Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers…
That Garth Brooks song is one of those songs I play every once in a while when I need some perspective.
As an entrepreneur, I spend a lot of time thinking about the future. I have an idea of how I want things to turn out, and I spend a lot of time envisioning that future, planning for it, working tirelessly toward it, dreaming about it, and mapping it out. I spend a lot of time working, strategizing, and praying.
And, I’ve found that one of the most painful parts of going after your dreams, and wanting to take your life to a truly extraordinary level, is dealing with the prayers that go unanswered.
You may spend hours, days, weeks, or months working tirelessly toward a goal only to realize big changes need to be made. You may have days when you figure out that a lot of your hard work will need to be tossed in the trash to make way for the new.
Knowing in your gut that you’re meant to do big things, dreaming up big, ambitious goals, working day and night to see them materialize, only to be left wondering why it hasn’t worked out… I don’t wish that feeling on anyone.
Pursuing your life’s calling will push you to your absolute limits. It will require more of you than you thought possible. You will be tested. You will have to change directions, and course-correct more times than you think you possibly can.
And the worst part? The Universe will often request this course-correction, this adaptation, this new direction when you’re almost at the finish line. Just when you’re about to press “send”, just when you’re doing final edits, that’s when you’ll hear that whisper, that request for more.
That nudge to make changes will come right at the end, with 95% of the work done. That’s when you’ll be asked to take your life and work to the next level.
Leaders are asked, at the most painful of times, to be brave enough to say yes to a different future, to have the courage, strength and patience to imagine a new outcome.
It’s one of the most difficult parts of life and business… to make those decisions to ditch the old and embrace the new and unfamiliar. You’re asked to hold yourself and your work to a standard that exceeds all expectation. It’s what separates the average from the wildly successful.
But, the truth is… as I look back, I’m incredibly thankful for those painful moments. Because if my business looked today exactly how I’d imagined it years ago, I’d be living a very different, far less fulfilling life.
And, as I look back, those painful moments were all turning points toward something bigger and better.
As Garth Brooks has so beautifully put it, “some of God’s greatest gifts are all too often unanswered prayers”.
Part of finding success in my career has come from the willingness to look at my business failures as blessings, as opportunities to forge an even better path. These moments have become chances to find where the gaps are in my big dreams. They are nudges from the Universe that I’m forgetting something important, that I could be even happier if I made a few adjustments.
What I’ve found to be true time and again is that the Universe seems to know what’s best for me. There’s a voice, a sense of calm that will guide me if I listen really closely.
But, the more I listen to that voice, and the more I accept all of my unanswered prayers as a chance to live an even more extraordinary life, the more peace I find in my life and career.
So, today I thank God for all of my unanswered prayers.
Photo Credit: Leon Biss
