Poet Robert Frost once claimed that, “the poet’s utmost goal is to lodge a few poems where they will be hard to get rid of.”

It’s certainly a goal that he achieved, with his body of work and influence continuing, even though he died 50 years ago.

You may not be able to write poetry like Frost (I know I can’t), but you can still aspire to do work that lasts.

To lodge poems “where they will be hard to get rid of” doesn’t mean that everything you do will have lasting value.

I’m sure that even a man of Frost’s undoubted talent wrote some rubbish poetry.  Not everything that he wrote would have been published or read by others.

But he kept writing in the knowledge that if he kept working on his craft and if he was bold enough to put it in front of an audience, then some of it would lodge.

As a blogger, I aspire to lodge a few posts where they will be hard to get rid of.

As a speaker, I aspire to lodge a few messages where they will be hard to get rid of.

As a coach, I aspire to lodge a few insights where they will be hard to get rid of.

Two other things from Robert Frost encourage me when it comes to doing work that lasts.

Firstly, his first book wasn’t published until he was 39.  That encourages me that it’s never too late to start working on your legacy.

Secondly, he wrote these words which I’ll leave you with today:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Too many people walk this planet and do nothing of lasting value.

Let me encourage you today to take the road less traveled by and do something meaningful with your life that’s hard to get rid of.

Do work that lasts!

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