The Do Village

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

If we all Keep Doing…..

Ron

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labour and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which.

He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself he always seems to be doing both….”

- Francois Auguste Rene’ Chateaubriand

Keep Doing

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face.  If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

Today, more than ever, its easy to get distracted by new ideas, old ideas, other peoples opinions, problems that arrive, twitter, Facebook, television etc.  The list goes on and on.  But despite all of the potential distractions its still our responsibility to achieve our personal, family and professional goals.  In a world where multitasking is celebrated, it seems as if single minded focus on the task at hand has become a skill that needs to be reprogrammed into me.

I was diagnosed with Self Imposed Attention Deficit Disorder by my 4 year old niece.  One day after school she asked me to play with her, and I obliged.   But every so often I would check my phone when I thought she was doing her own thing.  Then it happened.  She took my phone from my hands put it in her pocket and said, “Now lets start over and pay attention this time.”

It’s been tough for me to stop working on new ideas, to turn off the TV while I’m reading, and not check my twitter while I’m spending time with my family.  Despite the struggle I always feel better when I just do one thing at a time.  My attempts to multitask showed my huge lack of prioritization when it came my time and the things that I think are most important in life like spending time with my niece.  By doing so many things at once, not only was I doing a poor job, but I was also missing the beauty of being in the moment.

I’ve learned that if I’m not able to focus on the single task at hand, I may as well forget being taken seriously by my business associates and more importantly my family and friends.  In essence, my goals of being a great business person and human being are speaking to me loud and clear, saying “Focus on us during the time you’ve promised or forget about making a difference.”

Keep Doing,

Ron

Success and failure are two sides of the same coin.  I can’t have one without the other.  So if I try to avoid failure, I’m essentially avoiding success also.

Its important in life to take action, but more importantly make corrections.  Thats when learning occurs.

I didn’t learn to ride a bike by reading a book.  I eventually had to go out and get a couple of scars on my knees and elbows.  Its just a part of the process.  Same is true with when it comes to achievement at any level.

There’s nothing like learning from DOing.