Spent a few minutes with the teenager in my house talking about what comes next and what things we can control and what we can manage.
Listened to him express concern about current events at school and some yet to come and smiled because I remember those days too.
Smiled because to him these things are huge and to me, well I would trade situations in a heart beat because his stuff is easy.
Easy because I can look back upon those days because I have been there and done that.
Grimaced because I feel like the mountains I have already climbed reassembled and placed themselves in my path again.
Not cool mountains, not cool at all.
But I have a perfect record in surviving every bad day I have ever had and I don’t plan on screwing that up.
Told that boy of mine to set his intentions and move towards them as best he can every single day.
I shared that quote with him and told him I see it as one of the things I have been very good at it.
I may not always get where I am going as fast as I would like to but I get there because I never stop pounding the stone.
Sooner or later that sucker is going to split and I am going to be there to see it happen because I am the one doing the pounding.
On a related note, I try not to use this mentality in Vegas because I just don’t have enough cash to keep pouring money into a slot or Blackjack game.
It’s not that I don’t want to. I have the wherewithal to stand at the machine or sit at the table for 7,000 hours or something less extreme but still ridiculously obscene.
But that takes a different sort of toll upon the soul and it is generally not one I favor.
Some Dreams Die & Some Are Delayed
The main irritation with the boychik is his frustration with some of the antics that come with middle school kids.
I told him I understand and talked about some of my experiences.
What I didn’t tell him is that when you are an adult there are still lots of people who choose to try and belittle your dreams and or throw cold water on whatever your aspirations are.
He doesn’t need to know that this goes on with people who should know better because it is not the kind of thing that is going to be helpful now.
So instead I reminded him that some dreams die and some are delayed.
The big questions we face are framed around whether we let the dreams that have potential die versus those that are based in fantasy.
Chances are my dream of gaining superpowers that allow me to fly without mechanical help are quite unlikely. But it is not impossible to write a book, gain a national column or be the next great director.
Some or all of those may be tall orders to fill, but they are framed with the chance to move from possibility to opportunity.
It is part of why I like things that feed my creativity and why when I am brainstorming I am not afraid to come up with crazy ideas because you never know when it turns into so crazy it just might work.
Business Lessons
On a related note I often wonder how many business opportunities are lost because people fear to share the crazy ideas because they fear being ridiculed.
You don’t always know what will hit.
What do you think?
Crazy’s never been one of my forte’s but I think as I get older, I’m becoming a little bit more crazy every day!
I was always afraid of what people might think but nowadays I care much less about that.
Let’s hear it for a side of crazy mixed with a we don’t care what people think.
I like the quote. It’s so hard to keep going when you don’t see a result. The quote reminds that the result can happen dramatically and unexpectedly.
Yeah, I like the quote for that reason. Another reminder to keep on pushing because you never know which ‘blow’ leads to success.