celebrate success

Share the misery or celebrate success?

I remember reading this joke in a Michael Walsh column awhile back, and I thought it made an important point worth sharing: It seems there were two subsistence farmers, Ivan and Mikhail, both equally poor. Then one day, Ivan somehow acquires a cow. His life immediately improves. Instead of the wife, the cow pulls the plow; the cow gives milk; it produces calves for meat and the market. Quickly, Ivan far outpaces Mikhail. One night, starving and miserable, Mikhail drops to his knees and prays. “Oh, God,” he implores, “Ivan and I were always equal. And now look at…

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Celebrate success

Look at the successful people in the news or even the successful people in your life. Who’s jealous and resentful? Who believes those people lied, cheated or stole their way to success? Who believes they got lucky? Who wishes they were in that position? On the flip side, who congratulates the successful? Who works to find out how the successful achieved what they did so that maybe they can apply some of those same lessons to their own lives? Who sees inspiration in the successes of others? Who wants to work hard not to strip down the successful, but…

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“Must be nice” isn’t very nice

In the last week, I was with a co-worker when we heard that one of our other co-workers went to Monacco. Later that week, I was driving with a friend when we passed a really nice house in a local, upscale neighborhood. In both cases, the person I was with responded by saying, “Must be nice.” I got to thinking about that saying. It’s fairly common. Certainly not the first time I’ve heard people say it. But it’s nothing I’ve ever said or would be inclined to say. Some would tell you it’s a way of acknowledging someone having…

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