A new family moved to the farm next to ours. The father was tired of factory work. He bought new machinery and proceeded to plant his fields.
One day he walked over to our fence. Young man, I have a problem. I can’t make straight rows to save my life. Can you help me? I tied my team to the fence and followed him to his field. Behind the new Farmall H was a device for making two rows for planting potatoes.
I stepped off eight feet from the fence. I walked the entire length of the field. I placed a stick or weed the same distance from the fence every 50 feet. I dropped the row making marker and kept the front of the tractor in line with the markers. The new farmer stood on the tractor draw bar. I kept my eye on the markers. At the end of the field the puzzled neophyte shook his head. I don’t understand! You drove the length of the field and never looked back one time. The rows are straight! I looked back many times and the rows were more crooked than a dog’s hind leg.
At the age of 12 I taught our neighbor a valuable lesson. When you want to get ahead in life you can’t keep looking back. Look back long enough to learn from your mistakes then move on.
My first attempt at writing was met by a rejection slip. I ripped it up and vowed to never write again. A year later I wrote a story for the same publisher. It was accepted as a center spread piece. Since that day I have received rejection slips, but I have seen them as challenges. I passed my philosophy to a pastoral intern.
Kim was working at a job fit for an extrovert. He was miserable. Eventually he found a job fit for an introvert. He looked ahead. At this date he has written three award winning books. He learned that accepting who you are and looking ahead is the key to success.
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