October 6, 2022

Here’s what you’ll discover, when business seems too tough

When business surrounds us with frustrations and angst,
When projects and people combine to distress,
When all that we tackle feels like wading through mud,
When each hour feels designed to put nerves to the test.

You’d not be alone in crying out to the heavens;
In sighing and groaning through harsh moments reflective.
Yet, the lessons I’ve learned when such moments have slapped me,
Just might help you embrace a much-needed perspective.

It took me some years to succumb to life’s teachings.
Too long did I wail at each seeming oppression.
Until finally I awoke to this seminal truth, that:
“Life’s meant to be tough! Your work’s just part of that lesson!”

Society would have us seek happiness in comfort.
Yet comfort is seldom where greatness is born.
Pray, show me a person whose life’s made a great difference.
I’ll show you a soul who’s been both battered and torn.

The wealth of your life can’t be measured in revenue.
Your worth as a person lies beyond what you possess.
Will they really speak of you by praising your profits?
Or will their tales be far more of the lives you have blessed?

The question is not “How do I avoid future problems?”
In business, they’ll find you, stretch you (and then some).
Far better to ask “What is it you want me
To learn? And who do you want me to become?”

So, seek not for ease, nor a path that’s more gentle.
Yearn less for bounteous (and quick) blessings to flow.
For, with all of your climbing to high peaks of grandness,
Right there, in your valleys, is where your greatness will grow.
Right there, in your valleys, is where your greatness will grow.

© AN ORIGINAL POEM BY DAVID J SCARLETT