Being a contribution

Reading the “Being a contribution” chapter, of The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander, was enjoyable and informative with many lessons behind it. A lot of advice, point of views and wisdom is shared in very few pages. In his statement, “Life is revealed as a place to contribute and we as contributors” the author is suggesting that whatever you do in life, and it does not matter what you do, do it for the sake of helping, making a difference, and declaring yourself as a contributor.

As long as time goes on, societies, countries and civilizations are built from contributions. However, many of these contributions come from positive motives, generous actions, and many sacrifices. In many cases, contributions required giving, working, adopting, and facing challenges.

Since the day every one of us was born, the environment around us, culture, school, parents, etc, have shaped and set what is expected from us in this world. Moreover, what is expected from us to contribute to our family, neighborhood, and countries. These expectations will play a big role in shaping and indexing our priorities, and eventually, who we will become. Failing or achieving our goals, and the amount of contributions, will depend on many factors, such as our ability to listen, learn, adopt, be positive, and more importantly, what we are expecting in return.

In his book, Zander (2000) stated, “The Drive to be successful and the fear of failure are, like the head and tail of a coin, inseparably linked, They goaded me on to unusual efforts and caused me, and those around me, considerable suffering. Of course, the surprising thing was that my increasing success did little to lessen the tension”.

The fear of failing is normal, but it should not, and does not mean it’s the end of the world if we fail. We should learn from our mistakes. If we learn from them, it could be a new beginning. Not to be dramatic, but if death is the only undeniable fact we know, and the contribution in our life is the only thing that will stay, and be remembered, why should we fear failing?! We have nothing to lose. As life is getting tougher, being hopeful, optimistic and positive is the key for success, even if you do not get anything in return, you are leaving a good story.