Be visible to get it

"Only some people get what they want. Those are the people who show up to get it." Dianne Houston, Take The Lead, 2006

Woody Allen said something similar - 'success is 90% showing up.' You can modify it as - 'success is 90% showcasing your show-off.'

It is very natural feel cynical when we see people who have not worked hard garner all the limelight and get some occasional success. There are several ways to logically interpret this phenomenon. First, when we brand someone as a person who did not deserve success for something he did not do, we many times do not know the full story. We hear someone make such an allegation and take their word. Somebody says 'Hey my boss took all the credit for my work. He is a fool and did not do anything. It's all me who did the work.' It's easy to fall into this trap. Boss and people in higher positions are easy targets. They are not required to do the actual work you do but still they get the credit. What we fail to see is that they are held accountable and responsible for actions, including yours. They also have to take the blame should you and fellow workers fail. It all comes with risk.

Secondly, what we get in this life does not depend only what we have done or not done only in this life alone. Life is a continuity. It does not start with birth and end with death. If anything, birth and death are just two imaginary marks we put on a continuity called life. It is like putting some indicators on another continuity called time. Is there any special meaning that marking time? It's for our point of reference. So, if someone gets something that seems undeserving to us, it may be for something they did it right in the past. We do not even bother to understand what they did a few months back. Never mind what they may have done few lives back. They say what we are today is a result of what we did yesterday. We will be what we are going to today. It is like an arrow which has already left the bow. It's a matter of time before it strikes. If it is a good arrow or a one with poisoned tip is what we knew when we shot it. Now we have to face the consequences.

On the point of 'success in 90% showing up' another excellent quote comes to mind. It goes like this.

"Less risk. Less reward. That's business"

"More risk. More reward. That's gambling."

"Less risk. More Reward. That's opportunity"

Cheers!

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