Perception vs. Reality

Funny how some of my posts come to be...
Today's thought brought to you by insane belly laughs at the following images:
(I do get serious in a minute though)

So as funny as these pictures are, they really do have some truth to them.  Why do we look at what other people are doing and think that we will look the same way the first time we do something?

We perceive them as "perfect".  What we are not looking at is how long they looked like our reality before they found that groove.

This thought can carry over into all aspects of life, but I want to concentrate on business today.  I have so many people that I look up to in my Scentsy family business.  People that make this job look easy.  People that make this job look effortless.  People that I feel like I will never "be like them."  But I have to stop and think-what are they doing that I don't see on a day to day basis?

This photo reality illustrates this point perfectly.  The foot on the right is what we see.  It is beautiful, feminine, and appears to be flawless.  What we don't see is what is underneath to shoe.  Look at the foot on the left.  This is what we don't see.  This foot shows all the work, all the struggle, and all the pain that this woman has endured for her dream of dancing.

Don't look at other people and wish to be like them.  Find those people that you look up to and ASK THEM what they have done to get to where they are.  I promise you they won't say they woke up one morning in the state that you see.  

What are the things in life that make you jealous or envious?

Is it the mom that has the beautiful home that is immaculately decorated?
What you don't see might be the husband that is never home because he works insane hours just to make the money to pay for that house.
What you don't see might be the hours she spends cleaning instead of playing with her children.
What you don't see might be the enormous mounds of debt they are surrounded with.

Is it the Superstar Director that has a group of 10,000 consultants?
What you don't see might be the fact that she worked 3 jobs in the beginning because they business wasn't profitable at first but she saw the potential.
What you don't see might be all the hours that she spent creating documents and trainings for her team because "back in the day", our business didn't have a training center.
What you don't see might be the party after party and call after call that she has done in order to build that business.

Make sure you are considering the reality and not just the perception of perfection!