

OK so more open minded perspective on this (Andrew Ryan, King Drake) I can see how the left is likely to be a far happier individual (my take on 'succes's is happiness, not riches) but the words information and data throw me into fits of conspiratorial rage.

J. Chapa was up next:

I know right!! Look at all the corporations on The Pirate Bay, they LOVE sharing!!!

C. Dawson strikes again:

They'll make damn sure your information is shared to them though.

B. C. Walker walked by:

Really? Then why do the "unsuccessful" people RUN THE FUCKING PLANET.

S. Larsen involuntarily channeled Eddie Guerrero next:

Maybe because they are willing to lie, cheat and steal to get ahead.

And then she added, as to clarify her thought:

It's interesting how some people just want more and more and more,

and they become afraid of losing/sharing that which they hoard,

whilst others share everything and see the joy in sharing

and that there really IS enough to go around.

M. Le Blanc added:

It's all about perception and how you define your success

D. Sherman then confessed this truth about himself:

I'm a bit of both ;-;

J. Mo chimed in for a first of many two cents' worths:

Hmm... unsuccessful people hoard data and information??

That's bullshit, you know that ETT.

C. Dawson raised an interesting interrogation then:

Yeah I often wonder about ETT. A lot of it is unfiltered rhetoric...

J. Mo went off on quite the tangent on this one, too...

That's true.

A lot of what makes successful people and unsuccessful people isn't black or white, though, which is a far more important point that I just realised.

A lot of successful people watch TV every day, secretly hope others fail, talk about people, fear change, and criticise... yet some unsuccessful people embrace change, exude joy (ETT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!), talk about ideas, and, of course, compliment people. Usually.

Exposing The Truth Things are a lot more complex than this image portrays.

I think the author of the image was going for a "successful human" image,

as opposed to success in one particular realm e.g career.

In this scenario, a successful person is someone in touch with their community, interconnected, interested in learning, and striving to do better. Of course reality is more complex than the image implies, but luckily we have comments where people can discuss the ideas.

We create a lot of content, and nothing pleases everyone. It isn´t an empty message, it is a chance to discuss what success means to us, and compare our notions to that of the author of the image.

J. Mo then added some more to that: stating that he could

''see the method in the madness.''

before adding quite a bit more - yet again:

I agree, at least in part, with what you just wrote, being that this picture also doesn't portray reality and only portrays a utopia (of sorts), therefore it's also partially invalid because in addition to the black and white there is also a huge grey box which this picture hasn't covered. I think I can see what you're trying to say with this picture, but there could be a more appropriate picture - with which to say, I have no idea if there is one.

and our friend M. K. I. expanded on that:

I think that what this chart is really about is helping us to recognize traits in ourselves, rather than identifying which people are 'successful'. Unsuccessful people are people who get caught in a cycle of negativity via bad habits (like those described). Of course not everyone will fit these descriptions, and of course there's a grey area (everything is grey, really), but that doesn't change the fact the the characteristics on the 'unsuccessful' side are characteristics that will hinder one's 'success',

no matter how you define it.

Adam H. added his own two cents' worth whimsically enough

with this statement that he made: i think i'm successfully unsuccessful

Hilarious, Adam - keep it up!

Finally, A Rose Among Thorns summarized it all with this lengthy bit:

Actually many people who have the negative traits have been "successful", narcissistic or even psychopaths, not all but some have. It also depends what you define as successful. Some define it only with money but really success can be many things and on a personal level. When I say successful I mean career wise not on a personal or social level. You only need to look at the world leaders and the people in government who have more of the "unsuccessful" traits than the "successful" ones but that's only one definition of success. Like I said define success because we will all differ.

Me?

I say it like it is:

success is not to be bothered with

for what does it accomplish

to win the world

(either to its side

or literally so - if that is possible!)

when one loses one's soul

in the balance.

WHAT DOES IT BRING YOU

to reap everything there is to reap

here, in the ephemeral,