When a rich man gave bags of gold to his servants to watch over while he was away
5 bags to one
3 bags to another
1 to the last
he came back to find that mr. five bags and mr. three bags had used the money to create a business and doubled the money.
Mr. one bag buried the money to keep from losing it.
Mr. Richman said, “What were you thinking? you didn’t even get the interest by sticking it in a savings account? What’s wrong with you?”
The first two built something. The last just wanted to maintain.
Building something. A pyramid. A moonlanding. A system. A website.
Some people are driven to build something. The idea, the concept of what isn’t yet created. But to build something that will last, either in memory or in continuing use…
Some people are not driven. Some people are completely okay with just maintaining. just doing the minimum, just keeping the humm.
But maintaining is never improving.
I have just realized that there really are people not interested in building. I think building something is so compelling it has been hard for me to recognize that some people not only are not intersted in building, but are actively opposed to building and improving.
Why? Why would building something be opposed?
there is risk. There is risk of failure. There is also risk of losing what is invested.
That bag of gold might get stolen or lost!
I long ago decided that the risk of losing the investment is far less painful than losing the opportunity of spending my time on
THE MOST EXCITING THING LIFE HAS TO OFFER
even babies know that building–a tower of blocks?–is likely to result in the blocks getting knocked over. But what else are blocks for?
What else is our life and our time and our resources for?
Well. So there are people who don’t see it that way.
to be kinder to the people who don’t want to get on board with the building project I am pushing,
It is true that we have limited attention. I cannot really give focus on building a better system for every single task in my life.
you have to choose. And you sometimes need to get a bunch of people to choose the same thing to make it happen.
To make a pyramid.
or a moonlanding
or a website
and there may be a lot of people unwilling to build that pyramid
But if the vision can be imparted, and if the rest of the team can be infected, then maybe they will want to do it. It takes a lot of smart people to make
a moonlanding
or a website
It takes the person with the drive to build, to inspire the others. Those builders ought to be in high demand. They ought to be recognizable…and picked out by those people wanting something extraordinary built.