"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,"
Rudyard Kipling - 1865 - 1936 - Day 360 of 2024 : 6 remain
The poem, "If—" by Rudyard Kipling, was first published in 1910 as part of his collection Rewards and Fairies. The poem is a set of moral and ethical guidelines expressed through the voice of a father advising his son on how to live a noble and successful life. It focuses on qualities such as resilience, patience, determination, self-discipline, and the importance of staying calm in adversity. It remains one of Kipling's most beloved and widely read poems.
While I’m a great fan of this poem, having heard a new best friend read it to me when I was 19, I’m not a fan of the word “IF.” I prefer the word “WHEN” when considering the attainment of goals.
Where across the course of your day today, could you consider using the word “WHEN” instead of “IF” to change the momentum of your expectations?
When, removes all doubt.
I’ve been telling anyone who will listen, that there are 10 two-letter words that will determine your future, and they must become one of your daily mantras:
“If it is to be it is up to me.”
I’ve since changed this to remove any doubt. “AS it is to be, it is up to me.”
Where across the course of your day today, could you consider what “IT” is that makes you tick?
We are told to focus on the WHY and I agree that you should know what your WHY is.
You need to know your IT before understanding your WHY.
Your IT keeps you focused when the Henny Penny’s cross your path.
The 8 Masts of Mastery for mastering work-life balance are Mental, Physical, Spiritual, Social, Financial, Family, Business, and Romance.
Where across the course of your day today, could you consider what IT is in each of these masts that will make you happier and why?
Then, set these as your driving force and go after each “it” relentlessly; don’t just try, hope, wish or dream, DO.
While you’re thinking about that think about this and have a Gr8 day!
Be well.
DL
“Do or do not, there is no try.” - Yoda The Empire Strikes Back 1980
Here is the full text of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—":
If—
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!