Is it your lot in life to be the bullet or the target? I think the analogy is quite fitting in the realm of business or life for that matter. I considered examining this a little further after looking at a few people who have become very successful in life in the face of adversities. I have asked myself and others why, what gave that person the ability to succeed instead of deciding to give up?

Heredity versus environment has been a lifelong debate since biology class in explaining what is to blame for the person we ultimately become. So what is responsible for the composition of our personality? Did my mother and father concoct some magic potion in the conception of me that ultimately decided if I was a fighter or a quitter? Or was it the environment I was exposed to that gave me the sum of my personality parts? I don't think anyone quite knows because if the professionals were honest, they would acknowledge the circumstances that influence us are much too complex to blame any one thing.

I believe it was Dr. Morris Massey who said that one has to experience a significant emotional event to change their perceptions and how they feel, in order to change how they behave. A willing person has the ability to change but the permanency is longer lasting if that significant emotional event has occurred.  For example, the 37 year old that hasn't been keeping a good diet nor exercising for most of his life has a heart attack or stroke and nearly dies. After surviving that experience, the man begins to monitor his diet, actively exercise, and maybe even value his life more than before.  Through my career experiences, I have witnessed Dr. Massey's theory first hand where most people are unwilling to change their behaviors without the perceived 'startling' event.  The changes that wait for tomorrow until that assumed tomorrow never comes.

Whatever the answer is, I think the only way to get a clear picture of personality makeup is to gather a collaboration of the life stories.  These stories couldn't be abridged, it would have to be a complete dissection of the heritage, infancy, adolescence, and adulthood of interviewed people. What were they taught, where did they grow up, who raised them, and with whom have they formed friendships? Heredity is good as a foundation, but I truly believe we are a sum of our experiences: our perception of the rights and wrongs done to us as well as what we have witnessed. In reality, if we could put our finger on it we would have changed everything we perceived to be wrong.

According to Forbes.com, Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing stated,"The burden of poverty and this bitter taste of helplessness and isolation sort of branded on my heart forever the questions that still drive me. Is it possible to reshape one's destiny? Is it possible to minimize challenges through lessening complexities? And is it possible to enhance chances for success through meticulous planning? Perhaps that is the way to overcome adversities."  The sum of life's events drive some for a lifetime, whether it be monetary riches or happiness in the simplest of lives, but for Li Ka Shing, he is the wealthiest man in Hong Kong and East Asia worth $21 billion US dollars according to current estimates.

Make a choice. Do you want to be the fighter, winner, bullet or do you want to be the quitter, loser, target?