Are you mining for gold or are you mining for dirt?
“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Andrew Carnegie came to America from his native Scotland when he was a very young boy. He eventually ended up as the largest steel manufacturer in the United States and one of the wealthiest men in America. At one point during his career, he had 43 millionaires working for him. During that time frame a millionaire was a very rare person.
A reporter asked Carnegie how he had come to hire 43 millionaires. Carnegie responded that those men had not been millionaires when they started working for him but had become millionaires as a result.
The reporter’s next question was, “How did you develop these men to become so valuable to you that you have paid them this much money?” Carnegie replied that men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold, but one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt — one goes in looking for the gold.
We need to step back and reflect. Are we sitting on a mountain of gold? Do we feel poor because we are just digging for dirt or do we feel poor because we don’t know how to mine the gold?
Our process should be geared toward mining for gold. If we don’t have a process, then we are just digging for dirt. Everyone’s process is going to be different, however, we should all be inspired to excellence in our physical and mental well-being.
We are all unfinished works in progress. Forward, always!