Re: Deserve Victory

2009-03-13

A while back I wrote about this motto I have, "Deserve Victory". I recently read another one of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (Faith of the Fallen - "available" here), although it was out of order of the series. It did make me think of broader meanings for the phrase though, and I would like to share that in this post. They roughly separate into the stages of committing to an act, acting, and reflecting after the act.

"Your life is yours alone. Rise up and live it."

As I said before, "deserve victory" doesn't mean "I deserve victory". It means "work to deserve victory" - that victory does not come flying into your arms. Victory can be taken as whatever is desired: happiness, fame, fortune, a good job, etc. Especially for happiness, if you are not happy now, sitting on your ass and waiting will not change that fact. Act to change the circumstance, and find that happiness. You are responsible for your victory, and it's time to make yourself deserve it.

Another way to look at it is as a challenge: you think you deserve victory, so prove it. Show the world why you deserve it, and then you'll get it.

Do not accept defeat.

It seems obvious, but if you are to be victorious, you must not give up in the face of opposition. Refuse domination. Refuse defeat. This goes well with the "prove it" version of the first point. If you give up at the slightest hiccup in your plan, then how can you say you deserve victory?

I heard a recent lecture (The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch - I highly encourage you to watch it, despite its length)where the speaker describes obstacles as the way to separate you from other people. Obstacles, or "brick walls", are "there fore a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." If you want something badly enough - if you truly deserve something - then a brick wall won't stop you.

Do not regret.

Two things can happen after you've done everything you can:

You fail - You did your best. You can - and should - try again, but either way be glad that you have tried. You miss 100% of the shots you never take.

You succeed - What can I say. You deserved it.