Winners Focus, Losers Disperse!
I have always loved the words of the great ballet director George Balanchine: “Now I am more energetic than when I was younger; because I know exactly what I want to do.”
Now he has more energy than before. And that's because he knows exactly what he wants to do. When Balanchine was young (like most of us), he tried to do many things at once. Indecision consumes energy. Not knowing what to do next, struggling to decide which path to take, makes you tired.
I like the old saying: "Winners focus, losers disperse." This is really true. A sense of purpose fills me with energy, energy that knows what it wants. This is really a beautiful thing.
There is a story I love to tell about Harry Bernstein. People misinterpret this story as doing great things late. The story is not about that. The story is about the transformation from personality to purpose.
Harry was 93 years old. His wife had just died of leukemia and Harry didn't know how to get on with life; because before his aim was to take care of his wife, be with her and ensure her happiness. So all of a sudden, at the age of 93, his purpose slipped from under his feet. When he awoke, he no longer had the energy to live.
This is depression. Harry was depressed, “Oh, what good is it? Why should I bother? Why should I continue?" he would ask himself, that's the whole point of depression: I have nothing to do. There is nothing to get excited about or get me excited about. So my full attention is back on my personality… Me… My emotions… What I feel, what I think, and my sadness. With all my thoughts on my sadness, guilt, and regret, my attention is completely focused on myself.
There is a crack in everything, from there the light enters.
However, Harry Bernstein did not stay stuck in this world for long. The moment his mind turned from personality to purpose, his body came out of depression.
He did something extraordinary; but we don't quite know what inspired him. When the mind changes, the soul finds a way in. As Leonard Cohen said in his song, everything has a crack, that's where the light comes in. So Harry Bernstein decided to do something illogical.
He decided to sit down and write about his life. So many, so fascinating things had happened in his life… He wasn't just going to react to his wife's death anymore. Instead, he would produce. He would produce a book that people can read about all the excitements, sorrows and incredible things that a 93-year-old has lived through, and has lived a full and interesting life. He decided to create his life once again. This time he would do it as a book that would bring great pleasure to other people.
He was 93 years old! Although he was not 25 years old, he was learning to be a writer, trying to connect with people, entering social networks, trying to find good managers, planting the seeds of the future. What kind of future can there be for you if you are 93 years old?
Most people spend of their time with the future. They try to connect with people who will one day lead them to success. It means pathetically scattering their intellectual faculties and imaginations, with the false notion that it is necessary to find a strong person to lift them up the ladder of power.
What Harry Bernstein did is something we can all do, even if we're 18. We don't have to wait until we're 93. We can have a purpose. We don't have to wait for a lifetime of heartbreak. We don't need to spend our whole day concentrating on what we're feeling trapped inside our personality, we can have a purpose; this purpose will give us enthusiasm.
Harry spent 24 hours a year working on the book. Then (after all publishers in New York had rejected his book) Harry found a publisher at Random House's London office. A copy of her book, after waiting there for a year, arrived at the desk of an editor named Kate Elton. Elton read the book and said it was "unmissable" (that was the word). Can't be missed!
Steve Chandler - "Get Motivated"
