Sunday, July 08, 2007

What does it take to succeed?


What does it take to succeed?

If the trend of the last 20-30 years is to be believed, all you need is pretty little posters with nice positive, iconic sayings on them. We're becoming a generation of cheerleaders, always there with the pomp pomps ready to inspire. The sad thing is the many people have been fooled into thinking that the pomp pomps actually make a difference. They don't, they're window dressing. It's the players on the field that make a difference.

Gone are the days where hard work was its own reward. No one wants honesty posters, they want fairy tale posters. No one wants to be reminded of Edison's quote about genius being 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration. Why perspire? Why slog away at things when I can quote a few jingles and feel good about myself. And then sit back and wonder why things don't fall into my lap when I was oh-so-positive?

Perhaps I'm bursting my own bubble here, and not yours, but here's reality for you...

OK, I admit, they're humorous. But stop and think about it. What is it that makes them so funny? Apart from the few that are straight irony, the reason these are funny is because they're all too true. They're honest, not pretentious.

The next time you're tempted to look at one of those office-bound pieces of new-age motivational trash for inspiration, remind yourself they're fanciful, not grounded in reality. Don't be hoodwinked by the cheerleaders. Success takes work. That's it. That's all there is. There are no other hidden gems of wisdom that will enlighten your world and make everything as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Welcome to the real world.

Have a nice day :)

8 comments:

Shades said...

These are great! Links nicked with credit... ;-)

Peter said...

http://www.despair.com/

It's blatant brand hijacking, but it makes a valid point at the expense of the original "motivational" series

I have to get one of the t-shirts

:)

Peter said...

and if you're really bored...

http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php

Colin Campbell said...

I judge an organisation significantly higher if I visit and there are none of these stupid motivational posters. I worked for a big US consultancy and one of the Vice Presidents bought the whole set for each office. We had to rotate them monthly. Sickening. I love the despair site.

_ said...

Good one!

Here's my effort... Check it out!
Prepare to be motivated

Viagra Online said...

Nice motivational article, i wonder if you will translate it into a seminar soon!

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