START THINGS, SEE THEM THROUGH
Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020
I read a news piece last weekend – describing a 30-year process of developers’ proposed project (the proposed Jumbo glacier ski resort), which is now consigned to history. It will never happen. Surely anyone with a dream they held for 30-years deserves recognition. And forces which worked so hard to prevent its approval will have a footnote in a history book somewhere.
But what is 30-year failure, in the fullness of time, except wasted energy?
Sunk money?
Pain, suffering, costs, strife – for one side, failure. For the other, victory.
And history will record, nothing happened – nothing got developed, the landscape didn’t change.
Many other things happened over the last 30 years, but not that project, not that thing. Just imagine what might have happened if all those forces, energy, and funds had been directed at some other project(s) – what might have been?
One can imagine a ‘never giving up’ attitude, because nobody would anyone want to dismiss a 30-year passionate effort to the waste-pile?
Better, perhaps, to have not invested 30 years of passion into something which cannot happen – whether because it was a bad idea, or one that could not overcome the hurdles it faced. Yes, some of that failure was ‘wrong idea,’ some was ‘not the right location,’ some was ‘bad timing.’
I can relate and empathize.
So much of my life and work has focused on location and timing, and I would always like it to be focused on better ideas.
How can we avoid disappointment of things we’ve invested time, effort, and money pursuing?
Easy – don’t start.
Don’t finish, don’t give up – or don’t be so hard on yourself.
There are probably thousands of possible answers or rationalizations, such as start more things, start fewer things, start better things, start something spectacular, or start nothing at all.
If we start nothing, we will never change the world.
If we start a million things, we might never change anything.
And for sure, if we start nothing – nothing will change.
Yet, each time we start anything, we might change one thing – or transform one person.
Mostly, we change ourselves, one person who is always worth all our efforts.
Reader feedback:
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