Reaching for the Top
Someone has sad, “Winning isn’t everything – it just comes in ahead of anything that is second.” The fact is, winning isn’t everything. Being able to leave the contest knowing that I have done my best is more important than coming in first. This month I want to share some thoughts on getting the most out of our journey through life.
Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” The Bible quotes Christ as having said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” All of us like to receive. It gives us a sense of value – we are thought of, appreciated, and cared for. Giving helps take the focus off ourselves and place it upon the recipient of our giving. Giving is more than passing along a material benefit. Giving our time, emotion, and wisdom, make an investment in the life of another person. We can give a man a fish or we can teach them how to fish. Giving the product takes less time than training the producer. However, training the producer has a more far-reaching benefit than giving the product.
May Ritter Beard gives us this quote: “Action without study is fatal. Study without action is futile.” What you know is not as important as what you do with what you know. The person who knows to do good and doesn’t do it is living in deception. We know that it is right to express kindness and care to those who are hurting but we fail to make our resources available to help. We look to government, the church, or charitable organizations to do something rather than asking ourselves how we can take what we know and combine it with what we have, to do something that will bring benefit to others.
Here is a quote from John Ruskin that is worth considering: “The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it but what they become by it.” The task at hand can help you develop diligence. You ask yourself some questions: “What needs to be done?” “What is the best possible way of doing it?” “What is the best possible outcome?” I put this effort in because the old proverb says, “The hand of the diligent will rule.” Diligence is complemented by perseverance, determination and patience. Once I answer the above questions I will proceed with perseverance, determination and patience. Those are excellent qualities for the whole of life.
The great painter, Vincent van Gough said: “Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together.” We arrive at where we are because of the individual short steps that we have taken. There was a time when my wife would point out detail that I was overlooking and my response was, “Marva, I don’t concern myself with the details, I just look at the big picture.” One day she took me over to a larger painting that we had hanging on the living room wall and said, “Duane, how much detail is in that picture?” The answer was obvious. Many projects fail because the timeline allotted does not take into account the detail needed. You may not do all the detail but you need to know what detail is necessary and who has the skill to do it.
“The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.” (Brandon Sanderson, The alloy of Law) That is definitely a challenge. Often the immediate blocks our vision to the important and gives the mediocre the place of priority. The wise person knows how to separate the worthless from the precious. There is detail that adds nothing to the value or goal of the project. It may be important to me but it does not bring value to the end result.
Let me sum it up:
- Use your resources to invest in people
- Knowledge must be translated into action
- What you become is more important than what you do
- Don’t despise the day of small steps
- Let the vital have priority over the important
Keep pressing on and I will see you at the top!
Duane Harder
