“The door to success is marked push and pull,” says a little known Jewish Proverb. Have any idea what that even means?
Luckily, just like your dreams, proverbs like these really find meaning in the mind of the interpreter. What makes proverbs more realiable than your dreams is that they have a crux, a core message, based in centuries past experiences. We’re going to take a crack at interpreting this saying from a budding entrepreneur’s perspective, and with the focus on the week’s theme of overcoming frustration.
Literally speaking, doors should be one of the easiest modern contraptions to engage – you either push, or you pull. More often than not, these doors are decorated with stickers or signs telling you whether to push or pull; making something mindless all the more mundane. Still, how many times have you spent those extra three seconds to struggle? Maybe you accidentally ‘pushed’ when you needed to just gentle pull. Perhaps you ‘pulled’ when all you needed was a light push.
This is opening doors we’re talking about! Something we’ve done millions if not billions of times since we started walking, and even still we dont always get it right the first time! If something so easy can ellicit feelings of frustration, wouldn’t the road to professional success also be sprinkled with testing moments? Businesses aren’t built over night, dream jobs are achieved without persperation, and goals aren’t met on linear trajectory. Prepare yourselves for frustrations, but always remind yourself to keep your eye on the prize; that if you pulled, but should have pushed, you’ll eventually get through the door if you learn from the moment.
Jumping deeper into the proverb, one might also interpret the saying as something to the likes of ‘the directions to open the door to success are confusing.’ How can a door be both push, and pull? This can split into two different directions:
1) To open the door to success, you’ll deal with a lot of frustration between chosing what to do – what next step to take. There is no cookie cutter, one size fits all journey to success, and though you know you you can take any step in any direction, you’ll never know what is right, until you’ve tried!
2) A door that is both push and pull probably means that not matter what you do, it will open. There is no one-way to get to success, but as long as you do something towards your goal, then success is on the horizon.
Overcome these frustrations by being focus on your big goals, instead of little setbacks.