Once, George Bernard Shaw was approached by a reporter who said: “Mr. Shaw, you are internationally famous and have traveled all over the world. You’ve been around some of the most famous people, and you’re on a first-name basis with royalty, well-renowned authors, artists, teachers and dignitaries from every part of this continent. If you had your life to live over and could be anybody you’ve ever known, who would you want to be?”
“I would choose,” replied Shaw, “to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been but never was.”
Shaw’s answer was insightful and certainly is something for all of us to think about. Who would each of us have been if we could have been the person we were capable of being? Someone has observed that success is not measured by how you compare what you’ve done to what somebody else has done. You might have considerably more ability or, for that matter, less ability. Real success is measured by what you have done compared to what you could have done with the ability God gave you.
Suppose you had daily invested a few more minutes studying and increasing your knowledge in your chosen profession. How many more friends would you have had had you been a little more courteous, thoughtful and considerate?
Would you have more friends if you had taken more time to call or visit them in their home or at the hospital? How much more energy and vitality would you have had you developed better eating habits, exercised regularly and gotten the right amount of sleep? How much happier would you have been had you spent more time with your family — your mate, your children, your parents, etc.?
As you think about these things, just remember that you still have time to do many of the above. Why not go ahead and get started? If you do, I’ll see you at the top!
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