You have to work with what you have. You have to play the hand you have been dealt. You have to make the best of your circumstances. Complaining about your situation is unproductive and a complete waste of time.
Regardless of your circumstances, chances are that you are not maximizing your potential. There is a solution for every problem and every problem contains an opportunity. Spending any time being envious of another’s lot is a total waste of energy.
In a card game, it’s not necessarily the best hand that wins. The winner is the player who gets the most distance from the hand he or she is dealt. In life, like in a card game, you can’t necessarily predict or control what you are dealt.
Throughout your life you will have to deal with thousands of situations. Some you will have control over, others you won’t. You were born with strengths and weaknesses. You want to take full advantage of your strengths and overcome or at least minimize your weaknesses.
You can do one of three things with the cards you are dealt. You can play your hand, getting the maximum mileage from your cards. You can sit and whine and complain about your “bad luck.” Or you can fold up and leave the table.
Those who are the most successful are rarely the ones with the best cards. Conversely, those with the best cards are not always the most successful. The most successful people are those who are the most adept at getting the most from each hand.
Why does a person get so dejected when they find they have received a less than perfect hand? No one likes problems. Everyone would like to lead a stress-free life. Problems can be discouraging. It’s perfectly normal to be frustrated by unfortunate circumstances.
Life is a series of choices. The challenge is to make the best possible choice. Not all choices you make will be perfect. Just about everyone would do things differently if they had them to do over. Making one or more bad choices doesn’t condemn you to a life of misery. If one decision takes you off course you make another one that gets you back on track.
Don’t use a bad hand as an excuse to do nothing or as a reason why you can’t accomplish something. If you analyze your situation, you will often find that it’s not as bad as it first seemed. You will also find opportunities where initially there appeared to be only problems.
Consider it a challenge to find the opportunities in each hand you are dealt. They are there. Perspective is the key. You will always be able to find examples of people who find themselves in a worse situation than you and yet seem to emerge in a positive fashion while turning what looked like a losing hand into a winning one.
With the right outlook, you can derive something positive from most situations. On the other hand, a bad attitude can make a perfect hand look like a loser. Just as in a card game, many of life’s cards are distributed randomly. It’s human nature to think that others are getting better cards than you. But when all is averaged out, everyone has challenges and opportunities. The exact mix that someone else has is irrelevant. Your situation and what you make of it is what’s important to you.
You can increase your happiness by learning to make the most of what comes your way. Most people don’t come close to realizing their potential. If you don’t realize the potential you do have, how can you complain about what you don’t have?
Bryan Golden is the author of “Dare to Live Without Limits.” Opinions expressed are those of the author. Contact him at Bryan@columnist.com or visit www.DareToLiveWithoutLimits.com.
