The good news is that everything you need to know has already been discovered. The great truths of life have been distilled into countless books, all awaiting your reading. These days the secrets of the ages are on CD, available for you to listen in your car. Yes, there are a few hucksters out there but read enough, listen enough and fundamental principles emerge over and over. The joy, the reason to keep reading, is that each author has experienced these truths in their own unique way and each presents their personal stories that bring home these truths a bit differently, each perspective allowing the reader to internalize the lessons a bit deeper.
Our challenge becomes two fold:
1. To do as well as we know. To know and not do is to not know. The most successful folks in life have developed the emotional maturity to correctly utilize that space between stimulus and response.
2. The next challenge is that while the fundamental principles of life are simple, application can be challenging. Life is complex and messy, situations are fluid, people can be unpredictable. Even if you attempt to apply the correct principles, application generally requires a certain amount of skill; an ability best developed through numerous repetitions, through persistent effort.
Mastery is a mainly a matter of practice, endless effort driven by the desire to be the best one can be. I feel I owe it to the others in my life to give my best, anything less is disrespectful. To my fellow team members with whom I work, I owe my best effort to continually learn, grow and share. To my wife, to be the best partner I can be, to my son to be the best role model, the loving example of patience and faith my father was to me.
Closing quotes:
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. Instead, live the questions” — Rainer Maria Rilke; 1975–1926, German poet
“Our finest moments occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” — M. Scott Peck; 1936–2005, “The Road Less Traveled”
“We need a variety of input and influence and voices. You cannot get all the answers to life and business from one person or from one source.” — Emanuel James “Jim” Rohn; 1930–2009
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