Deep under cover

Image by sachman75 via Flickr Normally I post once a week or so. I'm going to go silent for about three weeks. I have stumbled into an incredible projected and I'm super excited about. This project will require full submersion with no distractions. I get butterflies just thinking about it.

Stay tuned....

Tim Symchych

Short Term vs Long Term

Image via WikipediaI am perplexed. Quite commonly people put off long term investments for short term ones. These investments can be in health, relationships, money, or whatever. Why? I am of the opinion that our society places the highest importance on urgent matters. In fact, very important, long term activities typically get the lowest priority. Everyone knows the importance of eating healthy and exercise but when inundated with urgent matters eat fast food and forgo their workout.

Case in point. I have a friend that eats, drinks, and smokes too much by just about any measure. A few months ago he had a health scare which caused him to change his eating, drinking, smoking, and exercise habits. Why? Because it was urgent and he was concerned about his longevity. Once he got comfortably out of the woods he fell back into his old ways because his health concerns were no longer urgent, no longer important. Short term one, long term zero.

When I was in my early 20's I knew many people who had decided to not go to college. I would ask them why and the most common answer I would hear was it is too difficult and time consuming. I use to think to myself working long hours at a low paying job for fifty years sounds more difficult and time consuming to me. Short term two, long term zero.

We have all heard that making a $10,000 investment today can turn into $1 million in 30 years. I know someone who came into some cash. They live paycheck to paycheck and have little to no savings. Nor are they putting money away for retirement. So did they make an investment with their windfall? No, they went on an expensive vacation that left them empty handed in less than a month. Check mate long term.

Why do we tend to be so near sided?

Tim Symchych

One simple step to being Great

I have filled many roles in my professional life from software developer to business owner. I have been a jack of all trades and master of none. Sometimes I have felt like a guy sitting on a beach and running with what ever washes up on shore. Think "Wilson" from Cast Away.

For almost a year now I have been trying to be intentional about my direction. It has taken me quite a bit of introspection before I could draw any definitive conclusions. I suspect this is true for most people as few people are fortunate enough to identify desire and aptitude early in life.

I have come up with several things that are intertwined and represent different aspects of my life such as husband, father, community member, business leader,etc. During this process I tried to distill down to the absolute essence of how I could be great for these different roles. Over an evening glass of wine last week it hit me. Complete dedication to a single endeavor is Greatness.

I wanted to see how my epiphany measured up. After weeding through various quotes from "great" people about greatness I came across Fortune:Secrets of Greatness by Geoffrey Colvin. It seems that I may be on to something-- the relentless pursuit seems to be the defining factor. So why doesn't everybody become great? Because it is difficult. Have you ever spent several hours every day over a ten year period trying to be the best at something? Few people have and that is precisly why greatness is in limited supply.

Perhaps the hardest question each of us faces is not whether or not we pursue greatness but what endeavor will we dedicate ourselves to.

Anyone can be great so choose your greatness and choose to be great everyday. What's stopping you?

Tim Symchych