Be yourself, everyone else is taken
Have you ever met someone with a flawless record?
Someone who never made a mistake?
Someone who was universally liked?
If you have, I bet that they have never actually achieved anything.
Because success isn’t about doing things perfectly.
Before a house is planned and built on a vacant block of land, someone wonders, interested passers-by wonder, “How big will it be?”
As a tree is growing, the gardener wonders, “How big will it be?”
As a teenager eats us out of house and home, we wonder, “How big will he be?”
As a business launches, the owners wonder, “How big will it be?”
And then there’s you.
Rainless clouds offer such promise.
Farmers see them in the distance and have hope.
They start to get excited and anticipate a bumper crop in the future.
But then… nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
A man joined a monastery where the monks were only allowed to speak two words every five years.
At the end of five years they were given an audience and said their two words.
At the end of his first five years, the novice simply said, “Bed hard.”
At the end of the tenth year, he said, “Food bad.”
I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
You can have a flashy PowerPoint presentation.
You can look a million bucks.
You can be charismatic and enthusiastic.
But if you haven’t spent most of your time and energy on your content.
If you haven’t done your research.
Find what your good at.
Potentially great at.
Find what your passionate about.
What gets your heart beating.
When we hold the door for someone, we bring humanity and courtesy to our interactions with others.
We say, “You’re important.”
We put others first.
We make a way.
Don’t worry about being better than the guy in the next cubicle.
Or better than your parent’s expectations.
Or better than your nemesis.
Or better than the very best in your industry or field of endeavour.
I was watching an interview with one of the Boston Celtics’ players last night and in the background there was a message on the wall that simply said, “Every possession matters.”
It’s a great principle that doesn’t just apply to basketball, so let me encourage you today to take advantage of every opportunity, because:
Every interaction matters.
Every email matters.
Every single moment of every single day matters.
