The trick I use to conquer anxiety from not being as successful as I wanted to be

I want to give you a tale of 2 clergymen:

Clergyman A…

1. Rejected by Religious Leaders: Consistently opposed by the religious establishment, failing to gain acceptance from key figures.

2. Imprisoned: Repeated arrests and incarcerations.

3. Physical Persecution: Endured frequent beatings, stonings, and threats, and otherwise left unprotected by his members.

4. Controversial Teachings: Teachings sparked division within the faith community, leading to doctrinal disputes.

5. Internal Church Struggles: Congregations often faced severe conflicts and divisions, reflecting difficulties in maintaining unity.

6. Broken Relationships: Experienced notable fallout with important colleagues and collaborators.

7. Limited Impact in Key Areas: Efforts in major cultural centers were largely ineffective, with minimal results.

8. Conflicts with Peers: Disputes with other prominent leaders led to public confrontations and tension within the church.

9. Desertion by Followers: Close companions abandoned their support during critical moments.

10. Unfulfilled Ambitions: Certain major goals remained unmet, leaving incomplete plans for further outreach.

11. Uncharismatic: Was not well known for his speaking prowess, even his peers said he was hard to understand.

Clergyman B…

1. Widespread Influence: Gained a large following across regions, with many embracing his ideas.

2. Challenged Established Doctrine: Successfully questioned traditional beliefs, sparking significant theological debate.

3. Support from Powerful Allies: Secured backing from influential political and religious leaders.

4. Enduring Movement: His teachings persisted for decades, even after being declared heretical.

5. Stimulated Doctrinal Clarification: Forced the Church to define its core beliefs more precisely due to his challenges.

6. Return from Exile: Overcame initial setbacks and was later reinstated, regaining a place within the Church.

7. Charismatic Leadership: His personal appeal and clarity of message attracted widespread followers.

8. Organized a Strong Faction: Created a lasting movement that influenced councils and church decisions.

Cleric A was St. Paul of Tarsus, the Apostle.

Cleric B was Arius, the condemned heretic.

Who then was successful? Obviously Paul, in his fidelity to orthodoxy, despite his lack of charisma, challenges, misfortune, and personality/relational conflicts.

Arius, though charismatic, accepted by the government and much of the religious establishment; was an abject failure, because he taught that Christ was a created being.

We must realize that “success” and “failure” are all constructs in our minds. What one person considers success another may consider failure.

Paul is traditionally attributed with writing 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament, which would be about 48% of the total number of books. However, in terms of actual word count, his writings make up about 23% of the New Testament. To us that is success!

But at the time, we must realize, many of these letters that we call Scripture, we written to address problems happening in churches that Paul founded. If this were a business, and the orientation manual consisted of emails from the CEO laying out the problems and telling people what they did wrong and what they need to stop doing and what actions to take instead, you would probably not want to work there after your first day.

This is what it is like reading these letters.

But yet…scripture shows us Pauls mentality on success…

Paul’s final recorded statement before his death is found in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, where he reflects on his life and ministry as he anticipates his execution:

In other words, despite all that he went through, is about to go through, he is listing off his “version” of success: Fighting the good fight, keeping the faith, finishing the race he was called to run, receiving a crown of righteousness.

What that tells me is, outside of spiritual and ministerial concerns, even in business, I get to define (with God’s help of course) what my version of success looks like. Not everyone has the same race, or in business, not everyone has the same starting point, network, capital, connections, knowledge, and ability; but everyone can define for themsleves what success looks like to them.

For some, that may mean merely starting the business, learning what not to do, closing that one, then opening another one with better knowledge and skill.

For others, that may mean, getting a promotion, improving the department you are over, then leaving after a year for another position.

Yet, sometimes, success can look like, getting a promotion, doing a horrible job, assessing why, the improving on those skills (though you may have been fired).

Success can be, you tried your hardest, but your partners or your staff under performed. How can you better prepare them to perform in the future?

Create your own version of success, don’t view someone else’s life or numbers/data and say “unless I do what they did, then I wont be happy”.

Rather, use them as a guide, both their successes and failures, to see if you are on the wright track, but just know sometimes, you will have to adjust, re-learn, re-evaluate, re-implement, re-do, find new partners, let some partners go. I think you get the point.

Be proud that you started, even though no one bought a product.

Be proud that you tried, even though people mocked and laughed.

Your current idea of success may not match your idea of it when you first started out. And your idea of it tomorrow, may not match what it is today.