The world doesn’t care what you want. It cares what you do.
That’s how I’d sum up what Paul Greiner offered us last week in his pseudo-poetic piece on the difference between wanting and doing.
It’s easy to want something. It’s much harder to actually create it. (Note that I didn’t say “get it.”)
I’ve been impressed recently by what seems to me to is the defining characteristic of great achievement. We can put names and faces like Walt Disney, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Nelson Mandela, Joan of Arc, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., and Steve Jobs in our mind’s eye. These are just some of the more popularly famous figures. There are other, unsung leaders, to whom this applies. Your mom is probably one of them.
They all seem to know what they’re after. But more than this, they all seem to reject the notion that anything other than their vision is acceptable. They see their world and they see a way to make it better. They do talk about what they want, a lot. But, it’s a different kind of talking. It’s associated with action. They aren’t merely dreamers. They’re busy cranking the wheel. They’re pushing themselves and they’re pushing others. When they encounter something that’s in the way, they deal with it. Even if that thing is themselves. They are unwilling to accept that it can’t happen. That’s not an option for them. Nothing is off limits. Not even their own well-being.
Is this a little idealistic?
You bet it is. That’s the point. It’s the pursuit of an ideal. They are the person George Bernard Shaw referred to as “the unreasonable man.” (Or woman.)
It’s not a matter of privilege. Sometimes it’s in spite of it.
So, what do you want?
Are you willing to go beyond giving it a name? Are you okay not knowing every stretch of track on your transcontinental trek? Are you willing to confront those that would stand in your way, even that attractive character that stares back at you while you brush your teeth? Are you willing to accept that somebody is going to decide they don’t like what you’re doing? How about when they decide it’s you they don’t like?
Are you willing to be unreasonable?
Am I willing to take my own advice?
This is why it’s easy to want something but much harder to create it.
And it’s why so few actually do.
