Recently on a trip to Belize, I chartered a boat with a group of friends to go diving and snorkeling. We had traveled a good distance when the the boat arrived at the edge of the barrier reef and close to neighboring island. We noticed quickly that the island did not look like it was inhabitable; however, there was a man all by himself walking down the beach. We asked our guide what the story was with this situation and he quickly said "Oh, thats Joe and thats his island. He has lived on it his entire life with his father".
Our minds quickly started to race with obvious questions. Where does he sleep? How does he get clean water? Does he get mail? How does he support himself? The list of questions were coming to our minds and coming fast! Before we could wrap our minds around all of this Joe himself jumped in his boat and approached the boat that we were on. Joe was likely one of the kindest people I have ever met. No question was too much or too ridiculous. He explained to us what life is like in detail living on this island with his 80 year old father and what they do to make ends meet.
Joe dives for conch shells and once every two weeks rows his boat across the open ocean to sell them at the market on the mainland. The reason I tell you this story is because Joe has wired his brain for success. He has a plan every day for what he needs to do in order for him and his father to survive.
He has a blue print for his life (it may not be like many of ours, but he certainly has one). His life's work is tending to his land, caring for his father and getting into town when he needs to in order to sell his goods. I asked Joe if he ever celebrates when he has a good day at the market and what that looks like. He smiled proudly and said "Of course I do...", we all were waiting for his response, he went on to say "I get two beers, one for me and one for my dad". We of course all laughed with joy.
I think it is important to remember two things in life; we all need to have a plan to make sure that our personal needs, economic needs and professional needs are taken care of and the context in which you choose to look at things will drive whatever success means to you. Joe has a very different meaning of success than many of us; however, he has a plan to achieve what his goals are and he celebrates his successes. I think we could all learn something from Joe.
There are a handful of doctors out there that see success as something completely different than Joe and more often than not those doctors are overcome with guilt about their success. Darren talks about this feeling and how to conquer it in the AMP TV show below.
