When was the last time you made your way through a closed door with a "no entry" notice? Well, I urge you to introspect a little and literally and deliberately count the closed doors that you have gone through. Winning in the game of life is the art of carving a path through closed doors, and permission to do this will never be granted.
I put it to you that where you are right now as you read this piece is determined to a great extend by the doors that you have gone through. Let me even go further as to say that where you will be tomorrow and in the future will also be determined by the doors that you choose to go through. It is a fact of life that what one earns or fails to earn; what one becomes or fails to become; what one acquires or fails to acquire and what one achieves or fails to achieve is intrinsically linked to the doors that one goes through in the course of life. Your earning power, your level of success, your fame or lack thereof and even your title were not forcefully imposed upon you but they are logical and deserved outcrops of the doors that you entered through. Whether you chose deliberately to enter through those doors or you entered by default is immaterial. The important thing is that you entered through those doors and that entry led to other things until you are where you are now.
It is a fact of life that often times treasure lies behind the closed doors. The door to the safe that contains the bounty is often closed and locked. In every building where important business is conducted, there will always be doors written on them, "Do not enter." Important meetings, even in companies that pride themselves with promoting open door policies, are more often than not held behind closed doors. Simply put the most important and most precious matters of this life, including procreation are conducted behind closed doors. As with treasure and other important things, success also often lies beyond the closed door. Success is there for the taking but it belongs to those that have the ability to negotiate their way past the closed door. Success is possible, but success is not inevitable. The entry to the success alley is restricted.
There are two kinds of people that represent two very distinct ways of looking at a door. The first is to define it as an access limitation device. That is a device that says to you, "This far shall you go and no farther. Thou shalt not enter." Such a device is an impasse and an obstacle. It is an interdict seeking to limit the degree of success that you can enjoy. This interdict comes in all forms, shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is legitimate regulations; sometimes it is entry or qualification requirements; sometimes it is tradition, beliefs and history and yet in other cases it sheer complexity of the task or feasibility. The simple truth is that out there in the real world, in business as in life in general, there will always be a raft of interdicts telling you that you are not allowed to go beyond this level of success. Only those that master the art of negotiating past closed doors will ever be truly successful.
The second way is to see the door as the gateway to the world beyond. How you see and interpret the door will determine what you do next. The loser arrives at the closed door and all he sees is the end of the road. This explains why there are so many people that have very brilliant ideas and equally noble ambitions that will tell you that they have not made progress because of lack of finance. To these people the access to finance door has the familiar interdict-Thou shalt not enter. They take no for an answer. They do not refuse to be refused and to be declined. These people would be liberated if they accepted the fact that among other things they need the skill to negotiate past the closed doors. The winner will arrive at the same door and read the same interdict but respond differently. He does not ignore the fact that there are obstacles, but he chooses not to allow himself to be hindered. He breaches the impasse and actively seeks ways to negotiate past the closed doors. Winners do not allow closed doors to wreck their dreams. From childhood we are trained to knock on doors and wait for the door to be opened before we proceed. This works well in the field of human etiquette, but unfortunately we tend to juxtapose this culture in competitive endeavors where it does not belong.
Whichever way you see the situation, there is still an irrefutable fact, and this fact is that there is a world beyond the closed door. Beyond every limitation, real or imagined; imposed by men or by circumstances, there lies a world of vast possibilities. Winners enter through those doors that the average man considers closed. This week take stock of your situation and in particular the so called closed doors and explore ways to go through them. With imagination, innovation, creativity and perseverance, the closed door will become an open door once more. Success imposes upon each one of us an assignment, which is to identify and enter through the closed doors. Will you do your assignment? Make a way where it is said there is no way.
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