Thursday; February 13
The other day I was
scrolling through some randomly generated quotes, but I noticed an interesting
connection between a couple of them. The
first one, attributed to President Thomas Jefferson observed, “When a man has
cast his longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”. The second comes from NFL coach, Chuck Noll,
“A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is
winning.”. While these men and their
quotes might seem quite different, I believe there is a connection between the
two observations. When we measure our
lives by our “successes” we are apt to fail.
First of all, for most of us, there are going to be a lot of losses
along the way and if we feel the sting of each and every loss, we are bound to
be discouraged – a lot. For every person
who ends a career on the top of the heap, there are many more who are buried
somewhere in the pile. Secondly, if we
set our heart’s desire on being recognized, we are apt to sell ourselves out to
gain what we desire. If we measure our
success by what we achieve, we are subject to believe that the ends justify the
means.
We should all strive to be
the best we can be, but we need to enjoy the journey as much as the
accomplishments. When we value the
process as much as the prize we will be better and happier.
Think About It!