East Meets West
"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."
- Vince Lombardi
The past two months have been the biggest challenge of my young professional life. A lot of individuals came together to achieve some difficult tasks. Today the storm broke. There are just a few minor pieces of the puzzle which remain to be assembled. Now that the hustle and bustle of it all is over, I am reminded of something that happened to me last winter.
I was on the cusp of finishing my last accounting class. We were in the middle of the 10-K, I didn't have much time to study for exams, and I was on the C or D bubble. I have never in my entire life gotten a D in a class. On top of it, if I got a C I would receive 75% of the tuition cost from my company. In this trying time, I called my uncle for support.
My Uncle Bobby is one of those very cool, ultra wise guys. He was practicing yoga in the 70s, meditates, and has been mistaken for an Eastern Philosophy professor at UCLA. So I called him, told him that I might have to take the class again and he told me the following:
"All you can do is your best. Take one problem at a time. Follow your breathe as you work through things. After that, you must surrender the outcome."
"Well," I said, "If I get a D in the class, then I am out about $2,000 in tuition remission."
"Okay," he said, "Forget everything I just said. You are going to go in there and kick some ass. You are going to go beat the fucking shit out of this thing."
- Vince Lombardi
The past two months have been the biggest challenge of my young professional life. A lot of individuals came together to achieve some difficult tasks. Today the storm broke. There are just a few minor pieces of the puzzle which remain to be assembled. Now that the hustle and bustle of it all is over, I am reminded of something that happened to me last winter.
I was on the cusp of finishing my last accounting class. We were in the middle of the 10-K, I didn't have much time to study for exams, and I was on the C or D bubble. I have never in my entire life gotten a D in a class. On top of it, if I got a C I would receive 75% of the tuition cost from my company. In this trying time, I called my uncle for support.
My Uncle Bobby is one of those very cool, ultra wise guys. He was practicing yoga in the 70s, meditates, and has been mistaken for an Eastern Philosophy professor at UCLA. So I called him, told him that I might have to take the class again and he told me the following:
"All you can do is your best. Take one problem at a time. Follow your breathe as you work through things. After that, you must surrender the outcome."
"Well," I said, "If I get a D in the class, then I am out about $2,000 in tuition remission."
"Okay," he said, "Forget everything I just said. You are going to go in there and kick some ass. You are going to go beat the fucking shit out of this thing."
posted by Zen_Accountant at 9:05 PM
1 Comments:
Very Funny. Greatness is a matter of perspective. Vince said you have to be willing to sacrafice the little things. For me, it is often those "little things" that are the best things in life. My personal greatness comes in the form of not sacraficing those little things but working them into a balanced life. Will my greatness ever lead me to be on national television? Probably not. Will I die a man satisfied with a life lived in harmony with the world? Certainly.
MAD
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