Are you driven by the outcome or deterred by the journey?
In the last week, I've learned 2 related personal development techniques through the telling of stories by a couple of mentors that are truly awesome that I'd like to share.
Charles Hosea, came to the US at the age of 10, from a 3rd world, island tribal community. He has gone on to be a successful business owner, husband, father and an inspiration to all the lives that he touches. Charles is full of heartfelt stories about his life and family that drive his many learned lesson home.
His latest is a story that emphasizes keeping the outcome in mind and not being deterred by the journey and the hardships that are encountered along the way.
Charles, at the age of 11, already had this wisdom and the conviction to stand by it. It is clear to me why he has done so well in his life and in business. Charles was a member of the boy scouts and was excited about a week long hike in the mountains to a lake to camp out, boat and fish. He completely envisioned how beautiful this trip was going to be. He was excited about arriving at the lake high in the mountains, camping in tents, cooking over a fire, boating and fishing. To a boy of 11, this was to be the ultimate experience. The vision he had in his head of this trip was painted by the scout master and surely enticing to Charles.
He passed on to his parents a suggested list of equipment and supplies that would be needed for the week long journey. His parents, who barely spoke any English and were poor to boot, did the best they could to find and outfit their young son for this journey, buying and obtaining what they could in the most inexpensive way possible. One of the key pieces of equipment required was a backpack to carry, clothes, canned foods and other necessary equipment. Well, Charles' parents didn't know what a backpack was and ended up bringing him a duffel bag.
Charles started this advanced multi-day hike to reach the campsite carrying a duffel bag over his shoulder with food cans shifting and soon feeling strained and falling behind his fellow scout members. While the other hikers were outfitted with hiking boots, backpacks and all the modern day equipment, Charles wore sandals and soon developed blisters. After shifting the cans around in his duffel bag and moving it from shoulder to shoulder he found that carrying it resting over his head was the most comfortable position. Even with this new position for the duffel bag, Charles had difficulty negotiating the rough mountain terrain and lagged behind the rest of the pack, who constantly had to wait for him to catch up, but he never gave up. His end vision of camping in tents, cooking over an open fire,swimming, boating and fishing in the lake (his outcome) are what kept him going!
The second and related lesson I learned from Del Hargis at an absolutely awesome 2 day event! Del, using the Wizard of OZ story to emphasize points about limiting beliefs, not living in the moment and the power of the "ruby slippers" that we all have but many of us don't realize. However, the point I want to drive home is how people chase brooms, and get themselves derailed from the outcome in mind.
So what did Del mean by a broom? If you remember the Wizard of OZ story.... When the journey on the yellow brick road ended in the chambers of the Wizard of OZ, The Wizard sent them to retrieve the broom of the wicked witch before he would grant them their request for a heart, courage, brains and to get poor Dorothy home. It was about proving their worthiness, testing their tenacity and seriousness.
Now, looking back at Charles' hike, having the right equipment equates to the broom. He could have arrived at the hike, discovered he was ill equiped, needing a backpack, hiking shoes etc. and opted out. In fact he could have opted out anywhere along the way, when the going got tough.
How do these lessons apply in your own life. Do you try something and when the inevitable obstacles arrive do you have the tenacity to separate the hardships of the journey (temporary) from the outcome in the end?
Have you thought about things like doing more exercise and lthen let the brooms get in the way... having the right sneakers, bikes, weights, and other equipment. Do you think and then stop because you don't have the credibility, experience, know how and then place getting these brooms in your path?....
If you do, you can now think about this story and better understand how your vision or your WHY needs to be your driving force and how you have the tenacity demonstrated by an 11 year old boy to get through the obstacles of the journey and to not chase brooms that you put in your in your own path... they are just self imposed obstacles that side track you from the mission at hand!
Charles Hosea, came to the US at the age of 10, from a 3rd world, island tribal community. He has gone on to be a successful business owner, husband, father and an inspiration to all the lives that he touches. Charles is full of heartfelt stories about his life and family that drive his many learned lesson home.
His latest is a story that emphasizes keeping the outcome in mind and not being deterred by the journey and the hardships that are encountered along the way.
Charles, at the age of 11, already had this wisdom and the conviction to stand by it. It is clear to me why he has done so well in his life and in business. Charles was a member of the boy scouts and was excited about a week long hike in the mountains to a lake to camp out, boat and fish. He completely envisioned how beautiful this trip was going to be. He was excited about arriving at the lake high in the mountains, camping in tents, cooking over a fire, boating and fishing. To a boy of 11, this was to be the ultimate experience. The vision he had in his head of this trip was painted by the scout master and surely enticing to Charles.
He passed on to his parents a suggested list of equipment and supplies that would be needed for the week long journey. His parents, who barely spoke any English and were poor to boot, did the best they could to find and outfit their young son for this journey, buying and obtaining what they could in the most inexpensive way possible. One of the key pieces of equipment required was a backpack to carry, clothes, canned foods and other necessary equipment. Well, Charles' parents didn't know what a backpack was and ended up bringing him a duffel bag.
Charles started this advanced multi-day hike to reach the campsite carrying a duffel bag over his shoulder with food cans shifting and soon feeling strained and falling behind his fellow scout members. While the other hikers were outfitted with hiking boots, backpacks and all the modern day equipment, Charles wore sandals and soon developed blisters. After shifting the cans around in his duffel bag and moving it from shoulder to shoulder he found that carrying it resting over his head was the most comfortable position. Even with this new position for the duffel bag, Charles had difficulty negotiating the rough mountain terrain and lagged behind the rest of the pack, who constantly had to wait for him to catch up, but he never gave up. His end vision of camping in tents, cooking over an open fire,swimming, boating and fishing in the lake (his outcome) are what kept him going!
The second and related lesson I learned from Del Hargis at an absolutely awesome 2 day event! Del, using the Wizard of OZ story to emphasize points about limiting beliefs, not living in the moment and the power of the "ruby slippers" that we all have but many of us don't realize. However, the point I want to drive home is how people chase brooms, and get themselves derailed from the outcome in mind.
So what did Del mean by a broom? If you remember the Wizard of OZ story.... When the journey on the yellow brick road ended in the chambers of the Wizard of OZ, The Wizard sent them to retrieve the broom of the wicked witch before he would grant them their request for a heart, courage, brains and to get poor Dorothy home. It was about proving their worthiness, testing their tenacity and seriousness.
Now, looking back at Charles' hike, having the right equipment equates to the broom. He could have arrived at the hike, discovered he was ill equiped, needing a backpack, hiking shoes etc. and opted out. In fact he could have opted out anywhere along the way, when the going got tough.
How do these lessons apply in your own life. Do you try something and when the inevitable obstacles arrive do you have the tenacity to separate the hardships of the journey (temporary) from the outcome in the end?
Have you thought about things like doing more exercise and lthen let the brooms get in the way... having the right sneakers, bikes, weights, and other equipment. Do you think and then stop because you don't have the credibility, experience, know how and then place getting these brooms in your path?....
If you do, you can now think about this story and better understand how your vision or your WHY needs to be your driving force and how you have the tenacity demonstrated by an 11 year old boy to get through the obstacles of the journey and to not chase brooms that you put in your in your own path... they are just self imposed obstacles that side track you from the mission at hand!
Wow! You’ve really got a good blog! Keep up the hard work! Also, thank for the info.
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i do agree with you!
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Hi buddy i see many interesting articles here !!!
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This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free.
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Mike, Glad you enjoyed my writings and hopefully benefitted.
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