The MondayMorningMemo for April 25, 2011
See it. Believe it. Say it.
These are the first steps.
But be prepared; most people will think you’re an idiot.
Or delusional.
Or full of yourself.
Maybe they’re right.
The outcome is all that separates confidence from hubris.
You saw it in your mind. You believed it could happen. You spoke about it as though it were, in fact, going to happen. People laughed at you, made fun of you, sneered at you.
But then it happened. And now everyone talks about your confidence, your vision, your dream come true.
The possibility of failure exists, even when you pretend it doesn’t. FAILURE: Because sometimes “your very best” just isn’t good enough.
You saw it in your mind. You believed it could happen. You spoke about it as though it were, in fact, going to happen. And it never happened.
And now people talk about where you went wrong. They think of you as delusional, egotistical, full of yourself. “Who did you think you were?”
Can you live with that egg on your face?
Count the cost, dreamer.
Are you willing to pay the price? You are? Read on!
“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
– Lawrence of Arabia (1888-1935)
“Every man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds… Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
– Earl Nightingale
A person would have to be pretty dense not to realize that today’s memo is the result of my contemplating the past 7 years of campus construction and the recent opening of our landmark tower.
You can be sure there have been many times during these past 7 years when I thought, “You can keep the cheese. Just let me out of the trap.” But somehow we endured. You have Pennie to thank for that.
As I contemplate the existence of this campus for dreamers, entrepreneurs and business owners, I cannot help but think of another tower many years ago: “But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” – Genesis, chapter 11
In that original tower story, God scattered the tower builders from Babel because they had forgotten Him. They turned their thoughts toward other things and their project was abandoned.
Each reader will take something different from that tale. Some will see it as a warning of impending doom for Wizard Academy. Others will see it as a fairy tale. I am of two reactions: the dark, earthy part of me remembers the words of Edward Gorey:
“Life is intrinsically, well, boring and dangerous at the same time. At any given moment the floor may open up. It almost never does; that’s what makes it so boring.”
Simultaneously, the better, more spiritual part of me sings the lyrics of a song made famous in 1978:
“He didn’t bring us this far to leave us.
He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown.
He didn’t build His home in us to move away.
He didn’t lift us up to let us down.”
Let each reader take what he will from today’s rambling, self-indulgent thoughts.
Next week I will write about you.
Roy H. Williams
