ADD THIS TO YOUR LABOR

Today in the United States we celebrate Labor Day. It is a holiday to focus on worker’s rights and all that has gone into gaining those. I want to talk in a little more personal vein. How many times have you heard someone remark, “He worked hard all his life and never accomplished anything.” Hard work certainly is a virtue, but if that work is undisciplined, and unfocused, it rarely leads to great accomplishment. At work we usually have someone above us making sure our efforts are leading the company towards its overall goal. For those of us who are self-employed, or any of us pursuing any kind of personal goal, we have to discipline ourselves.

There is an analogy that says if you hit a tree with an axe a thousand times in a thousand different places not much will happen. If you hit that tree a thousand times in the same place you will chop the tree down. Meaning, if your efforts are all over the place and not focused on one overall goal, you will not get very far. If, however, your goals are focused on the one thing you are trying to accomplish, then you shall accomplish your goal.

As we celebrate our rights as laborers, let us make sure those labors are focused, disciplined and leading us where we want to go. You are free to work as you please, but you are not free from the consequences of how you chose to work. For yourself and the benefit of all the goals you are pursuing in life, make sure your goals are focused and you are not hitting the tree in a thousand different places.

*No trees were harmed in the writing of this post. We do not advocate cutting down trees and believe the world could use more trees.