Circle of Trust

Q’s Word of the Day:

The longer I live and work, the more apparent it is to me that the most important factors in success are passion and persistence. While talent is important, it is never enough. What matters most is how we apply the talent we have, what we focus on, and how we persist in doing the work necessary to achieve important goals. I offer three examples from very different times, places, and professions: Kobe Bryant, Rick Allen, and Thomas Edison.

Kobe Bryant was one of the best basketball players of his era. I recall the story I heard from basketball coach and motivational speaker, Alan Stein, Jr. He spoke of joining Kobe at one of his solo workouts… at 4am, before anyone else was up, so he could do an extra hour of training every day. He believed that by doing a bit more every day, it would add up to an unbeatable advantage. And it did.

Rick Allen was the one-armed drummer of Def Leppard. He lost is arm in 1984, just as the band was starting to gain popularity. He taught himself how to play with one arm and two feet… It was after this, that Def Leppard came out with their greatest hits and became one of the top rock bands of the 80’s. He was (and still is) missing an entire arm… he has to be a drummer with only 75% of his limbs available… and yet he persisted to become one of the best in his field.

Thomas Edison is considered the greatest American inventor in history… and is credited with the saying “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” In this statement, and in many other ways, he explained that it was not really brilliance that led to breakthrough inventions, but his dogged determination to keep trying, failure after failure, to solve an engineering problem, until he finally found a solution.

So, let us figure out what we are passionate about, then commit ourselves to persisting through the ups and downs, highs and lows, and all the challenges that get in our way, to achieve those goals most important to us.

Prayers:

For the family of Pumpkin Spice, on his passing; for strength, comfort, and grace during this difficult time. For those fighting cancer and other illnesses, including Mr. Miyagi, Anna Caroline, Toady, etc.

That the men of F3 would be blessed, and would be a blessing to others.