My father used to say, “Life is a problem, and once you get it all figured out, it’s time to check out.” Again, he would say, “Life is like a puzzle, when you put in the last piece, your time here is up.” I prefer to think of life as an adventure in which you encounter obstacles, problems, successes, and joys along the way. If you focus too much on the problems, you cannot enjoy the journey. If you ignore the problems, you miss the adventure. With a detective’s mind, even problem solving can be an adventure.
In every problem we can find clues, that when uncovered, and followed, can lead to extraordinary success. On the other hand, if you could forensically examine every success, you would find the evidence of previous failures hidden within. Viewed in this way, failure is merely an earlier stage of success. From that perspective, the only way to fail is to quit before you succeed. When you are confident that you know, and confident of success, any hiccups in the road are merely factored into your success.
If you knew you could not fail, your mind would be free of worry, creating more space for creative problem solving. Imagine living everyday as an adventure knowing that it would end in success. Then you could focus on the journey and not on how it would end. When the destination is a given, then life itself becomes a gift. Thus, the problem, the puzzle, the answers, the adventure, and the destination are bundled up in the gift. There you have it, life is about living, and when we are disciplined for success our lives become a gift that keeps on giving, and we keep on living.