October 12Do Right Now
Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough today to do right and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now.
Ralph Waldo Emerson—Self-Reliance (1841)
Today's reading is a reminder that nothing great comes from caring too much about what others think or how they respond to your journey: to “be firm enough today to do right and scorn eyes.”
Can you imagine a future made better by the fact that you dreamed it today and acted upon it today?
Building something from nothing, let alone something that is declared great, is little more than an accumulation of what you do that is right, right now. Maybe even the tiniest act focused on an imagined destination that only you can picture.
It's okay to seek advice and opinions, but if that turns into trying to morph your products or services or business to please everyone, you will become eternally stuck in pleasing no one—including yourself.
Customers, suppliers, the guru selling the latest, greatest way to generate leads will all suggest they know better. Only you know better. Trust that.
Challenge Question
- Who do you need to stop trying to please?
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