This may sound odd or unusual, but here is my basic philosophy on life…

The world is conspiring to make me successful!

I am dead convinced of it. It doesn’t matter if the day is bright and sunny or cold and rainy. The world is acting in my best interest. Even those people who appear to be working against me, throwing up roadblocks, telling tales, and despitefully using me. Every single one of them is conspiring to make me successful.

I have no idea what tomorrow holds. I may have plans for it, I may expect certain things to happen, but that truly means nothing. Today is Sunday, I plan on going to work tomorrow, but if I die tonight, then I am wrong. So, always keep in mind we do not know what tomorrow holds in store.

If we do not know what tomorrow holds, then the problems of today should not matter. After all, the rain that pours in March feeds the flowers growing in April.

When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer. I have been writing fiction and poetry since I was seven years old. I continued all the way through my Master’s degree, which I received in 1999. In 2000, I took a job with a Fortune 100 company. At that time, I lost sight of my writing goals and started focusing on making it big in business. I concentrated all my time and energy on my career. I did well, too. I went to the President’s Club and won numerous awards.

After that, I started feeling empty– like I was missing something. I hadn’t written in a while. Writing was always my stress reliever. So, I started feeling empty and pressured all at the same time. I became dissatisfied with my job. I left and took another one. When I took that job, I was promised Rainbow Stew, but when the waitress came, she slapped down a big bowl of Stone Soup. I soon discovered everything the hiring manager told me about sales figures, market share, etc. was a lie. Now, I was planning on taking a pay cut, but figured I would feel less pressure. When I got in, the pay cut was much larger than anticipated and the stress level was higher than suggested. I stuck it out for a while, but slowly started writing some poetry again.

Then, an offer came for another job. It sounded ideal. When asked about sales levels, success rates, etc. the manager spewed off the numbers of his sales people. Everyone of them except one was above 100%. I took the job and moved my family from Atlanta to Alabama. That was where I wanted to be anyway.

My first week in the job I discovered the team hadn’t hit its objective in over a year. Most everybody was struggling, on a performance improvement plan, and looking for another job. In the 18 months I have been here, I have seen 100% attrition. That is, for every slot available to head count, one person has quit. Not only that, but my sales manager left, his boss was demoted to my level then quit, his boss moved to a different division, and his boss went somewhere else! So–four levels above me have all been replaced!

Do I like the job? It’s okay. I like sales. But what’s important is this– the job has widened the void within me. It made me want to write more. It made me realize that I must have clarity in purpose. I must focus on the goals I want to achieve, and writing is one of them.

At the end of last year, I wrote another novel and began marketing it. I currently have an agent looking at it. In the meantime, I have another 230 pages completed of a second novel and a good many short stories.

From all this seeming chaos, I have found greater inspiration. I have garnered ideas for stories and novels, gained singleness of purpose, and focus.

I have decided that if I am a victim of anything, it is a conspiracy of the world around me to make me successful. All of these things that may have seemed like downturns to others–all these apparent setbacks–have actually been thrusts forward toward my eventual success.

I invite you, friend, to look at the world around you. Determine what you want from life and focus on that. You will soon see that you are not experiencing roadblocks and obstacles. Instead, you are being hemmed in by these things. Just as banks hem in a river and lead it to its ultimate destination, so too, you are being lead to your ultimate success.

The world is conspiring to make us successful!