Rule # 2 - Have deep gratitude for all outcomes.
As are all of the rules, rule two is simple yet amazingly profound. That includes the good, the bad and the average or mediocre. Now the first reaction to rule two may be “Why would I be grateful for a bad outcome? Why celebrate when something bad happens?” There is a simple, one word answer. "Feedback".
You see we live in a physical world governed by laws of physics. Our world is very predictable. We can rely on its predictability. We do. There are so many things we take for granted in our world because it is predictable. We don’t have to wonder if the sun will come up tomorrow.
Let’s examine the first part of rule 2. It begins with “Have deep gratitude”. We can have gratitude at a number of levels. The first level of gratitude is simply appreciating the fact that our outcome is the result of cause and effect and that the outcome was predictable. In other words, if we did the same things, the same way we would get the same outcome.
Cause And Effect
Some folks have trouble with the concept of cause and effect. We should embrace that phenomenon. For every effect, for every result, for every outcome there is a cause. For the good, the bad and the mediocre.
So we can first appreciate the dependability of cause and effect. Second we can appreciate the fact that if we change how we think, what we do and how we do things, we will change the outcome. Just like baking a cake. If we change the proportion of the ingredients or we add or delete an ingredient or two, we will change the product. It is a simple concept and a simple rule.
The power comes from the third level of gratitude. Deep gratitude is demonstrated through action. What did we do with the feedback that the world gave us? Did we ignore it? Did we forget it? Did we deny it?
Or Did We Embrace It And Act On It?
All of us have received many gifts through out our lives. Many of these gifts were sort of obligatory gifts for birthdays or holidays. Some were good. Some were bad. We probably appreciated the thoughts and the intentions of the givers but I am sure that you have received some gifts that were “re-gifted”, discarded or permanently stored away. Out of sight – out of mind.
We’ve also received gifts that we truly appreciated. Our appreciation was demonstrated by how much we used the gift. A piece of jewelry that we wear every day for the rest of our lives was appreciated. A favorite sweat shirt or sweater that we look forward to putting on. A kitchen appliance that if it broke we would immediately buy another one just like it because we refuse to live without it. These are gifts we are grateful for. Not just grateful for the thought but truly grateful that the gift has become a part of our lives.
Our Gratitude Is Demonstrated By Our Actions.
It is in this way that we must have deep gratitude for our outcomes. Our outcomes, when properly evaluated guide us into success.
There is no other path to success. As humans we fail our way to success. The successful heed the signs, make changes and move forward. They react differently to failure than those who are less successful. Success is found by heeding the feedback along the way.
Lack of Gratitude
There are a number of reactions that demonstrate a profound lack of gratitude for an outcome and the feedback that came with it. The first that comes to mind is anger. How many times have we become angry at a result? Angry that the world doesn’t work the way we think it should. This approach is not only silly, its extremely ineffective.
Another reaction is depression and sadness. We just become sad and feel like curling up in a fetal position and going to sleep. This is equally ineffective. The world is trying to tell us what works and what doesn’t. We need to listen, pay attention, tune in. It’s giving us the secrets to success.
The Healthy Approach
A healthy approach is demonstrated by the example of internet web site split testing. In split testing an internet marketer may have a web site selling an e-book. The “landing page” is a sales letter containing a number of elements. Headline, subheads, offer, testimonials, benefits etc.
A Lesson From Split-Testing
In split testing the internet marketer would actually have two different landing pages. These pages would be identical except for one element. That element might be the headline, or the offer or something as insignificant as the font type. In split testing half of the traffic will go to one page and half to the other page. The traffic will alternate just like dealing two hands from a deck of cards.
One of the web pages will outperform the other page. When the results are clear the savvy internet marketer will discard the losing page and begin testing either a different element or a different version against the winning page. In this way, a web sites performance can easily improve by 500% to 1000%.
Continuous Improvement
Notice, the savvy internet marketer didn’t get mad or depressed with the results. Even when it’s his favorite headline, the unde-rperforming element is simply eliminated.
The rule in internet marketing is to test everything. The simple fact is though - everything really is a test. If we are willing to evaluate the results in a logical manner, discard those things that don’t work well then our results and outcomes will always be improving.
Rule 2 is “Have deep gratitude for all outcomes”. It is only through the feedback life gives us that we can find a better way. All feedback is good. Some feedback is painful. Some is excruciatingly painful. It is through properly reacting to painful feed back that brings about the most profound changes. We should be deeply grateful.
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