Shoulda, Woulda and Coulda

I had a friend back in high school that was extremely talented intellectually and athletically.  He never had to work very hard to be good at something or to understand a concept.  He had tremendous potential to be successful in whatever he chose to do with his life.  However, he had one big problem.  His three best friends were Shoulda, Woulda and Coulda.

These three kept my friend from living up to his potential because they allowed him to take the easy way out.  Instead of using his potential, he leaned on his talent, and as we all know, talent runs out if we don’t cultivate it. Go to any bar in the country and there are people that love to tell  why they failed in some aspect of life and usually it is because they became friends with Shoulda, Woulda and Coulda. They will affirm this by using their friends’ names often. 

I shoulda gotten the promotion, but I don’t kiss up to the boss and stay late to finish up my work. 

I woulda been the best athlete in the school, but I didn’t have the right name.

I coulda done that project better, but I didn’t have the time.

We have all heard the excuses and lies that the three imposters perpetuate. We need to make sure that these three are never allowed into our lives.  They keep us from being our best and drag us down to unfulfilled mediocrity. 

Shoulda, woulda and coulda don’t require work and are easily attained.  There are a multitude of extremely talented average people in the world.  This could be the biggest tragedy in our world.  To have talent and not do the work to cultivate it is a waste of life.  Average is never the goal that any of us begin with.  It is what we settle for.  Don’t settle.  

Do the work. Our success and failure comes from our actions not our potential or our intentions.  What we do determines who we become and where we end up.  Recognize your passion and talent, set your goals and then follow through.  Excellence comes from being persistent in action until success is attained.  Choose to be great.