Being a Life Coach and Creative Consultant – how can I not love this video essay on creativity. You’re going to see the first of a two-part series on ‘our distorted view of creativity and success’. The filmmaker says: “Do you ever have that feeling that everyone else is more successful than you? If you think that’s bad – try being Leonardo Da Vinci”. Scroll down to see part 2. It’s worth your time!

Here’s part 2 of ‘The Long Game’. As I suggested earlier: take your time to achieve great things. And after seeing this video – I’m more convinced than ever: every phase is a chapter. And every chapter has meaning – even when it’s hard to see what it is at the moment you’re still in it. In the end it’s a bridge to the next chapter. So let’ not  be frustrated over things if they don’t work out as quickly as we’d like. Let’s be aware that A) it’s just a phase and it will pass and B) let’s wonder what it’s trying to tell us. This way we can learn from it and be more at peace while being in the process.

Everybody wants to make progress. In whatever we think is worth pursuing, we want to move forward. That’s our nature. And to measure progress, we think in terms of success: the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted. That makes “failure” something we want to stay far from. Failure, in our culture such a frightening word, but what exactly is it? And does it even exist? Tony Robbins says: “There is no such thing as failure. There are only results”. And in order to make progress, every result is valuable, good and bad. In fact, bad results or failure, later often turns out to be the foundation on which success is build. Professional golf legend Tom Watson once said: “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate”. So here’s to you and your progress: go out there today, go after your goals, try new things, learn, adjust and try again. Because then, even when you screw things up, your foundation for future success becomes only more solid.

Imagine a 4 year old wanting to ride a bike for the very first time. Having seen other people cycle seemingly without any effort, he thinks it’s going to be an easy ride. So he’s got it all mapped out. He made a plan and calls it plan A and it’s very clear: enjoy the wheels on steel! The possibility of falling and hitting the ground doesn’t even come to his mind. Until of course he sets a foot on the pedal and tries to make a move, he finds out he can’t cycle. Plan A: destroyed. Or… wait. No. His parents will teach their kid not to give up so quickly, for everything is learning process. They will tell him that it doesn’t matter how many times he falls down, as long as he gets up again. Easy to say, hard to practice. As we grow up, wanting to ride a bike turns into wanting to have a meaningful life. We want so many things. But we are easily disappointed when we don’t get what we want – or not in the way we want them. We’re lured into the belief of not being good, smart or beautiful enough etc.. We turn in this little kid that finds out that learning to ride takes time and effort. So when I saw this picture circling around the internet I just had to use it. And there must be a million ways (ok, 26 at least) to accomplish something. If not now, then later. Meanwhile? Enjoy the ride and… stay cool.

Golf is a fascinating game: you have no opponent except yourself and only the perfect alignment between body and mind results in the perfect swing. Also, the difference between a great shot on the green and a whoosher off target, is often only a matter of millimeters. That’s because the angle from where you hit the ball, has a major effect on where it will land given the distance the ball is going. A millimeter more to the right or to the left, up or down results in a difference of many meters. Think about that in the context of daily life. A small change may have little effect on today or tomorrow, but over the course of many years it may be the difference between life and death. Starting or quitting smoking is such a change. You can also use this line of thought in reverse: when you completely messed up something (you hit the ball way out of the golf course) it’s likely that by changing only a small detail in your approach, you will get a much better result next time. So whenever you fail, don’t burn yourself down – see what small changes you can make.

To achieve success is one thing, but how do we sustain it? “Why do many people reach success and then fail? One of the big reasons is: we think success is a one way street” Richard St. John opens his TEDtalk with these words and an interesting (and funny) talk it is. Speaking from his own experience he says: “When we become successful, we must not forget that success is a continuous journey” and he presents 8 rules to sustain success. He calls them 8 to be Great. If you like, you can download them for free as a wallpaper for your computer, press here.

To achieve a dream, you must invest. The sooner you invest, the more time you have for your dream to turn into a big success. Or like the Chinese proverb: ‘The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now’. If you weren’t already working on a dream, now is always a good moment to start. Make the decision. Take action. Sow the seed. And don’t dig it up a day or two later, for progress takes time. Give it time, and attention. What water is to a tree, is attention to a dream.