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Down the street from my office is a very large media complex containing a TV station, several radio stations, and a large conference center. At one corner of the massive building, there is a large fenced area where several radio and TV broadcast towers soar hundreds of feet into the air. Thousands of people drive by this complex every day and have seen the towers so many times they don’t even notice them any more.
Several months ago, a troubled young man—for reasons of his own—decided to scale the fence and begin climbing one of the towers. By the time anyone noticed this young man perched on a precarious ladder hundreds of feet in the air, it was too late to stop him. Police, ambulances, and emergency rescue workers were called to the scene and began efforts to persuade the young man to climb down from the tower.
The young man either ignored them or periodically threatened to jump. As will happen with any large gathering, the media was soon on the scene. TV, radio, and newspaper reporters began around the clock reporting of the ongoing activities of the young man who became known as The Tower Guy.
This went on for days and, somehow, the reporters found things to talk about. The young man became dehydrated, sunburned, and appeared to be disoriented. Finally, one heroic rescue worker was able to communicate with the young man and talk him into coming down. The final media reports described how persistent The Tower Guy was in remaining on his perch for many days. It’s important that we don’t confuse persistence with procrastination.
It is easy to think that persistence is doing something repeatedly or constantly while procrastination might be thought of as doing nothing at all. In reality, too many of us are like The Tower Guy in that we persist in doing nothing of importance which, in reality, is procrastination as it relates to the things in life we know we should be doing.
Practice does not make perfect, in spite of the old adage. Practice makes consistent. Only perfect practice will make something perfect. Persistence is only a virtue if we are persisting at doing things that matter to us and make the world a better place.
Most people perform activities today because they performed the same activities yesterday and will do it all over again tomorrow. Before you do anything as a regimented part of a routine, make sure you know why you are doing it, what it will accomplish, and when you will be done. As you go through your day today, make sure you’re investing every moment wisely and not just repeating mindless activities because that’s what you’ve always done.
Today’s the day!
