A friend shared Paul Hawken’s moving, challenging commencement address and it got me thinking: we are constantly confusing starting lines with finish lines.
Getting married is a starting line, not a finish line.
Landing your dream job? Starting line.
Getting VC funding? Starting line.
Graduating college? Easy. Starting line. (It’s even called “commencement.”)
Having a child? Definitely a starting line.
Promotion? Starting line.
Joining a nonprofit board? Starting line.
Landing your dream recruit for a job? Starting line.
Getting elected? You guessed it. Starting line.
Our work is never done, which is why there is no brass ring and you never arrive. You are there now, doing the work, making change.
Now more than ever, you don’t need anything (credential, title, authority, salary) other than what you already have to do what you were put on earth to do.
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Well, that was a perfect thought, beautifully articulated, and for me (at the point of near complete book anxiety), perfect timing.
Thank you.
Thanks Gill. No doubt getting a book published is the ultimate starting line posing as a finish line!