Unlit candles

Michael Josephson said, "I’ve learned that unless I translate my thoughts into actions, my great ideas and good intentions are like unlit candles." Manchester wrote about Winston Churchill  that he understood that victory could only be won "by the vigorous exercise of his imagination and the imposition of his will by the only means he knew — action, action this day, action every day."

Too many of our good ideas remain just that - ideas. In our crazy modern world we have elevated the "idea" to accomplishment status. In other words, as if the idea itself was a product of value, or of equal work and effort as the end product that actually brings beauty or value to the world.

I too can fall into such a trap where I feel that the idea or the intention was equal or on par with actions, but that is simply not true. They are only unlit candles. More steps are required before I can have any real sense of satisfaction that I have actually produced something innovative or useful. One of the ways that I restrain this tendency to elevate intentions and ideas to the level of actual essential work, is that I ask myself every day, "What value am I providing my clients?" It is a brutal reminder that what I do - action - is the only measurement that carries weight.

Tenacity

Tenacity. What a word. It is the unsung hero of almost every success story in my whole life. I think this is true for most people that I know across the world as well. Oh there are some talented blokes out there, and great idea people, and high energy dudes, and amazing lasses who can and do lead entire countries (ala Merkel). But these people are the very first ones that will describe for you how consistently tenacity is part and parcel of their everyday lives.

As Michael Josephson said in his recent blog "tenacity is more important to success than talent." And ain't that the truth! Most people have talent, don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that people don't have some amazing talent. But relatively few can commercialize those talents. Most of us have talents that don't ever even cross over into our vocations. Many of us BECOME talented at our vocations precisely because we are tenacious about learning and working hard at it, and finding joy in the process.

I have always been quite put off by people lauding my TALENTS when in fact nothing more than shear hard effort over long periods of time = tenacity, brought about the seemingly effortless product you observed today. My dad was fond of saying and rightly so, that "the easier a person makes the job look, the higher Master he or she is" in whatever field of expertise you are observing. When people ask me to describe myself, and when I trust them enough to be honest, I am a beaver in life . . . gnawing on that tree until it falls down. Tenacity has been far more important in my successes than talent, what about you?