Hit The Rock

Hi, this is Brian with another mini chapter from A Philosopher's Notes. This one's called Hit the Rock. While we're learning how to fill a water pot, how about a little mojo on how to hit a rock? Ever heard the story about the stone cutter? It goes like this. A stone cutter hits a rock with his sledgehammer. The stone splits. The casual observer happens to walk by right at that moment and thinks, wow, that guy's super strong. I can't believe he broke that huge rock with a single blow. The reality, obviously, is that the stonecutter didn't break it in a single blow. He'd been hammering away at that rock for a long, long time. A lot of diligent effort went into that rock before it finally split. That's kinda analogous to how people often respond to someone who's achieved a high level of success and think, wow, they sure must be lucky. Obviously, the stonecutter isn't strong enough to break a rock in one blow. And no one is lucky enough to reach any level of sustainable success without an equally diligent and consistent effort. As Thomas Jefferson reminds us, the harder he worked, the luckier he got. And Emerson tells us that good luck is just another name for tenacity of purpose. So let's hit the rock again and again and again. Eventually it will break. Oh, and by the way, once you're done with that rock, get ready to start swinging at the next. So there you go. Hit the rock. Let's have fun working hard, diligently, patiently, persistently and playfully as we move in the direction of our ideals and invite luck in with our own hard work. I love it. Emerson tells us good luck is just another name for tenacity of purpose. So let us be tenacious in our purpose of creating an extraordinary life. Hope you enjoyed. Look forward to sharing more with you soon. In the meantime, have an awesome day. See you.