Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s stood in front of the sea of faces. Men and women stood claustrophobically close to one another, a canvas of bodies that stretched from one national monument to the next, the only clearing caused by a reflecting pool. But even the pool seemed to have little room to breathe, to relax. These men and women marched to this spot for one reason, a belief that freedom could come, that freedom would come. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gazed upon the crowd, and the crowd waited. He was their leader, and his words meant everything. Fittingly, a massive, white Georgia marble statue of Abraham Lincoln created the scene’s backdrop. The statue’s chiseled eyes looked upon a crowd that its once-living model also desired to see set free. Dr. King approached the podium, and several microphones stretched to hear his voice. The speech began, and a nation took notice.
Each of us is on a path. Where we find ourselves on the path is a culmination of our past decisions. We can stand on our path, turnaround, and see how we got to this particular spot in our life’s timeline. A year ago, you decided to direct yourself west, and so, you are now a little more west than where you were a year ago. Had you pointed yourself east, you would probably find yourself standing a little more to the east. And your chosen trajectory was not by accident. It was guided by something. Something after which you sought, something you desired. Of course, for many of us, the chase was not after a singular something but of plural somethings.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book titled Outliers. In this work, he dedicates a chapter to an apparent commonality woven among people that many consider highly successful. The commonality finds its way into the lives of both the Beatles and Bill Gates. This connecting point is 10,000 hours. According to Gladwell, it seems that a person must spend at least 10,000 hours perfecting their craft before they can become successful. Bill Gates did it; so did the Beatles. It is through their commitment to the craft that allowed their triumph to emerge.
Finding success is often limited by an abundance of disconnected pursuits. We starting chasing a dream only to have our eyes wander to another interesting idea, another sudden passion. We shift our efforts; maybe even try to do both. The original dream does not receive its needed steam and either concludes or becomes just something that we promise we will get to later. And later rarely comes. We are unable to reach 100 hours. 10,000 hours becomes a pipe dream.
If 10,000 hours is the key, then time allocation becomes crucial. And if success lies in our commitment to the pursuit, then we must be cautious about fragmented chases. We are universally bound by the same, daily, twenty-four hours. We cannot change this. What we can change is the use of these hours. A divided chase among several pursuits may result in becoming good in those areas, but the division avoids the potential great. For the potential great, the chase must be narrowed.
For many like me, this is not a fun concept because you are faced to decide at what you really want to be great. The barrage of information we are given keeps our heads swiveling, looking at yet another possible quest. And our want to feel unlimited is frustrated by the limitedness of this idea. But limitedness is the reality; it is the structure in which we must work.
Before MLK stepped on the platform in front of the Lincoln Memorial, before he articulated one of the most influential speeches in American history, the civil rights leader decided several years before narrowing his vision. He did have a dream, and it was a dream he pursued passionately. The culmination of hours, days chasing the dream peaked to that moment in Washington DC.
Culmination.
It can only happen with time, with dedication. And dedicated time can only happen with a narrowed chase. How can one be truly dedicated to numerous pursuits? So, we find ourselves at this juncture. Do we pursue the many, fragmented dreams, or do we go after the one? The potentially great lies in this decision.
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