So I’m the quintessential maverick, the self-starting entrepreneur, the guy always trotting off on the path less traveled (heck, there is less traffic), the classic “do it yourselfer” stereotype. So what am I doing posting a blog titled “Don’t Do It Yourself”?
Truth be told, some things are best enjoyed shared, the pleasure multiplied by the presence of others. In the pursuit of some goals, the support of others can be invaluable. People who share the same values, who are traveling along the same path, can make up a terrific brain trust, buoying you in deep waters, allowing you the growth experience of returning the favor further along the journey.
It is a matter of balance, one of the most challenging of the crucial life management skills. (Also see NSCBlog: Four Tools of Discipline.)
Closing quotes:
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” — Sir Edmund Hillary
“If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.” — Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream Maker, © Flavia.com
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” — M. Kathleen Casey
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road…unless you fail to make the turn.” — Author unknown
“We acquire the strength we have overcome.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Note: Scott Peck in “The Road Less Traveled” (on The New York Times bestseller list for 544 weeks) lists four techniques to solve life’s problems, the last of which is balancing.
1) Delayed gratification (p.19) “Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with.”
2) Acceptance of responsibility (p.37) “… the problem of distinguishing what we are and what we are not responsible for in this life is one of the greatest problems of human existence.”
3) Dedication to truth (p.44) “The less clearly we see the reality of the world…the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions and illusions…less able we will be to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions.”
4) Balancing (p.64) “To be organized and efficient, to live wisely, we must daily delay gratification and keep an eye on the future; yet to live joyously we must also possess the capacity, when it is not destructive, to live in the present and act spontaneously. In other words, discipline itself must be disciplined.”