Here’s a near-absolute Truth to consider:
Everything you deserve is going to take everything you’ve got!
This sobering observation compels one to ask four indelicate questions:
- If you are not giving life “everything you’ve got, WHY NOT? *
Special Note 1: Subsidies of early life eventually run out.
(See https://ertiaunlimited.com/lifes-toughest-lesson/)
Special Note 2: “Entitlements” don’t count and are off the table.
Special Note 3: Virtual Realities are off the table.
- Is there anything you don’t understand about the word “Everything”?
- Is there anything you don’t understand about “everything you’ve got”?
- How far short of “everything you deserve” are you willing to settle?
Increasing angst has been raised about “Achievement Gaps” in public schools. A larger truth and concern is that we have “Achievement Gaps” well beyond the public schools; it’s only documented by standardized testing in the public school system, but not otherwise. Consider the numbers of homeless nationwide … the numbers of people working well below their potential … the numbers of people simply “putting in time” and collecting a paycheck … the numbers of people being “passed over” for promotions … the numbers of people inextricably stuck in minimum wage jobs … the numbers of people permanently disqualified for employment (averaging 1.7 permanent terminations per day at the University of Kentucky).
While there are many reasons for achievement gaps that fall well beyond any individual’s personal control (such as being born into poverty, having no positive role models, being surrounded by low-achieving/low-expectation compatriots, lack of access to personal development tools and resources), many of us fail to take anything beyond minimal advantage of things that are within our personal control. We waste time, we eat poorly, we don’t exercise, we procrastinate, we make excuses, we over-spend, we under-invest, we don’t adequately prepare, we accept poor quality output, we rationalize, we hide behind tribal truths, and we take our virtual entitlements much too literally and liberally. Truth be told, we’d just simply rather NOT if we don’t HAVE TO!
The concern of this sojourner is that we STOP hiding behind the conjecture that “we’re only human” and that everything negative in our lives is due to “government overreach” and START taking advantage of the fact that we ARE human and we ARE the government where our personal achievement gaps and personal advancement are concerned!
So what grandiose benchmarks should we be shooting for? How high is UP? And how much is ENOUGH?
“ENOUGH is when you can’t do any more!”
P. Pastmaster
“You only have to do what you can do,
but you have to do that much.”
Garrison Keillor
The consequences of our Reality Gap stretch across all strata in America:
- High school students are not job-ready or college-ready
- College students are not career-ready
- Few overall are Life-Ready
As a result, foreign nationals, primarily from Asia, are taking top positions in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine – to a point that we soon may have to re-think the “birther” requirement for the U.S. Presidency!
And the root underpinnings are no great mystery, including:
- Low and pandering expectations
- An innate drive for immediate gratification
- Lack of Discipline
- Lack of Personal Responsibility
- Too much vested trust that the future will simply get better despite our worst effort
- Dreams that don’t match reality
- Visions of the future that are too shortsighted
- A marked absence of a sense of DILIGENCE or URGENCY
- “Significance” has been dumbed-down to radio talk-show hype
- Nobody wants to MISS anything (ergo a fixation on streaming social media)
Here’s a NEW REALITY to consider: While large numbers of citizenry are languishing in an America that’s struggling to become “Great Again”, over-achievers are continuing to over-achieve, immigrants continue to work their way UP in the world from the very bottom – driven by LARGE Dreams, and, as noted above, foreign nationals are populating increasing numbers of elite jobs, careers and leadership positions.
The resulting vacuum between where we find ourselves and what “Coulda been” is filled with mountains of regret, Defining Moments, Moments of Truth, Stress, and pandering castigation of political ineptitude.
We can do better! The “Best that’s IN us” has yet to be fully realized. Our understanding of how the world works may need to be upgraded. Our priorities could be better. Our choices could be better. Our discipline could be firmer. Our use of “unscheduled time” could be more purposeful. And our sense of URGENCY could be sharpened. Let’s fill this REALITY GAP (i.e., allowing that these things, indeed, DO need attention), and our “Achievement Gaps” will begin to disappear. And America – at least OUR personal stake in it – will much more assuredly become GREAT again! Quartermaster
*For example: How much of your life are you investing in television, YouTube, social media, video games, anti-social media, and/or other “off-tracking” activities that do not contribute to either your personal, your family’s or your organization’s wellbeing or future potential?
