Eileen Joy is a successful author and editor as she has achieved a lot in her profession. She has created numerous works, and, more importantly, helped other people to achieve their goals and make their dreams come true. Nonetheless, Joy does not feel successful. She believes she could achieve much more. She stresses that she knows she could read and write more books, she could spend more time with the people she loves; she could help more people with their dreams (Joy, 2013). It is possible to note that Joy is too demanding and critical when it comes to her achievements.
She has loads of ideas and projects, but she is unable to bring all of them to life as she is a mere mortal. She understands that and brings quite a surprising but very valuable point to the fore. The author states that people should be ready to fail to meet their own goals as well as other people’s expectations. Joy (2013) claims that people may fail to do some task on time or be somewhere at a particular point.
However, this should not be a reason for bitter criticism or blame. The author stresses that those people are likely to criticize themselves. They already make some moments of their life unbearable as they worry about some unaccomplished tasks. The author makes readers understand that being positive is the most effective way to be happy and achieve a lot.
Reading Joy’s article made me understand that I have quite a correct attitude towards some areas of human life. Of course, I have spent hours, days, or even months worrying about something I failed to accomplish. For example, I often think I could write a great novel, but I fail to achieve this goal. This makes me feel really unsuccessful. As to achieving other smaller goals, I can boast about my being punctual and rather successful in many endeavors.
I am always on time and ready with my tasks. Thus, I can say that I am almost a successful person when it comes to short-term goals while I am rather a failure when it comes to some strategic points. However, I know that positive thinking is the key to people’s success. Hunt (2016) notes that being positive can help people focus on their goals and find ways to achieve them. Joy’s arguments were also really helpful. Her ideas concerning letting people down are quite intriguing. I may worry and even be angry about people’s carelessness or inability to complete some tasks especially if I need those things to be done.
However, I know that criticism will not help in solving problems. It is necessary to let go. However, apart from that, it is crucial to make sure that all tasks to be done are assigned to people who are capable of completing them. I have a bright illustration of the way to address such issues. One of my friends is never on time. He often fails to help me with something rather important to me. Sometimes I felt offended and really angry. Nonetheless, the article helped me understand an important thing. My friend misses out on many things as we have so much fun trying to cope with problems. Besides, I know that he often feels down as he contemplates his failures. He is his own hangman, and I should not worry about punishing him.
References
Hunt, M. (2016). Happiness and success: Evidence-based strategies for success. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
Joy, E. (2013). Working darkly and beautifully at the bottom of our game: Failing, fragility, and making things. Web.