Here is Where It is Done

On July 1 of 1997, I found myself in Garden City, New York signing an agreement to assume Responsibility ...

... for the local Dale Carnegie franchise at the time. In the midst of that process, J. Oliver Crom (then CEO) asked me if I would like a piece of advice. We were at a beautiful Italian restaurant after the signing of the agreement, and he asked me such. I said, "Of course..." and he said simply "You will never get it all done". Almost 27 years later, I am coming face to face with that Wisdom again.

Some Stoic Thought

Marcus Aurelius said, " Pay attention to what's in front of you - the principle, the task, or what's being portrayed". He also said that "You get what you deserve. Instead of being a good person today, you choose to become one tomorrow". I humbly but assertively suggest that Marcus and "Ollie" were speaking the same language. We too often think that success is driven by chasing more distant goals or some sense of "completion". I am certainly not "against" goals, but it seems to me that anything we are working towards, only happens in the NOW, one day or brick a time. And in so noting, in The Conscious You, I quoted Seneca as saying:

• “Let us therefore set out whole-heartedly, leaving aside our many distractions and exert ourselves in this single purpose, before we realize too late the swift and unstoppable flight of time and are left behind. As each day arises, welcome it as the very best day of all, and make it your own possession. We must seize what flees.”

Then, in The Want to Be, I also noted that Epictetus said,

• “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

Consider

So, I humbly invite you to consider what Understanding that we will never get it all done... and paying attention to what is in front of us... and choosing to be a good person today... and setting out wholeheartedly... and having few wants... might look like in countenance and gait.

In Heroic Humanizing, I stated that:

• "The focus of my Life is Humans Together Strong at home, school, work, business, play and community. That means the people I deeply Love matter and will always know it. That means that I believe in the incredible capacity of the human spirit. I believe that Humanity is our highest standard, and inhumanity is our lowest. That means that I choose to use my Character, Abilities, Skills and Knowledge to help forge a better future and world. That means that I choose to live the 7 L's of Laugh, Learn, Love, Live, Lead, Leverage and Lend... in action and practice. That means that at home, school, work, business, play and community ... I choose to live and serve nobly."

So, I ask myself... "What would that look like in the NOW?" Indeed, that is the only place where anything gets "done". For me, I think it might look like Understanding that...

I do think it is worthy of our Consideration to imagine and enact the healthy Understanding that we will never get it all done... the paying attention to what is in front of us... the choosing to be a good person today... the setting out wholeheartedly... and the having of few wants. And, for me, as I walk my road towards a return to ever better Health, as I consider my own actions, habits and Purpose... and practice of Character... I will better endeavor to live, work, study, play and serve thusly. That will be a decisive action pour moi.

How about you?

Peace, Justice and Unity...

Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy with Epic Engage

• Heroic humanizing. Humans Together Strong. Rehumanizing how people serve, study, work and play together. I am an Educator, Speaker, Coach, Author and Creator helping Educators, Entrepreneurs and Emerging Leaders lead for a better world with Character, Purpose and Unity. I help advance Character, Purpose and Unity as forces for that better world. That is my work for a deeper, cooler Leadership. In so doing, I bring my work as Master Facilitator with the Virtues Project™ ... my experience as a Certified Facilitator with Personality Dimensions® ... and my Service as a Facilitator with the Ruhi Institute and as Practitioner of the work of What Color is Your Parachute? since 1982.