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Listen Children, and I will tell you the story of the pitfalls of the prodigious.
I was a prodigy – not universally acclaimed but thought to be so by those who knew me. I knew before I was double digits in age what I wanted to do with my life, and who I wanted to be. I was afforded opportunities to practice my craft and to hone the skills essential, or so I thought, to ensure my success. Far and wide, people of all ages came to see, listen, and praise the kid who did what most men could not.
Hurry up and wait.
I was in a hurry to get “there.” I wanted to do the thing I did best and figured the sooner, the better. Again, opportunities abounded. I entered college to study the accumulated wisdom of centuries. But I was afforded opportunities to put into practice what I had come to study, so I thought it best to get on with it, so I quit college to do that thing I did so well. I found myself doing what my peers were preparing themselves to do. While they labored wistfully at their studies, I was what they hoped someday to be.
Here is the trouble with all that:
- I was teaching others lessons I had not learned.
- I was limiting my scope of knowledge, and relying on what I had learned as a boy rather than deepening and expanding my understanding.
- I was making it up as I went since I did not take the time to learn from those who had faced the very challenges I faced.
- I was making avoidable mistakes.
- I was full of foolish pride, sure I was more than I was.
- I was doing things alone when I could have taken the spirit, wisdom, and inspiration of all those teachers and mentors along with me.
Sharpen your ax.
Abraham Lincoln said, “If I were given six hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first four sharpening my ax.
If I were given six hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first four sharpening my ax.
Abraham Lincoln
I had the ax. I know that. It was a good one, made of the finest steel. But it was dull. I had not taken the time to sharpen it. Don’t you make the same mistake.
Shortcuts never are.
Don’t listen too easily to the people offering shortcuts or so-called “life hacks.” More often than not, the best hack is to hack away at it. Put in the work. Sit at the feet of those who have been there, done that. Learn the lessons taught by their lives as well as their lips. Inquire about their scars. Understand their journey. Soak up their knowledge and apply their wisdom.
I took a shortcut by dropping out of college. When I finally decided that was a mistake, I found myself squeezing a four-year degree into 11 years. I should have spent more time with a mentor, as an apprentice. But I was in a hurry to get where I was going, even if I had no real idea where that was.
You know Aesop’s fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. I ran too much of my race like a March hare, tearing up the track, lapping all those pitiful turtles who painstakingly trudged along, taking their time, keeping to the course. When I finally fell exhausted by the way, I watched a herd of turtles lumber past. I found that every shortcut I had taken had only cost me time.
I woke up one day, what day I am not sure, to find myself finally on a track that made sense. I was no longer the prodigy. I was the wizened old man with a cautionary tale, with earned wisdom and learned lessons to share, finding myself as ignored by most as my would-be teachers were by me so long ago.
Someone, however, will listen, and I hope it is you.
To that end, I offer these insights. Let’s call them The Hard Eight
- You are gifted but gifts are imparted, they are given. They are not to be a source of pride or smugness. You didn’t earn it or even deserve it. It was given and now it is in your care. It is yours to protect, value, and wield with wisdom.
- Impatience is a curse that costs more than it cures.
- The race is not to the swift but to the steady. Life is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. Still, as Aristotle taught us, “Well begun is half done.”
- Hurry up and wait. Live with urgency and patience. Don’t linger when you should act, and don’t act when you should be listening and learning.
- Give yourself a break when you need one.
- Find humility and saturate yourself in it.
- Don’t just make your mark; leave your mark. Be someone worth emulating. Do something worth remembering.
- Don’t keep the lessons you learn to yourself. Pass them on.
Steady on, children. It is better to be persistent and productive than prodigious. Making a clear path for your progeny is better than being a prodigy.
You are my hope, my life, my love, and proof that it all mattered.