I was working with a group of leaders from co-operatives yesterday, when I met a man who had cycled the Pyrenees in 100 hours. I made a joke about 95 of those hours being uphill and 5 being downhill, and he agreed with me. Then it occurred to me that this is a lot like life and work.
Image by Danny McL via Flickr
We often complain about our challenges and the uphill challenges we may face, but in the end it is these times that provide us with the greatest value. His sense of accomplishment was from making it through the entire journey, not from those fast downhill rides.
Think back to your greatest accomplishments. Are they that way because they were easy, or because you came through the challenges? As Thomas Paine wrote:
"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value."
How might this perspective reframe your reality today?
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Tags: challenge, cyclist, pyrenees, Thomas Paine
Great post. There’s an interesting obverse to this. Many people, especially artists and writers, value what they do based on the time it takes them, rather than what the market wants.
A few years ago I had a young painter as a coaching client. I suggested that she sell some of her work to designers who specialize in placing artwork in hotels and corporate offices. She took a couple of days to put together a portfolio of pictures.
We got a call from a designer who asked her to bring her portfolio but also a sample of an actual painting. I found out later than some artists use pictures of other artists’ work to get in the door.
While we were in the waiting room, an executive from one of their client companies passed through after completing his business. He stopped dead when he saw the artist’s canvass, and promptly offered her a thousand dollars for her work.
“But it only took me an hour!” she blurted.
The well-tailored gentlemen chuckled. “Young lady,” he said, “Let this be your first lesson in marketing. No one cares how long it took you. I only care about how good it is.”