THIRD AND LONG; THRIVING IS NO SPECTATOR SPORT
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Rabbit-holes, deflections, distractions, delays, and interruptions are the continua/stock-and-trade of most of us on most days. They divert us to find ways to excuse, explain, and rationalize why losing focus and wasting time is essential in performing our role in providing remarkable service – to moving the ball downfield. Football metaphor used because, in football, each play’s purpose is to move the ball down the field or stop the opposing team from moving the ball against you.
Business is like that.
Writing too.
Most interactions and relationships are like that, and like football in so many ways. We huddle, we pass, we hand-off, we block, and we tackle ~ and sometimes, we punt, but here’s the difference between life and football. Aside from both being an exciting game to play, life isn’t so much fun as a spectator sport – because we do our best when we are in the fray:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Getting things done excellently requires unrelenting pursuit, followed by the unrelenting pursuit of whatever comes next.
Still, failures and obstacles exceed triumphs.
Whether life’s rewards are monetized or simply self-satisfaction, the sweetest fruit is out there at the end of the skinniest of branches. Whatever comes next is on a straight line risk-reward continuum, the greater the risk, the greater the reward – and the more we shrivel and hide from danger, the more likely a lower return on our efforts.
Reader feedback:
Thank you, KK, Calgary, AB
At the top of your form with this one, Mark, DP, Calgary, AB
Morning Mark, I am enjoying the mountains today and aligned with your message 110%. Wow. You captured the essence of purpose. Your phrase deserves to be on a T shirt and shouted everywhere: “There is no fountain of youth but there is the fountain of YOU”. May I use the caption on the Third Action film festival website sometime in the future and attribute it to you? So powerful! Thanks, JR, Calgary, AB
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