I tend to be a no-nonsense kind of task-tackler, and too often focus on the getting there, missing the scenery. I came across this quote in some newsletter I accidentally got subscribed to (hate how that happens!) and thought it was exactly what I needed to hear.
It’s by John Keasler, and is featured in Stephen Covey’s book Everyday Greatness.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright told how a lecture he received at the age of nine helped set his philosophy of life.
An uncle, a stolid, no-nonsense type, had taken him for a long walk across a snow-covered field. At the far side, his uncle told him to look back at their two sets of tracks.
“See my boy,” he said, “how your footprints go aimlessly back and forth from those trees, to the cattle, back to the fence and then over there to where you were throwing sticks? But notice how my path comes straight across, directly to my goal. You should never forget this lesson.”
“And I never did,” Wright said, grinning. “I determined right then not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had.”
I love it.
Btw, has anyone read any Stephen Covey, and have any thoughts on it? I’ve heard good things, but never picked one up. Just curious what other moms think.