The value of delayed gratification, basically, is that the journey, the work, is what’s more gratifying than the outcome. You’ve heard that before. Tennis great Arthur Ashe said, “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” You may know it’s true if you’ve ever done anything really powerful in your life.
I’ve written a few books. (All on amazon.com, but I’m not pitching anything to you. Okay, I am. They’re actually pretty good.) I’m working on two books as we speak. It’s great to have the finished product in my hands, or on my Kindle, but what’s really gratifying, and memorable, is all the work I put into them. I can usually remember sitting here at my Mac capturing particular thoughts, especially the profound ones.
The fun of leading is watching someone grow. The process. The path. It’s usually little steps at a time. I’ve been blessed, seeing thousands of future leaders grow continuously. They often don’t realize they’re growing, or how much. But I do. They all believe that they can be leaders now. They don’t know what they don’t know. One day they’ll understand that they had to do the work and they’ll be grateful that they did. Those of us who have already taken the road others are following know the value of each step and that the end result isn’t nearly as impressive as the journey.
The power of leading often comes in doing what needs doing right now. Correcting, re-vectoring, encouraging, inspiring, have to be done immediately. Leaders are like a ship’s rudder, constantly making adjustments that guide the vessel in the direction it should go. Many of the future leaders I work with are youngsters, who, for the most part, aren’t willing to do the tough job of correcting their followers. I think it’s part of the world they came from. Effective Leaders know that if you let unacceptable things go, they may fester and become a problem in the near future. Often, they’re little things that become large problems if not dealt with directly and immediately.
One of my favorite examples of the fun and power I’m talking about is in the last scene of the movie, Rudy, where Rudy is being carried off the football field. The camera cuts, for just a moment, to Rudy’s longtime mentor, Fortune, who is standing at the tunnel watching Rudy’s success. He punches his hand with pride knowing that he had something to do with that success, in particular, ensuring that Rudy did the work needed to enjoy the success he’s in the middle of. The daily grind of school and practice, the constant guiding and coaching, wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
There’s great strength in understanding the power of delaying gratification, but never abdicate the responsibility inherent in leading in the moment. When something needs doing better, when someone needs correcting, do it now! Those seemingly small things that you do now will add up to the end result. And you’ll appreciate them when success is finally in your hands.
Until next time, Be GREAT! You ARE!
¡HEIRPOWER!
bob vásquez!
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