I do not choose to be a common man.
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can.
Those words were penned by Thomas Paine in 1776 and are true today. They reveal one of the truths about us rising above the mundane and committing our lives- it is a choice! We make those choices throughout our business or personal lives. We can follow the crowd and take the easy way or dare to try excellence as our goal. In the end it is up to each of us to choose to be common or committed!
Another truth about leaving the common and being committed is the place of failure in our lives. I know of no great success achieved without some if not great failure along the path, Disney failed as did President Lincoln. Richard Nixon lost the presidency, went home and lost the California Governor’s race, and later was elected in one of the greatest landslide elections in our history as a country. Ronald Reagan became president on his third attempt. As W. Clement Stone once wrote “Success is achieved by those who try and keep trying (being committed).
Fear of failure might be the single greatest reason well fall short of what we might become and thus never really commit to any task, goal or life pursuit. Teddy Roosevelt had it right when he wrote “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” We must step out of our comfort zone if we are ever truly going to be committed.
The first two years of my insurance career were tarnished by spotty production and a willingness to go along with the crowd. Given great training I had a desire to excel but a commitment to the easy path. During a twenty-five week business insurance class I learned much and saw examples of people choosing to be committed and the lessons changed my path forever.
At the end of his great poem “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost wrote “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” That is the third truth about leaving the common and moving to the committed. The road will not be crowded. Others will try and divert us and get us to travel the easy path. Obstacles and diversions will try and sidetrack us as we travel life’s journey. We must forge ahead to reach being the uncommon and to remain committed to our future!
