by Ralph
on June 15, 2010
- Image by rayb777 via Flickr
You skip to the last chapter
The ending gives it away, of course, but what about in the beginning of the journey? What if you are in the middle? How do you know along the way whether you are a hero or a stooge? It isn’t easy.
It is hard to know.
Did Bill Gates know when he started Microsoft that he would control the universe? Did Steve Jobs see the iPod and iPad from his garage? What did they see and when did they see it? Inquiring minds want to know. How did they decide to persevere and triumph? How many potential Bill Gates and Steve Jobs stopped and quit on their dreams after helpful critics told them they were crazy? On the other hand, how many driven individuals continued to tilt after windmills, wasting their time and talent on hopeless tasks. What makes the difference? Is it just luck or can people know that their time and commitment will produce fruit or empty branches?
Dogs and invisible rabbits
There is a story about a dog and a rabbit that I hear from time to time. Rabbits are quick and agile and when trying to escape from a dog they move fast and change course constantly. Any dog trying to catch a rabbit will scramble and flail trying to keep up. It can be amusing to watch the dog but imagine what you would think about the dog if you could not see the rabbit. The dog would seem insane. Nothing it did would make any sense. It’s every action would seem meaningless. There would be no purpose to any of them as the dog stumbled and dashed around falling all over himself. That is how visionaries appear to normal people who cant see what drives the them. The visionary sees a destination invisible to others and his actions defy explanation to ‘realists’.
How do you help the dog?
How would you advise a dog chasing an invisible rabbit? You can’t but of course you don’t know that. You want to help and so you make up an hypothesis to explain the dog’s actions and you give advice to help the dog be normal. It would be good advice if the rabbit did not exist and it is bad advice if it does. You would tell the dog to play with the other dogs; fetch a ball, bark at the neighbors. In short you would tell the dog to do what the other dogs are doing that don’t see the rabbit. Who is right? Who knows if the rabbit is real? Well the problem is that there is no way to know until the rabbit is caught.
Is there a lesson here?
So back to the journey. How can you know whether you are tilting at windmills or breaking new ground? How can you know when to stop mission impossible and select another destination? Sometimes you can plow ahead and the sun will rise over a glorious new day. Other times you get mired in quicksand making no progress as you struggle to move on.
Do you have an answer?
While you are on the journey, there is no way to know how it will all end. Is your rabbit imaginary or real. Should you stop, lick your wounds and prepare for another hunt or do you need to suck it up and push on? If you were expecting answers from me, you won’t get them. I am clueless to identify which rabbits are real and which are imaginary, especially mine. Maybe Bill Gates and Steve Jobs don’t have that problem. Maybe they are just lucky. I am throwing the question to you. What do you think about glorious adventures and kamikaze runs? Maybe you avoid both just to be safe. Just do what everybody else does and everything is simple and boring.
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by Ralph
on June 14, 2010
- Image via Wikipedia
Don’t read this if you were born after 1960
Is the door closed?
Are the whippersnappers safely out of the way?
Are they distracted with their iPhones and Tweets?
Good! Because it is time for us grownups to have a serious talk about life. I don’t mention it much but my tag line here at RCB is ‘Finishing Strong‘. Today I want to tell you what it means to me and find out what it means to you.
We are no longer controlled by biology
At this stage in our lives, we have been through all the biologically controlled activities. We have rutted. We have procreated. We have nurtured. We are pretty much through with those pressures and our life is what it is. We have kids – or not. We are married – or not. We have pretty much made our beds so to speak. We now have the rest of our lives to lie in them.
Now What?
So here we are, no longer at the mercy of biological forces but with nearly half of our life left before us. What do we do with it? Let it dribble away like our parents and grandparents or make it into a glorious adventure? Most of us don’t have good examples to help us finish strong. Society doesn’t expect much from us beyond indulging the grandkids and puttering around the yard. There are a few examples of people who finished strong but mostly finishing strong is a road less traveled. I would like to change that and I am looking for others who want to take that less traveled road with me. It won’t be easy. It will be a challenge. Every step along the way, however, even the missteps will be part of a glorious adventure and I am looking for adventurers to share every step.
Sharing my less traveled road
I am living my adventure and sharing it here and at my other blog. Ralph Carlson Blog focuses on skills and vision for the journey and Job Optional Blog on developing an entrepreneurial mindset, creating a lifestyle design and exploring vehicles to make it happen. Everyone’s path will be different. I think that the definition of finishing strong will be different for each person. But everyone choosing this path will share a commitment and desire to learn and grow every day.
My Mission
I want my remaining years to be rich and full. I want to enjoy the beauty of the world and the people in it. I want to learn constantly and become better at communication and leading. I want to share that adventure with others who want to finish strong – however they might define it. Right now I am traveling solo. I could move faster with companions to reinforce my strengths and compensate for my weaknesses. I know that whatever it takes, I will finish strong but I know that with a team of leaders the future is unimaginable bright and the possibilities unlimited.
What will your mission be?
Do you want to finish strong? Do you want to explore the idea? Do you have ideas of your own about what finishing strong means? Have you already y started your own adventure? If you have continued to read to this point, I know that somewhere in your brain, there is a tingle. Don’t let it die without finding out more. Join me by putting yourself on my email list. Join me by reading my story. Join me by adding your comment or question. Join me by preparing a guest post with your story. Join me by coming back to learn more. Don’t let the rest of your life dribble away to nothingness. You have so much left to give even if you don’t know it yet.
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