Clarity: There Is No Try, There Is Only Do

More often than not, life’s paths are not a straight shot to your final destination. No, they are just the opposite, winding, foggy, and filled with uncertainty.

What’s around the next bend? What’s that fuzzy image ahead?
You don’t know.

How do you navigate these paths? Do you run with eyes closed hoping to make it where you want to go? No!

Without a clear picture, what’s your next move? Do you stop and give up? Absolutely not!

In this ACRONYM story, we’ll consider the second of the three T’s that lead to CLARITY. There Is No Try, There Is Only Do To Gain Clarity

There Is No Try, There Is Only Do To Gain Clarity

Clarity will not happen without effort. It requires rolling up your sleeves and doing the work.

To seek clarity without effort, will rob you of the rewards from the process.

Come back with me to my senior year in college. Our class project for the quarter was to repurpose a federal building in the city. It was a few miles from the Ball State University campus in Muncie, Indiana.

Our Interior/Environmental Class could do anything we wanted inside the building. We could change the interior footprint, room layouts, add signage, etc. Everything was fair game as long as it was structurally sound and adhered to the program requirements.

Our professors arranged for a tour of the building, a reconnaissance mission if you will where we could measure and photograph the interior space.

I remember a meeting I had with one of my professors. I met with them regularly to pick their brains and learn as much as I could.

 The subject of our current project came up and he said, “ did you know there was a senior thesis written by one of the architecture students on this building?”

You mean this, as I pulled a hardback book from my backpack.

He just smiled at me. What he said next made me realize I was on the right track to be successful in my studies and future career.

He and my other professor had been talking about me. It seems I was becoming known for my determination to find the answers I needed for our projects.

These were the days before Google. Research was done in the library with card catalogs and good ‘ole elbow grease.

Early in High School and without a doubt in college, I realized I was not the brightest or for that matter the most talented student, not by a longshot. In order to be successful, I was going to have to work hard, REALLY hard.

I never viewed classwork as a competition with my fellow students. Years later, someone told a friend I was in competition with him. When the friend relayed the story to me, I chuckled and said, I’m not in competition with him, I’m in competition with the most difficult person to please that I know. ME!

One of the things I pride myself in is the ability to find answers. If I don’t know something, I know WHO or WHERE to find it. And I will find it. Before I ask, I try to dig first. Dig first, ask second.

Digging for answers is a lot like digging dirt. The effort expended will be rewarded. And just like it’s hard to remove the dirt off your hands, it’s hard to remove the knowledge from your brain. And I don’t want to do that 😃

Daily Doable: As Master Yoda said, “ There is no try, there is only do.” Are you willing to do? Are you willing to roll up your sleeves and do the work necessary for clarity? Do it! Well, it will serve you.
#DoWhatYouCanNow

Coming Next: Trust Your Way To Clarity

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