Living on the Skinny Branches: Five Tools to Creating Power, Freedom and a Life Worth Living by Michael Strasner

Author:Michael Strasner
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Direct Impact Publishing
Published: 2015-11-10T14:00:00+00:00

In my professional opinion, the most successful people in the world are not just open to feedback—they seek it and demand it. They expect their closest friends and family, or the people they work with, to be honest with them about what’s working and what isn’t. How does anyone really know if they’re on track in life? Do we know because we listen to our egos? No, our egos will always tell us that our problems in life, no matter how big or how small, are someone else’s responsibility. Our culture reinforces the victim mentality that is prevalent today. Just watch the news on TV. When was the last time you saw a broadcast dedicated to what’s working in the world, the generosity and kindness of people, the abundant possibilities for the future?

Today, the television market is saturated with “reality” TV. In other words, people placed under manufactured stress and pressure—ashamed, embarrassed, and in chaos, until the torch is finally smothered and they’re voted off the island. In so many ways, this description sadly captures our current living condition.

I believe life is always an opportunity for learning. Not learning as in receiving information from people who “know” all the answers, and then regurgitating that information in the form of a right-or-wrong exam. I’m talking about experiencing life and truly absorbing its lessons. This brings me to one of my passions in life, golf. In my thirty-seven years of playing, I have never even come close to the level of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, or any of the other great golfers out there—but I’m a pretty good amateur. I’m a single-digit handicap. At one time in my early thirties, I even got down to a 1.0 handicap. One of the aspects I love most about golf is the never-ending opportunity to go from breakdown to breakthrough. Wash, rinse, dry, repeat. In the movie Tin Cup—which is the consummate golfer movie, as it captures all of the golf jargon and many aspects of the game’s ridiculousness—there is a line that resonates with me: “I guess you ride her until she bucks you.” I appreciate this line because it reminds me that golf, just like life, has many ups and downs, twists and turns, peaks and valleys. When things are working, go with it until it stops working. Then what do you do? Reach out for feedback. Listen to, absorb, embrace, and appreciate what you receive with gratitude. Do your very best to apply the information. Redesign and reinvent yourself. We are uniquely qualified to alter our existence, to change our circumstances, to transform ourselves and create a life worth living. Sooner or later, you’ll get hot again—you’ll find your game, your stride, and the ultimate power zone. No one can clip your wings unless you let them. As Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” When you behave as a champion, quitting is no longer an option, ever.

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