When I was still building companies and “shooting for the moon” several of my acquaintances were criticizing my ambition or obsession of making my software development company, Horizon Software International, the number one food service technology company in the WORLD. They repeatedly warned me not to let the company get too big and urged me to keep it small. “It is the only smart way to go.” “Why work so hard?” “Can’t you be satisfied?” “How much money do you need?”, are some of the comments. Well, we proved them wrong and achieved that lofty goal.
This line of thinking is reminiscent to me of the time when I had experienced theft and embezzlement of a grand scale in one of the companies that I had founded. Things looked hopeless and if survival was to occur, it would take YEARS of hard work to repair the damage. My accountant urged me to take bankruptcy and give up on my dream of owning and managing my own company and urged me to go to work for someone else. “Why fight it? Why work so hard? You’re smart and can get a good job with practically anyone and not have to work nearly this hard”, he said.
I did not take bankruptcy and struggled through the years of hard times. I rebuilt that company to its former state and beyond, eventually selling it at a nice profit. I’m glad I did.
I really like two quotes from a couple of past Presidents of the United States, (who had good character), that often serve to help motivate me during times of stress, or when listening to naysayers. Abraham Lincoln said: “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” Theodore Roosevelt wrote: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
They stated my case far more eloquently than me. At the time of this incident, my business aspirations for Horizon were not so much about making more and more money, it was about getting into the arena, competing, and achieving a lofty goal. It was like a hard-fought game to me. It was about reaching for something that ordinary people will never achieve because too often they listen to their own naysayers and/or are too afraid to reach for the moon, or are not prepared to pay the price of hard work and sacrifice.
Life ain’t no dress rehearsal. We only have this little vapor stretch to achieve whatever we can achieve, then it’s too late. I can attest time will pass quickly like a morning mist. I say that we should live each day to its fullest, try to achieve the greatest possible things that God has given us the ability to achieve, and when we are old and feeble and look back on our lives, we can do so with the comforting knowledge that we had the fortitude to attempt big achievements and fight to the end. The converse would be contemplating: if only I would have tried, what great things could I have done?
Well, my friends, life has indeed passed quickly. I read the other day that the actor who played Lamont in Sanford and Sons recently died. He was 91 years old . . . Hard to believe that one I tell you. When you are tired and discouraged and wonder if it’s “all worth it” remember the presidential quotes above, it helps me. The greatest achievements are the ones that have glorified God and without question, many of them would never have been possible if I had not entered the arena and fought the good fight.
James 4:14
. . . For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.