Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 568 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Check and Measure Results
Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy podcast. This is Day 568 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.
Currently, we are on an extended multi-week trek as we explore the teachings from some of my virtual mentors, such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Earl Nightingale. The core of our current trek is based primarily on Jim Rohn’s book The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. I have learned a considerable amount from reading and re-reading this book on my own trek of life, and I trust that it will benefit you also. Keeping with the continuity of Wisdom-Trek, I have adapted it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.
We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. When this episode is initially released, I will still be in Arizona working with our partners on the final stages of Phase I of our construction project. The project owner and realtors have an open house planned for March 25th, so we are hopeful that it will generate some additional sales so that the funding group will move forward with Phase II. Although we have worked together on projects previously, any large project of this nature requires that results are often checked and progress is measured continually.
As we continue on our extended trek focusing on our 4th trail, which is The Trail of Results, we will explore why checking and measuring results in life is so imperative for a successful outcome. If you have missed the past few Philosophy Friday treks, it would be good to go back and review them to get caught up on our progress so far. We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s break camp and continue on the fourth trail of this extended trek as we cover…
The Five Trails on Life’s Trek – Results Part 6
As a reminder, our overall extended trek covers these five trails:
Philosophy
Attitude
Activity
Results
Lifestyle
1. Check Results Often
You cannot afford to wait ten years to see if your plan, your philosophy, your attitude, or your efforts need to be modified. Neglect and delay can be costly.
Progress must be measured on a regular basis. The timely checking of the key indicators in all parts of your life is a barometer of responsible thinking. How often you need to check your results depends on how far you want to go. The greater the distance, the more frequently you need to check. If you are only going as far as the next block, being off a few degrees isn’t going to make much difference. If you have your sights set on some distant star, then miscalculating by even one degree can lead you millions of miles off target. The longer you wait to discover this small error in judgment, the harder you will have to work to get back on course. Of greater consequence is that the passage of time tends to diminish your desire to get back on course. You may accept the little that you have and abandon your dreams of all that we might have been.
2. Making Measurable Progress In A Reasonable Amount Of Time
That is the great challenge of life – making measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time. That is what creates both purpose and value in your life.
If you are to confront this challenge with enthusiasm and with any hope for success, you cannot use your current circumstances as an excuse for your failure to make measurable progress. When circumstances make progress difficult, this should be your signal to push harder, not to diminish your efforts.
The difficulties you encounter serve a unique purpose. Difficulty tests the strength of your resolve. If your “want to” is strong enough, then you will be driven to seek solutions. As you invoke the power of creativity and intensify your efforts to conquer each new problem, you actually speed up your progress.
Without challenges to capture your attention, you may take twice as long to arrive at your objective. If the way is easy, you will tend to drift along at a leisurely pace, content in the knowledge that success is within your grasp. If the way is fraught with obstacles, you will dig deeper within yourself calling upon more ingenuity, more abilities, and more strength than you even knew you possessed. Conquering these challenges leads to a new level of self-confidence that drives you further and faster toward your inevitable success.
If you are not making measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time, then it may be that your goals are too small. It is difficult to get excited about minor rewards.
The problem may also be that you really do not believe in your dreams, or to be more specific, believe in your ability to make them happen. Instead of being challenged by obstacles, you use them as opportunities to withdraw from the confrontation. That is why checking your results often is so important. If you are not making measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time, then something is clearly wrong with either your objectives or the execution of your plans.
3. Whatever Happens, Happens To Everyone
In the final analysis, we are all faced with about the same circumstances over the period of a lifetime. Some choose to use them as an excuse for poor performance while others use those same circumstances as a reason to grow and to drive themselves to new heights of accomplishment.
You have opportunity mixed with difficulty. You will have times of illness in addition to years of health. The storms impact the rich as well as the poor.
The storms impact the rich as well as the poor.
Whatever happens, happens to everyone. The only difference is your approach to the “things that happen.” It is not what happens that determines the quality of your life, it is what you choose to do about what happens.
There is an inherent tendency to want the results when you want them or need them. The law of planting and harvesting tells us that to harvest in the fall you must first plant in the spring. You must use the summer to help the plants to grow strong by guarding against the certain invasion of the devouring insects and the strangling weeds. You must continue your activity in spite of your current needs. The harvest will surely come, but it will come in its own due season. As Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us:
1 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
Results do not respond to need. Results respond to effort, to labor, to activity. If you have done your part, the results you need will appear in a reasonable amount of time.
We are deliberately taking our trek slowly on The Five Trails on Life’s Trek as we continue our hike today on the Trail of Results. Today we learned that we must check and measure results often, and if we have been diligent in these steps then in due season, the harvest will be ready. This applies to all areas of your life. There is a season for everything, you must wait for that season, but while you are waiting, you must check and measure progress and make the necessary adjustments. Once again, this concept is rooted in the basic fundamentals of the law of planting and harvesting.
Next Philosophy Friday we will explore that habits of neglect grow exponentially, so we must have confidence in determining results. So join us next Friday for these additional insights. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life.
Our next trek is on Monday, and we will continue our series called The Tools in Gramps’ Backpack where we will equip you with the tools needed to impact the lives of others. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe through iTunes or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this trek of life together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!