Brian Johnson's mother taped a Thomas Carlyle quote to his whiteboard and reminded him as a kid: God gave you gifts, you must give them to the world. The episode explores what it means to discover your gifts and actually use them.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Arete plus one degree. In fact, this is the third to last little micro chapter in Arete. Activate your heroic potential. We're going to do the final three micro chapters and send you on your way and get back to the regularly scheduled heroic ones. Here's this +1 degree wisdom from my mom and and Thomas Carlisle God gave you gifts. Give them to the world. My mom and her husband Tom recently visited. I was blessed to be the best man in their wedding. I especially enjoyed having the opportunity to thank my mom for helping shape who I am today and to thank Tom for being such a kind, good person and for taking such good care of my mom. Now on her visit, my mom brought the local newspaper that she kept from the day I was born, May 22, 1974. Watergate was literally front page news. But what caught my attention was the quote from Thomas Carlyle on the upper left corner. It's fantastic. He said, the man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder, a waif, a nothing, a no man have a purpose in life and having it throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you. Now, I'm not much of a collector of things, so the newspaper has been recycled. But not before I ripped off that corner quote and taped it to my whiteboard right above some strategic thoughts on the purpose to which I've dedicated my life. But here's what's most interesting for me. In my best man speech at their wedding reception, I thanked my mom for seeing and supporting my potential. And I shared a little story. Once, when I was about 10 years old, I did something my mom didn't like at all. She sternly grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. And I can still feel it like it was yesterday. And she said, God gave you gifts, you must give them to the world. Got goose bumps as I typed that and said that now. It's funny how my whole life and work can be summed up in those two sentences and how perfectly that quote from the day I was born captures the same God gave you gifts, you must give them to the world. The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder, a waif, a nothing, a no man have a purpose in life and having it throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you. That's our plus one degree. If you feel so inspired, imagine me or someone who believes in you looking you straight in the eye and saying with a loving sternness, God gave you gifts. You must give them to the world. Let's make our moms and families and communities themselves proud as we go out and give life all we've got today.
