Myint Soe Hlaing - If only I could, my Lord, my destiny

Life happens. It's really hard to control things. For example, your company is downsizing, your spouse leaves you, a family member becomes ill, or someone close to you dies, or a family member cuts off a plan you depend on. When we face these situations, we can feel lost and helpless.

We've tried everything we can to get a job, to support our family, to find a partner, or at least to find some peace of mind, but nothing works. If it doesn't work out one way or another, we try something else. We try to make the best of it. No matter how hard we try, we still miss the mark, we keep falling short, and sometimes we're afraid to try again. Why? Because we all don't want to get hurt. And, after losing once, no one wants to lose again. No one wants to have to suffer through all the pain and suffering. That's why, when we have enough bad experiences, we stop trying and give up. What we've come to believe is that nothing is going to work.

If you look back at yourself, you have no desire to try. So the reader has sent himself to a life of “helpless education.” Yes. The reader has become educated through personal experience, such as “once you have died, you will understand the value of life.” But... I am aware that I have become “helpless.”

If I had to give you good news, you're wrong. You can make it happen if you just do it. Just change your own attitudes, your own behavior. You can change anything in your life today, you know.

"I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."

THOMAS EDISON

"I don't get discouraged, because every time I make a mistake and have to throw it away, I take another step forward."

Thomas Edison

The first step to changing your life is to get rid of that negative belief that you can’t do anything, that you are helpless. How do you get rid of it? When people make excuses for why they can’t do something, they’ve done it before. The excuse is that it doesn’t work. But I want you to remember a saying that has stuck with me throughout my life. It’s that your past is not the same as your future. It’s not about yesterday. It’s about what you’re doing right now. Too many people drive around looking in the rearview mirror to guide themselves to where they’re going. And that’s when they get stuck. Instead, focus on what you can do today to make your journey better.

Perseverance pays off.

Many people have said to me, “I’ve tried a million ways to succeed, and none of them have worked.” Another said, “I’ve tried thousands of ways.” Think about it. When it comes to making a change, they don’t have hundreds, not even dozens. Most people try eight, nine, ten ways to make a change, and then give up when they find that it doesn’t work.

The key to success is to decide what is most important to you, and then work hard to get better at it day after day. You have to keep working until it doesn't seem too good to be true.

Let me give you an example. It's about a man named Colonel Sanders from the United States. Colonel Sanders was an incredibly successful man. The question is, was he born rich, was he born rich, was he sent to Harvard, or was he just a young man who started his business career? The answer is no. Colonel Sanders didn't realize his dream until he was 65 years old. So what made him start his own business? He didn't have a penny in his pocket. He was alone. And yet, when he first received his Social Security check for $105, he was devastated. But did he blame people? Instead of going to the parliament and writing a letter of dissatisfaction, he started asking himself questions. "What can I do to be of value to other people? What can I give back?" He started thinking about what he had that was of value to others.

His first answer was, “Well, I have this chicken recipe, so people will like it. What will it cost if restaurants sell my chicken recipe? How much money will I make if I sell it like this?” Then he immediately thought again. “Huh… that’s impossible. Selling recipes won’t even pay the rent.” After thinking like this, he had a new idea. “What if I don’t just sell them the recipe, but show them how to make good chicken? What if I show them how to make good chicken? What if their sales increase because the chicken is so good? What if people come to the store and the chicken is sold out, well… they can give me a big percentage of the sales.”

Many people have big ideas. But Colonel Sanders is different. He is not the kind of person who just imagines big things to do. He is the kind of person who makes them part of his own business. He goes from store to store knocking on doors and telling each owner his story. “I have a great recipe for chicken curry, and I think your business will do better if you use it. If you give me a little bit of a raise when sales go up, that would be great.”

When he said this, many people laughed in front of him. “Hey... old man, go try it, what are you wearing a white chef’s uniform for?” It was rare for someone to say. So did Colonel Sanders give up? He never gave up. He had a unique key to success. I like to call it personal power. Personal power is the ability to work hard at something. Every time you do something, you learn from it. Then you find a way to do it better the next time you do it. Where did Colonel Sanders go? He used his personal power. Instead of feeling bad about leaving the last restaurant where his idea was rejected, he immediately focused on how to present his idea more effectively and get a better answer at the next restaurant.

How many times did Colonel Sanders get rejected before he got the answer he wanted? He was rejected 1,009 times before he got his first yes. He drove across America in his old, battered car for two years. He slept in the back of the car in a wrinkled white suit, and woke up at dawn wondering who else he could tell about his idea. And when he ate, he finished the same sample dish that he had prepared in case anyone would buy it. How many people can say no to 1,009 times in two years, and still move on? Very few. That's why there is only one Colonel Sanders. I think most people say no a thousand times, not a hundred times, It's not like they can even get past twenty times. They never get past, and sometimes they can still succeed after twenty times.

Look at any of the most successful people in history, and you will see that their imagination is the same. They are not the kind of people who are rejected. They do not accept the word no. They do not let anything stop them from making their vision, their goal of success, a reality. Have you ever heard of the world-famous animator Walt Disney, who was rejected 302 times before he could invest in his dream of creating the “World’s Greatest Amusement Park”? The banks that offered him the money thought he was crazy. But he was not crazy, he was a visionary. More importantly, he was a man who was determined to make his vision a reality. Today, millions of people are happy to visit and enjoy the world of “Disneyland.” A world unlike any other, A world built on the initiative of one person.

When I was in the bedroom with Jingle Bell, I always remembered these kinds of stories when I was washing dishes in the bathtub. I always encouraged myself. No problem or difficulty lasts forever. No problem or difficulty can ruin my whole life. The problem I am facing now can be overcome if I just keep working hard and keep positive and positive. And I always think, “Even though my situation seems bad right now, there are still many good things to be grateful for. At least I have two good friends. In other words, I have no mental defects. It is one thing to have a good nature, and it is another thing to have clean air to breathe.” I always encourage myself to focus on what I want, and not just look at the problems or difficulties, but to focus on the solutions. Then I realized that no problem or difficulty could ruin my entire life. This realization remains with me to this day.

So I decided that I didn’t need to continue to believe that my entire life was in shambles because I had financial difficulties and emotional dissatisfaction. There was nothing wrong with me. But I also decided that I was just in an “in-between” period. In other words, if I wanted to continue to nurture the seeds I had planted, I had to keep doing what I was supposed to do. So if I could do it from the winter of my life until the spring of my life, I would be able to reap the fruits of the years that seemed to be producing useless energy. And I had one clear idea in my mind. That was that if I kept doing it, I would keep doing the same things over and over again. And if I expected the same results, that would be crazy. I had to try something new. Then I had to keep doing it until I got the answers I wanted.

The message I want to convey to the reader is simple. If you think about it from the heart, it is obvious. If you have an easy-going attitude towards your goals, and if you work hard and persistently, you will eventually get what you want. But you have to completely abandon the attitude of not solving the problem. So, no matter how small the problem is, if you want to do it, you have to focus immediately on the things you can do today.